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CNN Polls Tied to Hillary Donor
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s ties to InfoUSA Chairman Vinod Gupta have raised conflict-of-interest concerns over the firm’s links to CNN. In December, database company InfoUSA acquired the polling firm Opinion Research Corp., which provides CNN with polling services for its coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign. Gupta is actively campaigning for Hillary, and as a result the polling firm’s findings "could be perceived as being colored by Gupta’s connections to the Clintons,” TheDeal.com observed.
Story Continues Below "In May, for example, CNN cited results of an Opinion Research poll that showed Hillary Clinton gaining momentum among liberal voters, without disclosing that the pollster is owned by a company whose owner is working to elect her.” A shareholder lawsuit has disclosed that Gupta has had InfoUSA pay Bill Clinton $2.1 million in "consulting fees” since he left the White House, with another $1.2 million promised. The lawsuit also states that InfoUSA spent more than $900,000 to provide corporate jet flights for both Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clintons vacationed at Gupta’s home in Hawaii and flew to Acapulco on a corporate jet. Gupta has helped raise considerable sums for Hillary’s campaigns – most recently serving as vice chairman of a fundraiser in New York – and once spent the night as a favored guest in the White House’s Lincoln bedroom. On June 5, NewsMax’s chief Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler first reported that Gupta has also hired House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s son Paul Jr. as a $180,000-a-year senior vice president – even though he has no experience in Gupta’s company’s main business activities. Opinion Research began conducting polls for CNN in April 2006, according to TheDeal.com. A month after InfoUSA closed on its purchase of the polling company in December, CNN and Opinion Research announced a 2-year partnership, with Opinion Research conducting political polling for CNN through next year’s election. In an e-mail statement, Opinion Research President Jeff Resnick defended the company’s work for CNN: "Each week, great care is taken to ensure the poll results are accurate and free from any bias. An examination of the poll results will support this statement.” But Bruce Weinstein, who writes an ethics column for BusinessWeek.com, said just the perception of a potential conflict of interest could hurt a media organization’s credibility. © NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved. Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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