CNN is on track to become the False Equivalency Network

CNN’s Feared Turn to the Dark Side Raises Concerns of Right-Wing Bias

In these tumultuous and politically polarizing times, we need more truth, not less.  Tragically, the Cable News Network (CNN) seems to be headed in the wrong direction. Under new CEO Chris Licht, CNN appears to be quickly rebranding as what I would describe as the False Equivalency Network (FEN), devolving into a cornucopia of “he said/they said”, “both sides” drivel. Ironically, such journalistic malpractice is being carried out under the distorted flag of “objectivity”.

The Guardian reports:

One of Licht’s first moves was to embark on what Axios described as a “Capitol Hill diplomacy tour” and others described as a Republican boot-licking tour. Licht met with lawmakers who had become wary of cable news and promised them that CNN was moving away from “alarmist” programming towards more neutral, objective reporting.

I’m all for impartial reporting. I’d be delighted if cable news outlets would abandon their sensationalistic graphics and saved “Breaking News” chyrons for only the most serious stories that demand our attention. However, good reporting is only “neutral”, in the sense that reporters must approach each person and situation with an open mind. But the information ascertained by reporters isn’t dispassionate. There aren’t necessarily “two sides” to every story. Genuine news reporting has a bias toward facts.

What CNN appears to be offering is a product where reality is just one of many options viewers can embrace. If this is the sordid direction CNN is going to take, it will fail. Right wing viewers at FOX will remain loyal. MSNBC viewers will not retreat to a network that pretends that today’s radical Republicans are no different from Gerald Ford’s GOP of the mid-1970s.

By trying to please everyone, CNN will appease no one – and their ratings will crater. Is there really an untapped market for Americans (who aren’t already watching FOX) who yearn for more false equivalency? Is there a hidden demographic that supports a misguided marketing scheme that normalizes seditious elements of the Republican Party?

I caught a glimpse of CNN’s “new” journalism yesterday. Jake Tapper (who is often a good host) pitched the possibility of President Joe Biden inviting former President Donald Trump to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.  

“I mean, the U.K. has made it very clear, that’s up to the president,” Tapper said. “He’s invited. He can bring whatever delegation. So obviously, Obama, you know, Carter, Bush, no-brainers. What about Trump? I think that the clever move is to invite him and see if he goes.”  

Such idiocy, posing as journalism, is classic false equivalency. Yes, Jake, the men you mentioned were all once presidents. But only one staged a coup to stop the democratic transfer of power. Only one sat on his butt watching TV as the U.S. Capitol was invaded by a violent mob that he incited. Only one refused to concede defeat and has waged a national campaign to promote the Big Lie that he is the legitimate president. Only one stole and hid Top Secret documents, and then turned his vicious mob on FBI agents who are doing their jobs.

Is it really “clever” to elevate a would-be dictator and aspiring strongman? Should we have amnesia and pretend that Trump is just like any other president with whom we might merely disagree? At the very moment that Tapper – and other CNN hosts – peddled this offensive hokum, New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman, released a new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” that detailed Trump’s plan to not vacate the presidency after his loss to Joe Biden.

“I’m just not going to leave,” Trump told one aide, according to Haberman. “We’re never leaving,” Trump told another. “How can you leave when you won an election?”

How does CNN justify trying to mainstream Trump, as if such undemocratic behavior is normal and not a threat to the republic? Sure, Jake and CNN management, let’s put this tyrant on a plane with Obama, Carter and Bush, so they can yuck it up and play Go Fish. Maybe, Trump could use this trip to peddle the state secrets he heisted to the Russian delegation while they stand over the Queen’s coffin?

The shallow “Trump on Air Force One” rubbish simply reconfirmed the distressing signals sent by CNN’s new leadership. CNN unceremoniously canned Brian Stelter, who hosted Reliable Sources on Sundays. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich responded to Stelter’s firing by calling it politically motivated:

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.

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”, along with more conservative guests.

Is Licht suggesting that any point raised by Democrats is illegitimate and must be dismissed as political, regardless of whether it’s true? In the twisted name of balance, are all talking points on CNN now deemed equal, no matter their substance or veracity?

CNN followed up their firing of Stelter by dismissing White House correspondent John Harwood shortly after he referred to Trump as “a dishonest demagogue” on the air. This disastrous move sent chills throughout CNN’s newsroom, where lesser known, and more expendable, reporters and editors, are contemplating whether to censor the news to please the man signing their checks.  

“People are freaked out,” said one CNN journalist. “It almost feels like there’s a pattern. Is there a purge going on? They seem to be sending a message: ‘Watch what you say. Watch what you do.’”

Licht appears to be a mere puppet, serving the larger vision of David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, which now owns CNN. Aside from bastardizing the news, Zaslav is also gutting HBO Max, aiming to slice $3 billion out its operating budget and he has laid off at least 70 employees. This appears to include nixing shows that promote diversity with The Daily Beast reporting that under Zaslav’s leadership Warner Bros. Discovery “is killing off diversity and courting Middle America.”  

If Licht and Zaslav believe that Americans are thirsting for MAGA-TV, with cheap, biased false equivalency “journalism”, or a milquetoast HBO Max, they are more delusional than I imagined. There is still a sliver of hope that they won’t destroy these venerated American media properties, but expectations that they will correct their early missteps are falling by the day.  

I’ll end with a quick lesson in news reporting. I majored in journalism at University of Florida and have worked in a few newsrooms, so I do have some experience: If I refer to Licht and Zaslav as blithering idiots who are clearly incompetent, clueless and don’t understand the first thing about news reporting, that is a vivid example of opinion journalism.

Referring to Trump’s campaign to undo an election that he lost as the “Big Lie” is accurate journalism girded by facts. This doesn’t change unless Licht or Zaslav can present compelling, previously unseen, evidence that Trump’s outrageous claims aren’t bogus. By demanding that CNN’s employees shade the truth to appease Republicans, Licht and Zaslav have transformed CNN’s product into the biased, hack journalism that they purport to abhor. America needs top-quality news, not another right wing distortion field that will only inflame our nation’s existing divisions.