CNN Coverage of The Colorado Recall Election is a Perfect Example Misleading Journalism

Recently two Colorado State Senators were recalled by voters in their district in a historic election that showed what happens when representatives show out right contempt for their constituents. One of the central issues involved in the recalls of Sen. John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron, both democrats, was their support for new gun control laws that were passed by the state legislature. The recall movement, which started at the grassroots level in Colorado, became the focus for both sides of the gun control debate nationwide. CNN though would lead us believe that the all powerful gun lobby bank-rolled the entire movement. From CNN:

"Colorado

In what some view as evidence of the gun lobby's might, two Democratic state senators were kicked out of office in a recall election this week. The election -- controversial in itself because it was the first-ever at a state level -- was initiated after the two voted in favor of new gun control laws.

The new laws, effective last July, limit firearm ammunition magazines to 15 rounds and require universal background checks on all firearm sales.

The recall was viewed as a battleground between gun rights activists and gun control advocates. It was just in July 2012 that a mass shooting killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

The new gun laws polarized Colorado along party lines: Democratic voters supported them, but Republican voters opposed them, a Quinnipiac University poll said last month.

In the recall, the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, spent between $400,000 and $500,000 to oust the Democratic lawmakers. The NRA denied it initiated a national effort to oust the two lawmakers, saying it was fundamentally "a local effort," the group told CNN.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire and major proponent of gun control, spent $350,000 to keep the Colorado lawmakers in office.

Gun control advocates, however, charged the recall was successful because of "the shadowy maneuvers of the corporate gun lobby and a handful of extremists," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence."

The problem with their coverage arises when you investigate the numbers and what actually happened. Did the NRA donate funds for the recall effort? Yes they certainly did, and according to the Denver Post that figure was around $361,703. Did Mayor Michael Bloomberg donate $350,000 in an effort to support the two gun control senators? Yes he did as well. But why did CNN stop their coverage there?

CNN would have the audience focus only on the funds provided by the NRA and Bloomberg. What CNN leaves out is that there were other contributors that supported Senators Morse and Giron. For example, Eli Broad, a billionaire from California, contributed $250,000 to a group supporting Sen. Morse in the recall. Without focusing solely on the NRA and Bloomberg, most estimates show that pro-Morse and pro-Giron groups outspent their opposition by a 6-to-1 margin in the election.

CNN is misleading their audience into believing that the "might of the gun lobby" toppled two local state senators, when in fact these Senators had ample, if not overwhelming, resources to defend themselves in their recalls. The reality is that Morse and Giron were simply voted out because of their contempt for their constituents. CNN really should rethink its motto when it labels itself "the most trusted name in news" if they intend to keep using it after publishing such misleading articles.