Thursday, May 11, 2023 9:04:22 PM
The changes at CNN look politically motivated. That should concern us all
"So I guess cnn is taking over for faux spews until murdoxic cleans house
and renames shit to try to bury the truth. Both are far right wing owners."
Robert Reich
Wed 24 Aug 2022 20.13 AEST
Last modified on Thu 25 Aug 2022 02.56 AEST
Brian Stelter’s very popular and commerically successful show was axed. The reason? Follow the money
The show was cancelled by Chris Licht, CNN’s new chairman and CEO, who reportedly was not a fan of Stelter’s opinionated style.’ Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
For several years, Brian Stelter’s Sunday show on CNN, Reliable Sources, has been a reliable source of intelligent criticism of Fox News, rightwing media in general, Trumpism, and the increasingly authoritarian lurch of the Republican party.
Last week, CNN abruptly canceled the show and effectively fired Stelter and his staff.
Why? The show was commercially successful. Its ratings have suffered somewhat lately but it was doing better than several of CNN’s primetime shows.
It was cancelled by Chris Licht, CNN’s new chairman and CEO, who reportedly was not a fan of Stelter’s opinionated style.
But there appears to be more to it than Stelter’s style. Licht has told CNN staff they should stop referring to Donald Trump’s “big lie” because the phrase sounds like a Democratic party talking point. Licht also wants more “straight news reporting .. https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-ryan-kadro-news-strategy/ ”, along with more conservative guests.
What’s motivating Licht? Follow the money.
CNN’s new corporate overseer is Warner Brothers Discovery Inc, which now owns what used to be Time Warner, including CNN. The CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery is David Zaslav.
[ Insert: [...]Zaslav's executive compensation package includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual $22 million bonus.[when?] In his contract extension,[when?] Zaslav also received stock options valued at $190 million, making him one of the highest-paid entertainment executives in the world.[3][4][5]
[...]Zaslav has donated over $240,000 to Democratic candidates
and PACs,[54] and $5,600 to Republican Senator Jim Risch.[55]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Zaslav#Boards_and_other_activities ]
Zaslav has been prodding Licht to reposition CNN to the center, and be a network preferred by “everybody … Republicans, Democrats ..
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new/cnn-david-zaslav-network-republicans-democrats-journalism-ratings-sink ”.
But CNN is never going to be the network preferred by Republicans. Fox News has that sewn up.
As Republicans move further rightward into the netherworld of authoritarianism, there’s even less possibility that CNN’s news coverage will be able to satisfy them, nor should CNN even try. If we’ve learned anything from Trump and his lapdogs at Fox News, it’s that facts, data and logic are no longer relevant to the Republican base.
Even “straight news reporting” depends on what stories are featured, which facts are highlighted and the context surrounding the news. This necessitates judgment and values.
The anti-democracy movement in America (as elsewhere) is among the biggest issues confronting us today. Is reporting on it considered “straight news” or “opinion”? Wouldn’t failing to report on it in a way that sounded alarms be a gross dereliction of duty?
Besides, how is it possible to report on Trump or Rudy Giuliani or any number of today’s Republican leaders and not speak of the big lie, or say they’ve broken norms if not laws?
So what’s motivating Zaslav? Keep following the money.
The leading shareholder in Warner Brothers Discovery is John Malone, a multibillionaire cable magnate. (Malone was a chief architect in the merger of Discovery and CNN.)
[What is “a new CNN?"
STEVE SCHMIDT MAY 7, 2023
[...]The distinction between featuring Trump in a town hall, and one starring him is not semantic. It is elemental. Should the town hall simply feature Trump then it is possible the new CNN will trend towards journalism. That would be good. If it stars Donald Trump, it would harken the renewal of a dismal partnership, and place CNN in a business arrangement with Trump along his shady axis of partnerships, including Saudi Arabia, LIV Golf, NewsMax, Fox News and Tucker Carlson. This distinction matters in a world in which Fox News has been exposed as the most corrupt news organization in American history. Beyond the moment to moment malfeasance, dishonesty, racism, xenophobia and gaslighting, Bret Baier, Rupert Murdoch’s hard news bard, has been unmasked. He is a conman, not a news man. He lies for profit. He misleads to please the fragile sensibilities of his radical audience. This is the model that CNN has been encouraged to pursue by one of America’s richest and most powerful men.
P - A few years back, John Malone, the largest shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery, made critical comments about CNN, and cited Fox News as a model the network might wish to follow. In a 2021 “Squawk Box” interview, Malone said:
P - Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have news news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions. And I think they’ve been relatively successful with a service like Bret Baier, and Brit Hume before him, that try to distinguish news from opinion. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171857387]
Malone describes himself as a “libertarian” although he travels in rightwing Republican circles. In 2005, he held 32% of the shares of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute. In 2017, he donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration.
Malone has said he wants CNN to be more like Fox News because, in his view, Fox News has “actual journalism”. Malone also wants the “news” portion of CNN to be “more centrist”.
It’s unlikely that Malone instructed Zaslav to tell Licht to fire Stelter. Power isn’t exercised that directly or clumsily in large corporate media bureaucracies.
It’s more likely that Licht knew what Zaslav wanted, and Zaslav knew what Malone wanted. A source told Deadline’s Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson that even if Malone didn’t order Stelter’s ouster, “it sure represents his thinking”.
Early last spring, Stelter wrote .. https://deadline.com/2022/08/cnn-firings-brian-stelter-chris-licht-john-malone-warner-bros-discovery-1235096292/?mc_cid=357a3c7e89&mc_eid=fef816934d .. in his newsletter that Malone’s comments about CNN “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice”.
When you follow the money behind deeply irresponsible decisions at the power centers of America today, the road often leads to rightwing billionaires.
Last Sunday, on his last show, Stelter said:
“It’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.”
Precisely.
Sadly, there are still many in America – and not just billionaires like Malone – who believe that holding Trump accountable for what he has done (and continues to do) to this country is a form of partisanship, and that such partisanship has no place in so-called “balanced journalism”.
This view is itself dangerous.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few .. https://bookshop.org/books/saving-capitalism-for-the-many-not-the-few/9780345806222 .. and The Common Good .. https://bookshop.org/books/the-common-good-9780525436379/9780525436379 . His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It .. https://bookshop.org/books/the-system-who-rigged-it-how-we-fix-it/9780525659044 , is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com .. http://robertreich.substack.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/24/the-changes-at-cnn-look-politically-motivated-that-should-concern-us-all
See also:
And still did not get paid, even after "and then had to do even more to satisfy Trump." So they went to court, waste more
money against top lawyers working for a criminal American who had a lifetime history of conning contractors and others.
[...]Robert Reich: The whole market has been tilted to favor the rich
The former secretary of labor explains why Americans pay more for food and Internet than any other advanced nation VIDEO
[...]There’s some truth to this. The tasks most people used to do can now be done more cheaply by lower-paid workers abroad or by computer-driven machines.
P - But this common explanation overlooks a critically important phenomenon: the increasing concentration of political power in a corporate and financial elite that has been able to influence the rules by which the economy runs.
P - As I argue in my new book, “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” (out this week), this transformation has amounted to a pre-distribution upward.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171597129
"So I guess cnn is taking over for faux spews until murdoxic cleans house
and renames shit to try to bury the truth. Both are far right wing owners."
Robert Reich
Wed 24 Aug 2022 20.13 AEST
Last modified on Thu 25 Aug 2022 02.56 AEST
Brian Stelter’s very popular and commerically successful show was axed. The reason? Follow the money
The show was cancelled by Chris Licht, CNN’s new chairman and CEO, who reportedly was not a fan of Stelter’s opinionated style.’ Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
For several years, Brian Stelter’s Sunday show on CNN, Reliable Sources, has been a reliable source of intelligent criticism of Fox News, rightwing media in general, Trumpism, and the increasingly authoritarian lurch of the Republican party.
Last week, CNN abruptly canceled the show and effectively fired Stelter and his staff.
Why? The show was commercially successful. Its ratings have suffered somewhat lately but it was doing better than several of CNN’s primetime shows.
It was cancelled by Chris Licht, CNN’s new chairman and CEO, who reportedly was not a fan of Stelter’s opinionated style.
But there appears to be more to it than Stelter’s style. Licht has told CNN staff they should stop referring to Donald Trump’s “big lie” because the phrase sounds like a Democratic party talking point. Licht also wants more “straight news reporting .. https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-ryan-kadro-news-strategy/ ”, along with more conservative guests.
What’s motivating Licht? Follow the money.
CNN’s new corporate overseer is Warner Brothers Discovery Inc, which now owns what used to be Time Warner, including CNN. The CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery is David Zaslav.
[ Insert: [...]Zaslav's executive compensation package includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual $22 million bonus.[when?] In his contract extension,[when?] Zaslav also received stock options valued at $190 million, making him one of the highest-paid entertainment executives in the world.[3][4][5]
[...]Zaslav has donated over $240,000 to Democratic candidates
and PACs,[54] and $5,600 to Republican Senator Jim Risch.[55]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Zaslav#Boards_and_other_activities ]
Zaslav has been prodding Licht to reposition CNN to the center, and be a network preferred by “everybody … Republicans, Democrats ..
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new/cnn-david-zaslav-network-republicans-democrats-journalism-ratings-sink ”.
But CNN is never going to be the network preferred by Republicans. Fox News has that sewn up.
As Republicans move further rightward into the netherworld of authoritarianism, there’s even less possibility that CNN’s news coverage will be able to satisfy them, nor should CNN even try. If we’ve learned anything from Trump and his lapdogs at Fox News, it’s that facts, data and logic are no longer relevant to the Republican base.
Even “straight news reporting” depends on what stories are featured, which facts are highlighted and the context surrounding the news. This necessitates judgment and values.
The anti-democracy movement in America (as elsewhere) is among the biggest issues confronting us today. Is reporting on it considered “straight news” or “opinion”? Wouldn’t failing to report on it in a way that sounded alarms be a gross dereliction of duty?
Besides, how is it possible to report on Trump or Rudy Giuliani or any number of today’s Republican leaders and not speak of the big lie, or say they’ve broken norms if not laws?
So what’s motivating Zaslav? Keep following the money.
The leading shareholder in Warner Brothers Discovery is John Malone, a multibillionaire cable magnate. (Malone was a chief architect in the merger of Discovery and CNN.)
[What is “a new CNN?"
STEVE SCHMIDT MAY 7, 2023
[...]The distinction between featuring Trump in a town hall, and one starring him is not semantic. It is elemental. Should the town hall simply feature Trump then it is possible the new CNN will trend towards journalism. That would be good. If it stars Donald Trump, it would harken the renewal of a dismal partnership, and place CNN in a business arrangement with Trump along his shady axis of partnerships, including Saudi Arabia, LIV Golf, NewsMax, Fox News and Tucker Carlson. This distinction matters in a world in which Fox News has been exposed as the most corrupt news organization in American history. Beyond the moment to moment malfeasance, dishonesty, racism, xenophobia and gaslighting, Bret Baier, Rupert Murdoch’s hard news bard, has been unmasked. He is a conman, not a news man. He lies for profit. He misleads to please the fragile sensibilities of his radical audience. This is the model that CNN has been encouraged to pursue by one of America’s richest and most powerful men.
P - A few years back, John Malone, the largest shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery, made critical comments about CNN, and cited Fox News as a model the network might wish to follow. In a 2021 “Squawk Box” interview, Malone said:
P - Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have news news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions. And I think they’ve been relatively successful with a service like Bret Baier, and Brit Hume before him, that try to distinguish news from opinion. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171857387]
Malone describes himself as a “libertarian” although he travels in rightwing Republican circles. In 2005, he held 32% of the shares of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute. In 2017, he donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration.
Malone has said he wants CNN to be more like Fox News because, in his view, Fox News has “actual journalism”. Malone also wants the “news” portion of CNN to be “more centrist”.
It’s unlikely that Malone instructed Zaslav to tell Licht to fire Stelter. Power isn’t exercised that directly or clumsily in large corporate media bureaucracies.
It’s more likely that Licht knew what Zaslav wanted, and Zaslav knew what Malone wanted. A source told Deadline’s Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson that even if Malone didn’t order Stelter’s ouster, “it sure represents his thinking”.
Early last spring, Stelter wrote .. https://deadline.com/2022/08/cnn-firings-brian-stelter-chris-licht-john-malone-warner-bros-discovery-1235096292/?mc_cid=357a3c7e89&mc_eid=fef816934d .. in his newsletter that Malone’s comments about CNN “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice”.
When you follow the money behind deeply irresponsible decisions at the power centers of America today, the road often leads to rightwing billionaires.
Last Sunday, on his last show, Stelter said:
“It’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.”
Precisely.
Sadly, there are still many in America – and not just billionaires like Malone – who believe that holding Trump accountable for what he has done (and continues to do) to this country is a form of partisanship, and that such partisanship has no place in so-called “balanced journalism”.
This view is itself dangerous.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few .. https://bookshop.org/books/saving-capitalism-for-the-many-not-the-few/9780345806222 .. and The Common Good .. https://bookshop.org/books/the-common-good-9780525436379/9780525436379 . His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It .. https://bookshop.org/books/the-system-who-rigged-it-how-we-fix-it/9780525659044 , is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com .. http://robertreich.substack.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/24/the-changes-at-cnn-look-politically-motivated-that-should-concern-us-all
See also:
And still did not get paid, even after "and then had to do even more to satisfy Trump." So they went to court, waste more
money against top lawyers working for a criminal American who had a lifetime history of conning contractors and others.
[...]Robert Reich: The whole market has been tilted to favor the rich
The former secretary of labor explains why Americans pay more for food and Internet than any other advanced nation VIDEO
[...]There’s some truth to this. The tasks most people used to do can now be done more cheaply by lower-paid workers abroad or by computer-driven machines.
P - But this common explanation overlooks a critically important phenomenon: the increasing concentration of political power in a corporate and financial elite that has been able to influence the rules by which the economy runs.
P - As I argue in my new book, “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” (out this week), this transformation has amounted to a pre-distribution upward.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171597129
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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