The annual Conservative Political Action Conference had just started this morning when CNN angered some prominent players by comparing it to a cauldron of bacteria.
Just before noon, an on-air reporter and anchor called CPAC a “conservative petri dish,” an image disgusting to some, and scientifically appropriate to others.
Reporter Peter Hamby, talking about the conference and its reaction to Mitt Romney, said, “It will be interesting to see in this kind of conservative petri dish how Mitt Romney is received and how his challengers re received too.”
That prompted anchor Suzanne Malveaux to say, “I love that, conservative petri dish. That’s a great way to describe it.”
Conservative media watchers started emailing expressions of outrage immediately, leading Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications at the Media Research Center to tell us: “ A petri dish is defined as ‘a shallow circular dish with a loose-fitting cover, used to culture bacteria and other microorganisms.’ As if conservatives are some kind of organism in a contained space to be studied from above by the ‘scientists’ at CNN for our harmful effects. We are not the Ebola virus, but that seems as if it’s how CNN sees conservatives.”
Updated at 3:03 p.m.
A CNN spokesperson said Hamby “was simply making an analogy that significant ideas emerge from this conference.” The reporter has spent weeks on the campaign trail, breaking the news that Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman were dropping out of the race.
Also, CNN originated its show “Starting Point” from the conservative conference Thursday and plans to broadcast from CPAC Friday.
