New York Times

Friday, August 12, 2011

As Rating Nose Dive Blogger Comes Under Fire

Despite a new round of terror attacks on American soil and a tenfold increase in U.S. military deaths since 2010, cable news ratings continue to plummet, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.
At the bottom is upstart Global News. The self-titled "extreme news" network has been critcized for its unorthodox programming, including live broadcasts of Mexican migrants being electrocuted by the U.S. Border Wall. But no move has surprised media watchers more than naming an obscure left-wing blogger as its Baghdad correspondent.
Jimmy Burns, who rocketed to stardom after videotaping the suicide bombing of a Brooklyn Starbucks, has come under fire from media critics from across the political spectrum. The New York Post called Burns "an America-hating deer in the headlights." The Nation wrote, "The ill-informed yet cocky Burns might be best suited for a job in retail."
An executive at Global News' parent company, Lockheed Martin, told the Times the twenty-five-year-old neophyte's days at the network "could be counted on your fingers of one hand."