CNN drew criticism last Friday for an article headlined “Are whites racially oppressed?” In addition to legitimizing “pro-White” commentators James Edwards and Peter Brimelow, the article quoted the president of a Texas group called “Former Majority Association for Equality” that exists solely to provide college scholarships to white men. FMAE president Colby Bohannan told CNN, “There was no one for white males until we came around.”

As it turns out, that wasn't the first attention CNN gave Bohannan and the Former Majority Association for Equality. On Tuesday, March 1, CNN posted an interview with Bohannan on its web page, then devoted two segments to it during that day's edition of CNN Newsroom. During that coverage, CNN contributor Erick Erickson endorsed the FMAE's white-men-only scholarships:

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think, Erick? Isn't this just another in a multitude of specific scholarships for lots of different kinds of people?

ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, absolutely. It is. If we're going to get rid of scholarships for African-Americans and get rid of scholarships for Hispanics and get rid of scholarships for Asians and get rid of scholarships for women, then let's get rid of the scholarships. But if we're not going to get rid of those, then let's keep this one.

Erickson then suggested that women, Hispanics, and Asians have not been historically disadvantaged in America:

ROMANS: But Erick, don't you think

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this is a little bit different. Because we have a history that's tortured and painful in this country that makes, even today when you start talking about a white-male only scholarship it makes people kind of cringe. Because there was a time when white men frankly ruled this country and had all of the access, and the reason why we have all of these --

(CROSSTALK)

ERICKSON: Absolutely. But they don't anymore. You can justify that, for example, a scholarship for African-Americans, given the history of this country. But can you for Asians or Hispanics or for women? Now we've reached the point in Texas, at least, where the white men are no longer the majority in Texas.

In addition to Erickson's endorsement of the white-men-only scholarship, CNN's Newsroom coverage of the topic was noticeably unbalanced. CNN twice played video clips of Bohannan, but did not air or quote any comments by opposing advocates or experts. Five times during the broadcast, CNN anchor Christine Romans read reader comments left on CNN's web page in support of the scholarship; she only read an opposing comment once. Romans repeatedly characterized CNN readers' response to the whites-only scholarships as overwhelmingly positive without noting that there is absolutely no reason to think that comments left on a blog are a representative sample of anything. Romans even claimed “The vast majority of the comments we got on the blog support the scholarship, and these are people of all different ages and races,” suggesting that support for whites-only scholarship is strong among all demographics. But she had no way of knowing that the blog comments (which aren't a representative sample of anything anyway) really were from “people of all different ages and races.”

Though CNN didn't quote or refer to any experts or advocates who disagree with Bohannan, an ABC News article last week quoted a spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board noting that Bohannan's central premise is flawed:

“Our largest state-funded financial aid program is the Texas Grants program, and in 2009 we served about 63,000 students,” said Dominic Chavez at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which promotes greater access to higher education in the state.

“I am not sure I accept the premise that these programs are targeting students of color,” Chavez said. “These programs are targeted to poor Texans. There is no consideration of race [or] ethnicity for the allocation of these awards.”

The board's goal is to increase enrollment of every single ethnic group in higher education by 5.7 percent -- that includes whites as well as blacks, Asians and Hispanics, said Chavez, who pointed out that college enrollment rates are down among males across all ethnic groups.