CNN Bypasses Sterotypes and Gives Real Scoop On Tea Party Members

I am often one of the first to criticize CNN, so it is only fair to give them their fair due when they do something that other media outlets have refused to do which is bypassing the media stereotyping of the Tea Party events and report what they actually see, instead of rumor.

CNN with "Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies."

They explain what you usually see in the media about the Tea Party:

Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience; and angry protesters rallying around the Constitution.

Then they tell you their first hand account of what they saw while covering it.

But here's what you don't often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper.

Last week, I saw all of this during a five-city Western swing as the Tea Party Express national tour made its way across the country. CNN was along for the ride, and I was charged with planning CNN's coverage for five stops in two states: St. George, Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah; and Grand Junction and Denver, Colorado.

The kicker?

For all the reporting we see in all the mainstream news sources, "CNN was the only national news outlet on this Western leg of the tour."

...We had a full team on the ground: myself, correspondent Ed Lavandera, producers Tracy Sabo and Jim Spellman and the crew of the CNN Express bus. For Spellman, it was his third Tea Party Express tour.

Together, we beamed out images of the anger and the optimism, profiled African-Americans who are proud to be in the Tea Party's minority and showed activists stirred by "God Bless America" or amused by a young rapper who strung together rhymes against the president and Democrats.

The CNN Express traveled with the Tea Party Express buses for hundreds of miles, from rally to rally to rally.

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.

Grats to CNN for doing what the others only pretend to do... reporting on the true events at the Tea Party rallies.

[Update] Wow... will wonders never cease. Seems the AP has discovered that there are actually black conservatives who are members of the Tea Party and just how difficult life is for them when they don't follow the "stereotype".



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