On CNN's American Morning, anchor Carol Costello asked their the poll question: "Do the poor share responsibility for our economic woes?" Costello then goes on to quote a viewer comment that slams welfare programs for the poor.

She then cites a Heritage Foundation report that says that poor people in the United States live better off than the middle class does, because they live in houses and have microwaves, televisions and refrigerators. The clear implications are that welfare is a key cause of the economic crisis, that welfare programs should be cut, and that the poor should quit whining because they are "lucky duckies."

Costello is clearly not doing her job here, and CNN should reprimand her for it and implement policies that require basic journalistic standards and limitations on anchors editorializing during news segments.

No legitimate news organization should uncritically report anything from a group like the Heritage Foundation. When they receive information from groups like this, they should immediately reject the conclusions of the reports -- not because they are conservative, but because they are faulty science. There is no responsibility in any journalistic ethics course I've ever heard of that places giving both sides an equal say on every issue when one of those sides is lying. Journalists have a responsibility to check out what their sources are saying for accuracy before reporting it. Otherwise they are failing to serve their purpose in a democratic society, where there job is to give citizens accurate information so they can properly participate in the society. CNN is failing to live up to that responsibility.