Posted by
Mike Bates on Sunday, July 24, 2011 11:39:39 PM
A possible debt ceiling crisis? Mass murder in Norway? Important
stories, but today on the 6:00 pm segment of CNN Newsroom, they took a
backseat to another story. Showing video of a homosexual wedding, the
program began:
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, boy, it's a historic day in New York.
Same-sex marriages begin. And this hour live coverage as Mayor Michael
Bloomberg officiates a wedding between two of his staff members.
Lemon devoted most of the hour-long program to stories of men marrying
men and women marrying women. Less than ten minutes were spent on a
potential debt ceiling deal in Washington. The Norwegian tragedy
warranted about four minutes of air time. There were approximately two
minutes devoted to weather, and about two more to covering four other
stories, including the death of singer Amy Winehouse. The National
Football League lockout and Tiger Woods firing his caddie each merited
two minutes of air time.
The rest of the hour was all gay marriage. In the interest of balance,
Lemon reported on a demonstration protesting same-sex marriage. That
took less than a minute.
He asked a homosexual couple how long they'd been together. He asked a
lesbian couple how long they'd been together. He aired footage of
several different ceremonies, and devoted much of the last 20 minutes to
the Gracie Mansion event at which Bloomberg married two of his aides:
LEMON: It's a fine and fancy day in the city of New York and right here
on CNN. I feel like I should be wearing my seersucker suit and drinking
mint juleps.
You're watching a milestone in gay rights. Today, New York became the
sixth and largest state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
And -- there we go. Come on. We're got to see the ceremony. Come on, guys, get it together.
So fascinating was this marriage that Lemon and CNN carried it several minutes into the next hour. Finally, it was a wrap:
LEMON: We wish we could take all of you inside for a drink, inside the
tent, wouldn't that be nice? But that's Michael Bloomberg. And now
officially married in New York City, John Fineblatt and Jonathan Bradley
Mintz, two long-time aides of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and guess what?
It was a beautiful ceremony. You got to love a wedding if it's --
whether it's an opposite, couples of opposite -- opposite sex or same
sex. Weddings are always beautiful and it's nice.
Maybe, but they're generally not so newsworthy as to crowd out stories
of considerably more importance. Unless, apparently, they so excite the
anchor that he wishes he were wearing his seersucker suit and drinking
mint juleps. Oh, boy.