At approximately 2:30PM ET today, CNN used a graphic in its Gulf oil spill coverage that was badly misleading. The graphic showed the State of Louisiana with an arrow pointing to a dot representing New Orleans and the words NEW ORLEANS. Immediately below the name of the City, and superimposed on the southern part of the state, a film showed oil gushing from the broken oil pipe. The arrow seemed to be pointing to this too.
The inescapable association viewers had from this graphic was that New Orleans was directly in the path of the gushing oil.in fact, the City is 100 miles from the coast.
If CNN's intent was to hurt the economy of New Orleans by associating it with the oil spill your graphic was perfect. Because I know that wasn't the case, the graphic was inaccurate and unfortunate..
This kind of negligence in reporting — so uncharacteristic of CNN — hurts the City. As someone with business interests in the City, I am particularly concerned about the impact oil spill covergae has on New Orleans.
Thank you —
Peter J. Sonnabend
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