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CNN’s mule story kicks up a pack full of publicity |
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Friday, 02 November 2007 |
 The role that mules and packers played in discovering and settling and maintaining the Sierra is celebrated during Mule Days with the Packer Sramble, and would be a key part of a proposed mule museum. Photo by Keith Rainville By Jon Klusmire
Register Staff 11-1-2007 A $50,000 proposal to explore the “feasibility” of a mule museum in Bishop has generated thousands of dollars worth of free publicity on CNN for Mule Days and Bishop.
The big shot news hounds, however, made jackasses out of themselves by constantly using the term “jackass” during the report on the proposed mule museum and Mule Days and politicians who try to get money “earmarked” for their pet projects.
The report wasn’t exactly a glowing, “feel-good” item about Bishop, mules, Mule Days or a proposed mule museum. But for those who believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity, having Bishop and Mule Days featured for days on end on a top-ranked cable news station, the item provided priceless exposure for the town and Mule Days.
The $50,000 for the proposed mule museum was used, along with a $150,000 request for another museum in Ohio, as examples of the continued existence of “earmarks” inCongressional spending bills. Congressman Buck McKeon has proposed the $50,000 earmark to study the feasibility of building a mule museum. The bulk of the report focussed on earmarks as a waste of federal money for little, obscure local projects, and how the practice has continued even after Democrats took control of Congress after promising to reform the earmark and budgeting process.
Regardless, the Bishop mule museum angle was flogged by CNN for days, as the news channel tried to get as much distance out of the story as possible, even if it meant whipping a dead horse, or mule, in this case.
The cable news channel has featured Bishop and the annual Mule Days celebration for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) on its endless, 24-hour news loop, and the mule museum idea was featured on the network’s top-line nightly news show, Anderson Cooper 360, on Tuesday evening. (The tease for AC 360 on the CNN web page asked, “Who’s the Jackass,” again misusing the term.)
Both the regular news segment and what was shown during AC 360 were virtually identical.
The piece showed a Google Earth map zoom in on Bishop and then used numerous shots of the Mule Days sign and the Tri-County Fairgrounds. Local packing legend Bob Tanner was the only local put on camera to talk about the proposed mule museum, and all the producers and reporters allowed to air was Tanner saying, “there’s a lot of things people don’t know about mules.”
Correspondent Drew Griffin showed he didn’t know much about mules, and could probably use a trip to a mule museum. He repeatedly used the word “jackass” in the report, calling Congressmen jackasses for trying to quietly get “earmarked” funds for projects such as the mule museum, etc.
As all good Mule Day celebrants know, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, and a donkey can be called a jackass. A mule is not a jackass. Duh.
Anyway, the report did inform the world about Mule Days. According to a transcript that was posted on the CNN web site under the title, “Mule Museum Draws Brays (which provided another “platform” for informing the world about Bishop and Mule Days, and another bad pun about “taxpayers having to pony up for the museum idea”):
“Of all the earmark, pork-barrel spending stories we've brought you over this past year, this one is has just galloped to the front of the heard.
“McKeon wants $50,000 of your money so the town of Bishop, California (pop. 3,575), can explore the possibility of building a mule museum. Of course, you probably already know that Bishop is the self-proclaimed Mule Capitol of the World,' and when the rest of the country is celebrating Memorial Day, the good folks of Bishop are hosting their annual Mule Days Celebration.”
During that voice-over, scenes of the Mule Days sign, and the fairgrounds were shown.
With any luck, there will be some backlash against the CNN report that will help keep the story alive and give it legs.
Complaints could come in from the numerous other small towns, mostly in the south, which also declare they are the “Mule Capitol of the World,” or actually have some sort of mule museum. Then, CNN would have to get out its mule whip and flog the brand new, “where is the REAL mule capitol of the world” story. That would be a best-case scenario, since it would force CNN to actually talk about mules and Mule Days and could be a generally fun item. (Note to Mule Day organizing committee: tell CNN about those “impostors” ASAP and make sure CNN knows Bishop is the one-and- only true mule capitol and generally try to keep riding this mule news wagon for as long as possible.)
McKeon did respond in writing during the AC 360 show, with a statement that while CNN might want to belittle or make fun of small town events and the traditions of rural America, he was dedicated to promoting “economic development” in his district.
McKeon also mentioned the famous “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska, proposed by a Democrat, which put the whole earmark issue in the spotlight.
The rest of the report focussed on the “earmark” question, but did wrap up rather nicely. It seems McKeon’s mule museum earmark is close to being approved in a Congressional spending bill. The final shots showed Tanner walking into the Mule Days Office, and correspondent Griffin making the snarky little comment, “it looks like the mules are in business.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 December 2007 )
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