CNN/YouTube Debate: Ethics & Plants

When you consider that the Democrats refused to go on FoxNews for a debate because of an accused right-wing bias, you have to wonder what the intellectually-honest on the left will say about the number of leftists and their supporters who got to ask questions without their ties being disclosed. Plants?

This is an election for the President of the United States of America, and thus all Americans should be concerned with the answers and have an equal chance at asking questions. Equal, not greater than. If the questions came from the democratic candidates themselves it would not have been appropriate (but at least we could have assessed their motives), so why is it any different if they are from activists within their camps instead? All I'm asking is for a little disclosure. As a one-time member for the Society of Collegiate Journalists, I had to agree to uphold a code of ethics, the same one that the Society of Professional Journalists subscribes to. Apparently CNN is above all that. You don't have to get past the Preamble of their Code of Ethics to find a number of glaring problems:

... Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

... Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

... Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

... Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

And of course this one:

Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.

CNN? Yeah, right. Luckily we can do the last one for them.