African American Producer For CNN Assaulted By Tea Party Organizers

With smiles and thank you emails.

Being at a Tea Party rally is not quite like seeing it on TV, in newspapers or online. That's the reason CNN is covering this political movement -- and doing so in ways few others can or choose to do.

It is important to show the colorful anger Americans might have against elected leaders and Washington. But people should also see the orange-vested Tea Party hospitality handlers who welcome you with colorful smiles.

There were a few signs that could be seen as offensive to African-Americans. But by and large, no one I spoke with or I heard from on stage said anything that was approaching racist.

Almost everyone I met was welcoming to this African-American television news producer.

And though speakers railed against the "lame-stream media," activists and their leaders praised CNN, especially for being the only national media outlet riding along for the post-weekend stops. Some of them e-mailed me after my trip, thanking our crew for fairly giving them a voice.

Read the whole story. Aside from repeating the slander about the racial insults allegedly shouted at black congressmen on the day of the health care vote, it's a remarkably fair positive piece.

Now, it's nice that there's a blog post like this but I'm not sure how much it will change CNN's idiotic coverage of the Tea Party folks in general. I'm sure once they hire a non-ideological news pro like David Shuster, that will help.

Still, kudos to Mr. Travis for daring to step outside the approved narrative. For his sake, I hope his resume is up to date.

Via The Washington Post's new anthropological blog dedicated to covering that strange species, American Conservatives.

posted by DrewM. at 11:49 AM

| Access Comments