CNN’s Town Hall Anti-Gun Agitprop, Part Two: “A Really Good Discussion”

"Here a competent moderator should have intervened, saying: “I’m going to insist that all questioners phrase their questions to our guests in a far and respectful manner, and if they do not, I’m going to move on to another questioner. This is not how to have a civil discussion. Try again, Emma.”
Of course, Tapper did not, because he appreciates Emma."

Ethics Alarms  . . . "Take it from an ethicist, Chris (look it up): a biased and one-sided audience jeering and booing advocates of one position, including calling one of those advocates “a murderer” while the somnolent moderator does nothing is not a good discussion, nor is it ethical journalism. See, in a “really good discussion,” Chris, both sides in the debate feel they were heard, respected, and given an equal chance to express themselves. One side does not leave the stage feeling they were bullied and mugged. That you and CNN—Jake Tapper also has defended the “town hall” can say—perhaps sincerely—that this was a “really good discussion” tells us that “good” means “advanced the political and policy agenda we support, while abusing the opposition.”
. . . 
Except that this was not the message of CNN’s “really good discussion.”Here are some examples from the CNN transcript.

• CNN’s transcript deceptively fails to reflect that fact that in this first exchange, the audience was booing and jeering poor Marco Rubio almost without stop. Nor does it reflect accurately the utter disrespect student questioner Cameron Kasky displayed for Rubio, who is a U.S. Senator, and was willing to subject himself to the smug abuse of children. “Applause” in CNN transcript-speak often means “boos and jeers so loud it’s incredible”and “crosstalk” means  “the students were shouting insults all at once.”

. . . "To sum up this fiasco, it is impossible to have a “good discussion” of a complex issue…

…before all the facts are known

….in a rigged, circus atmosphere

….created by a politically biased news organization

….before an audience overwhelmingly favoring one point of view

….containing recently traumatized teens,

….with the guests consisting of an incompetent sheriff trying to cover for his own accountability for a tragedy

….plus two politicians to pandering to the angry mob

…and two incompetent advocates for the unpopular position

…all overseen by a passive and inept moderator.