A while back, we posted a piece about why, at the time, CNN was played on so many airport televisions. It made for a lot of (happily, respectful) discussion about left-wing vs. right-wing TV stations and their appropriateness at public airports (although CNN Airport news was intentionally politically neutral, its parent company, CNN, is decidedly left-leaning).
In early 2021, we reported that, after broadcasting across the country for 30 years, the CNN Airport Network was permanently going off the air. That post also got a lot of comments, but most were not respectful (read: “outrage” against Liberals and left-leaning TV stations. I guess they didn’t read our rules about comments on YMMV) and were not approved.
Of course, Conservatives don’t hold all the rights to having “outrage.” The shoe can be on the other foot, as well. Case in point…
Professor Michael E. Mann is a Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State. He was in New York to accept the Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society (the award recognizes “the accomplishments of physicists whose work promotes the bettering of society in sectors such as the environment, arms control and science policy”).
In advance of this honor, Prof. Mann was staying at a Marriott property in Manhattan. He took to Twitter this past Saturday afternoon because the hotel’s fitness center was, as he called it, “fixed” on Fox News. He said the hotel manager claimed they couldn’t change the channel; that it’s set by corporate, and he found it offensive.
Dear @Marriott: The Fitness center at your NYC Times Square hotel has TV fixed on “Fox News”— a network that promotes anti-American, pro-Russian propaganda. The manager of the facility says he can’t change the channel, it is set by you. This is deeply offensive. pic.twitter.com/z0bcIndolI
— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) April 9, 2022
The Fitness center at your NYC Times Square hotel has TV fixed on ‘Fox News’ – a network that promotes anti-American, pro-Russian propaganda. The manager of the facility says he can’t change the channel, it is set by you. This is deeply offensive.
By Sunday morning, he had not gotten a reply from Marriott, so he wrote again, this time getting Marriot Bonvoy involved:
Hi @MarriottBonvoy — Don't want to pull rank, but I've got more followers than you. And the tweet now has 3k+ likes, 130k+ impressions and 10k+ engagements. And a large number of folks have said they're no longer staying at @Marriott full stop.
A response would be appropriate. https://t.co/EPTSQqRcoy— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) April 10, 2022
Hi @MarriottBonvoy — Don’t want to pull rank, but I’ve got more followers than you,” the professor of atmospheric science wrote. “And the tweet now has 3k+ likes, 130k+ impressions and 10k+ engagements. And a large number of folks have said they’re no longer staying at @Marriott full stop. A response would be appropriate.
(BTW, I checked on the numbers, so you don’t have to. Prof. Mann has 206.8K followers. Marriott Bonvoy has 199.2K followers. Marriott Hotels, BTW, has 330K followers).
By early Sunday afternoon, it looked like Prof. Mann’s gripe with the chain had been resolved. The manager of the Marriott hotel in question personally reached out to him and corrected what the hotel’s policy was, which he said did not stipulate the TVs remain locked on the Fox News.
I am pleased to report that the manager of the hotel has gotten back to me and has informed me that this is NOT the policy of this @Marriott (i.e. to have a single, namely Fox, news channel on the TVs in the fitness facility as was the case yesterday). 🧵 https://t.co/MR54oVMsUM
— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) April 10, 2022
This was followed up with:
Today no news channels at all, just sports (yesterday was “Fox News” +3 sports screens). Putin propaganda-free workout! 🙂👍 pic.twitter.com/vgiJ3AGuXE
— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) April 10, 2022
And all was right with the world.
Frankly, I think complaining about a TV station in the hotel’s gym is going a little overboard, regardless of what side of the political fence you lean on. I mean, that’s what ear buds are for, right? But as the good blog says, Your Mileage May Vary.
Feature Photo (cropped): Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue / license
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8 comments
It is such a shame that CNN is no longer objective news. Ted Turner is upset, too. As a result, foreign TV sources, including the BBC (UK), France 24 (France), CNA (Singapore), EBC (Taiwan) and even SNT (Paraguay) becomes a useful news source. America is going downhill. It is sad when you have to get news from Paraguay.
I don’t watch a whole lot of TV, TBH. But for reading I tend to go with the AP, BBC and CBC, along with my own local newspaper (the latter is not neutral. But it’s local and I want to support that, so…).
It’s offensive? I would think a guy of his age would be harder to offend… Then again, you know what they say about a lot of Prof’s at universities. 😉
This professor runs across a singular TV, in a hotel gym (private property), and is outraged to the point of writing nasty-grams to corporate and Bonvoy, which apparently ‘corrected’ the situation.
Meanwhile, the rest of us had to endure CNN Airport blaring at nearly each and every gate across the fruited plain for decades (all on government-owned property) offending no small number of people daily, and it doesn’t stop short of the network itself dying.
Curious – since they purposely didn’t include politics in CNN Airport’s format, what was so offensive about the station, save for who their parent company was?
I’m an American and believe in everyone’s right to free thought and speech…unless they disagree with me, then their opinion doesn’t matter and they shouldn’t have a voice. I mean what kind of free country are we living in where there can be people and TV stations that have opposing views? Utter madness. Clearly we are not enough like Russia, enjoying all the freedoms they have there and access to media. Beyond TV, I think it’s great that we have social media platform that have no accountability and manipulate the public to their political ends. I just don’t see why anyone would think this professor is the most open-minded, well balanced educator out there and should be writing the curriculum for entire school system.
I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by the faux outrage in the world today. It certainly happens on both sides but as someone who grew up protesting real travesties around the world this one seems comical. The best part is that you can clearly see from his first tweet that the TV’s on either side are on a different station. The current state of liberalism is… Only Bill Maher has kept his sanity…
This is what I believe: if there is a TV on Fox, then there needs to be a TV on CNN. There were 4 TVs in that fitness center. So this should not have been issue! So, yup, I blame the hotel! Practice equal opportunity and equality and you will get less complaints. Simple isn’t it?