The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Susan Roesgen

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Susan Roesgen

By W. James Antle, III on 4.17.09 @ 1:23PM

As bad as her bias, lack of professionalism, and overall shrillness generally are, what most struck me about her hamfisted attempt at reporting was her utter incomprehension of the views of the people she was covering. There are some protests -- think LaRouchie events -- where it is not easy to tell what in the hell is going on, but these gatherings represented a major American political viewpoint. It was if I attended a demonstration in favor of universal health care, mixed it up with the protestors, and started sputtering, "But... but... the Republicans want to give you a tax credit!"

UPDATE: As was noted by a commenter below, it's being reported that Roesgen applied for a job at "right-wing" Fox News -- twice.

View all comments (66) | Leave a comment

Deborah| 4.17.09 @ 2:10PM

I used to really like Susan Roesgen. She was an anchor here in New Orleans for years. I was totally shocked and angered when I heard and saw her coverage of the Tea Party. It was NOT professionalism! When did the media decide it was acceptable to belittle and demean the citizens of the U.S. who do not happen to agree with their particular ideology?! It has become so obvious!

Tom Paine| 4.17.09 @ 2:15PM

Mr Antle --

Many, many people attended these events with the best of intentions expressing beliefs as American as apple pie.

However, there was a visible presence (more than a small minority) of people expressing extreme, hateful ideas. And good for them. It's a free country. But I'm afraid the decent people may have to accept some of the mockery and contemptuous mirth coming their way.

jenna| 4.17.09 @ 2:46PM

More people saw Susan Roesgen on Fox news than saw her original broadcast on CNN. With that in mind, I'm not too upset about her shrill outburst.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 2:56PM

Quintessential blonde liberal fascist bimbo.

WendyG| 4.17.09 @ 2:57PM

Apparently she applied for a job at Fox, to no avail - twice!

http://gawker.com/5216313/fox+bashing-cnn-reporter-applied-for-a-job-at-fox

Hell hath no fury...

Daphne| 4.17.09 @ 2:59PM

CNN's ratings are in the toilet. I wonder what 'teabagger' Anderson Cooper thinks about that.

Angel| 4.17.09 @ 3:01PM

Oh, so it was personal with her. Not much of a professional, is she?

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 3:02PM

What a loser.

Smitty| 4.17.09 @ 3:03PM

FOX's ratings are through the roof!!

Kat| 4.17.09 @ 3:05PM

MSNBC is a joke, too.

WendyG| 4.17.09 @ 3:19PM

MSNBC is beyond belief. Shuster and Olbermann are like two angry frat boys. Filled with rage. And Olbermann is OBSESSED with Fox News. And still nuts over GWB.

Maddow is just boring and repetitive and weird.

NavyBrat| 4.17.09 @ 3:21PM

"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."...James Madison, Federalist Papers # 46

Well, I guess since we already have a standing army & an enslaved press, we can see what's next on the horizon.

Dusty| 4.17.09 @ 3:23PM

MSNBC has turned into a spittle soaked freak show. Losers.

MT| 4.17.09 @ 3:25PM

Olbermann really looks crazy. Just looking at him makes me laugh.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 3:30PM

I don't know if the liberal fascists can count on our standing army. They've already put them on a terrorist watch list-- why would the military be loyal to them?

Kat| 4.17.09 @ 3:34PM

She was rejected by FOX twice? How embarrassing--this makes her look like such a fool. CNN gets FOX's rejects.

Angel| 4.17.09 @ 3:36PM

Bill O'Reilly said there's a civil war in the media--he's right.

NavyBrat| 4.17.09 @ 3:38PM

Julia. I guess you're right. I never thought of it like that. Good point. I guess President Nero will have to rely on his Brownshir... uh, I mean, Civilian Security Force, to be that standing army.

NavyBrat| 4.17.09 @ 3:39PM

If we DO come to aristocracy, then Harry Reid & Nancy Pelosi can take the titles of Lord & Lady Douchebag.

Tim| 4.17.09 @ 3:48PM

That was a performance worthy of local cable community access channel. Like many TV people she can't think on her feet.
Ten years ago they could rely on the magic of editing. Now cameras are everywhere and we see them groping about, so to speak.

Tom Paine| 4.17.09 @ 3:50PM

Julia --

It would be nice if you had your facts straight before making such an outrageous claim.

The Department of Homeland Security reported documented cases of returning vets who had threatened violence against government officials. Not to have reported these incidents would have been gross incompetence.

Nobody put "vets" in general on a terror watch list. That is total bullshit being propounded on absurd websites.

Being a low-information voter is your right. But it seems a shame and a waste.

Tim| 4.17.09 @ 3:59PM

She wouldn't report that way from a HAMAS demonstration and CNN wouldn't run it if she did. Those people got better things to do than get killed.

NavyBrat| 4.17.09 @ 4:04PM

Really, T. Paine? What about this ambigous passage in the report itself:

"(U//FOUO) Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are
attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing
extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to
boost their violent capabilities."

If this doesn't lump all returning vets into a "prime" group for the white power schmucks, I don't know what does. This is an insult to those who took an oath to defend this country against all enemies, foreign & DOMESTIC. Once upon a time, they were called baby killers (like my Dad). Now they're prime recruits for the Klan & the Aryan brotherhood. I'm sure if my Dad were still alive, he'd appreciate being lumped into this group. Especially since he was Jewish.

NavyBrat| 4.17.09 @ 4:07PM

"Being a low-information voter is your right. But it seems a shame and a waste."

Being willfully ignorant of what your government is trying to do is YOUR right. That also, is a shame & a waste.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 4:48PM

I knew it would PO Tom P. when I brought up his liberal fascist compadres putting the military on a terrorist watch list. So predictable--like Pavlov's dog--just ring a bell and watch the liberal fascists salivate. Ha ha.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 4:50PM

NavyBrat--Lord and Lady D-bag. LOL!! You crack me up!

Smitty| 4.17.09 @ 4:53PM

Cite the source and the documented cases, troll. Put up or shut up.

Bob| 4.17.09 @ 4:57PM

All of you seem to be missing the point of news coverage. The cable news business is not about news, it is about profits through consumer targeting. Fox News targets lower socioeconomic, populist, non-college educated voters. That was the brilliance of Murdoch and Ailes. By concentrating on that 18% of the public, they received higher repeat viewing and a lower cost of viewer acquisition. MSNBC tried to cover the center, but with the pull of Fox from the right, they targeted college educated progressives including younger voters. They have been successful with that targeting, but college educated voters don't view the news as often as the Fox viewers, and while the model is successful, that target is slightly weaker. With viewers pulled from the right and left, CNN is being squeezed.

You guys think this has to do with ideology, but it really has to do with profits and targeting. Supporting the tea parties was just a way to get cheap advertising. No true news channel would hire 99% of the people from Fox and about 70% of the people from MSNBC. These guys are entertainers, not fair and balanced news people.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 5:08PM

FOX kicks your fellow liberal fascists' butts every day, Bobbo. FOX gets the Conservative message out and helps us spread the mighty word of dissent! YAY FOX!! CNN and MSNBC have failed!

Smitty| 4.17.09 @ 5:11PM

FOX will help us let people know about the massive Washington, D.C./July 4, 2009 Tea Party!! Thanks FOX NEWS!!

WendyG| 4.17.09 @ 5:36PM

The latest? She's a taking a vacation. LOL.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/partiedout_cnn_reporter_takes_a_break_114340.asp?c=rss

Angel| 4.17.09 @ 5:51PM

Wendy, you're funny. I almost feel sorry for the bimbo--almost.

WendyG| 4.17.09 @ 5:51PM

>>>Fox News targets lower socioeconomic, populist, non-college educated voters. That was the brilliance of Murdoch and Ailes.

What a crock Bob. And what snobbery. For the record, I know quite a few people who went to Tea Parties AND watch Fox. They all went to college. One is a network executive, the other is a published novelist, another is a magazine editor, etc. etc.

It's just that sort of elitist attitude that has CNN, the NYT, and other such media outlets shrinking.

CH| 4.17.09 @ 5:52PM

Now, if that freak Olbermann would just take a permanent vacation!!

Randy L.| 4.17.09 @ 5:54PM

Poor CNN!

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 5:56PM

Bob is a fascist liberal who pretends to be a RINO. Old news--yawn.

Trail | 4.17.09 @ 5:59PM

Too funny!

Bob| 4.17.09 @ 6:23PM

Thank you Julia, Wendy, et. al., for proving my point about Fox News. Fox News has a great business model and it seems it has all of you in its target market. According to Pew Research, Fox News is comprised of 22% college grads while CNN is at 30% and MSNBC is at 32%. Interestingly enough, Rush is at 36% college grads while O'Reilly is at 24% college grads. The data did not have Olberman in it. Again, this is not snobbery, it is data and targeting. If any of you spent any time in business, you'd understand what I'm saying. Fox News did extremely well in the 1Q 2009 and was up about 12%. MSNBC is slightly less than half of the size of Fox News but was up 22%. MSNBC is fine tuning its business model and adding some populist elements like Ed Schultz to counter the populism of Glenn Beck and Hannity. Neither Olberman nor Maddow is populist and MSNBC needs more people like Schultz to garner a strong repeat base.

joe| 4.17.09 @ 6:27PM

As a reporter, Susan was very biased. If she represents CNN, then Americans who hold the opposite view should let everyone at CNN know their frustration with biased reporting as well as CNN's sponsors. America is not as dumb as the media thinks and I think with the way that she and Anderson Cooper represent the network is a big disgrace.

Julia| 4.17.09 @ 6:42PM

If FOX is just entertainment, they're a HUGE success. Works for me!! The more people watch, the more they'll be exposed to the truth of Conservatism! Let CNN and MSNBC languish in the toilet.

MT| 4.17.09 @ 6:43PM

The toilet is where CNN & MSNBC belong!!

Nelson| 4.17.09 @ 7:47PM

Bob's numbers are actually pretty interesting. I think he is just asking us to stop rooting for the home team and just objectively analyze how the viewing audience has been carved up by the networks. The thing that stands out is that Rush's audience is the most educated of all. I guess Rush is the closest thing we have to Bill Buckley now, which only underscores how much we miss that great man.

Tom Paine| 4.17.09 @ 8:14PM

Nelson --

Actually, NPR has the highest educated audience. (I heard Rush himself cite this statistic when he was crowing about these numbers.)

John| 4.17.09 @ 9:05PM

By the numbers, there are more college educated viewers watching FOX. For example 3.6 million people view O'Reilly (3.6 mil x 24%=860,000). CNN's counterpart Olbermann (1 mil x MSNBC's 32%=320,000)

MT| 4.17.09 @ 9:58PM

Dopers and mouth-breathers watch MSNBC. Ha!

Bob| 4.18.09 @ 2:25PM

Nelson, to analyze audience numbers and find the reason something is true, we'd have to go much further. For example, we'd have to find out whether they are Republicans or Democrats and how the daypart compares to the general audience at that time. We know that Rush's audience is primarily men. Do they listen to the whole show or just when they get in the car to go to lunch? Generally, college grads utilize lunch drivetime more than non-college grads. Comparing to Buckley is a jump that we can't quite make with the data available.

John, be careful in using totals to come to conclusions. Rush reaches about 4.7% of the total U.S. population at least 1 time a week. O'Reilly reaches less than 1% and Olberman even less. When you reach that small a percentage, the totals can be misleading.

The point is that Fox is clearly targeting the non-college educated viewer. For advertising and repeat viewership reasons, that is an excellent target from a business perspective. Like I said, it is a superb, and differentiated, business model. You also choose hosts that will appeal to that target audience -- and they have.

From a knowledge perspective, they do stay away from pedantic explanations of problems and utilize populist words and simplified explanations targeted against specific individuals. It is the psychological technique of finding a "common enemy". Again, as a businessman who has spent his entire life developing new businesses, I really appreciate this business model.

From the perspective of providing people with information and objectivity, though, it is one of the worst business models we have seen. For that matter, the inverse of this at MSNBC has the identical problem.

Jeffrey Payne| 4.19.09 @ 8:31AM

How should those of us who attend Tea Parties respond to "reporting" like CNN's Susan Roesgen?

Susan Roesgen to Citizen: Don't you realize that you're eligible for a $400 tax cut!?!?

Citizen: OK, let me illustrate how I feel about that. Say I'm a Politician. Susan, I'm going to GIVE you a $400 gift! Aren't I wonderful? All I need from you is to borrow your credit card...[hold out hand for card]

CNN: You want to use MY credit card to buy ME a gift?

Citizen: Along with a few other things; just $6000 or so. I'm a politician; I have NEEDS --- EXPENSIVE needs.

CNN: $6000!?!

Citizen: This year's budget will borrow $1.85 TRILLION -- that's over $6000 for every man, woman & child in America. But we're getting a $400 "tax cut". You seem to think that's a great deal.

Regards,

Heather Czerniak| 4.19.09 @ 1:23PM

Susan Roesgen was definitely out of line this time. I wouldn't doubt that her anti-Fox rant was revenge for not getting hired on at Fox. If Fox News is politically biased, it can only be because CNN and other networks are biased as well. While I watch the Fox network less than the others, I commend them for hanging in there over the years. Love 'em or hate 'em, they do provide balance in a time when balance is needed.

Basil Plumley| 4.19.09 @ 3:41PM

Bob your analysis is quite bizarre. You said:

Imagine if someone sold their book to 4.7% of the US population. That book would be an absolute blockbuster. Outside of The Bible, Harry Potter, and Mao's Little Red Book, what would come close?
Your attempt to downplay Rush's appeal is pretty dumb. It's not just the folks who listen but the others in the media and politics who cover what Rush says and others who did not listen but were informed by those who did listen. You need to think exponentially and not statically. Are you really sure you are/were successful in the business world?
Your analysis leads me to believe that your business either failed or needed a "bailout".

Aedyn| 4.21.09 @ 9:41AM

to : NavyBrat
More people should read the Federalist Papers...especailly #10 :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sue is a Media Whore who sold herself to (in this case) the lowest bidder...CNN.

BobIsTrying| 4.24.09 @ 2:52AM

Does Bob realize how ill-advised he sounds?

I don't know what college he graduated from, but apparently it didn't afford him much intelligence (as do most universities these days).

Coming from a college grad who is proud to not have been brainwashed, I'm undoubtedly sure that it doesn't take a PhD to follow the truth.

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