Is Change Coming to CNN?
The firing of Chris Cuomo, coupled with the announced merger of Discovery with WarnerMedia, the owner of CNN, suggest the possibility of great changes at the network. But it’s not a sure thing.
From its launch in 1980, until the arrival of Jeff Zucker as CEO in 2013, CNN was a network that employed journalists, and practiced the kind of journalism, that won it a wide and approving audience. As the first cable network CNN was the ideal place for coverage of ongoing stories like the invasion of Kuwait.
And that wasn’t the only subject that CNN used to handle well. In a content analysis published by The Media Institute in 1983, it was revealed that CNN’s coverage of business and economic issues was better than legacy networks. The study, called “CNN vs the Networks: Is more news better news?” found that not only did CNN cover many more such issues than the broadcast networks, but that its coverage was journalistically superior.
All that changed with the arrival of Zucker. CNN today is easily the worst TV network in the country, little more than a propaganda outlet that practices objective journalism only when the issues covered have no political or ideological angle to them. And why is that not surprising? Perhaps because the reporters and hosts at the network, like Acosta, Cillizza, Lemon, Stelter, Bash, Axelrod, Cooper, and the recently canned Cuomo, wouldn’t recognize legitimate journalism if it walked in the room and tipped its hat.
Even those staffers who practice propaganda less aggressively, people like Blitzer and Tapper, more often cover issues that align with the network’s preferred narratives, while ignoring those (like Waukesha) that do not.
Given all this, and the fact that CNN’s audience numbers are falling, it would seem a simple thing for David Zaslav, the current CEO of Discovery and the guy named to be the CEO of the merged WarnerMedia and Discovery, to clean house, starting with Zucker.
Indeed, even the largest Discovery stockholder, John Malone, has said he thinks change is needed. In a piece published by CNBC on November 18, Malone said “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”
But until the merger is consummated, sometime in the first half of next year, we won’t know if Zaslav realizes what a wreck CNN is. And in the meantime, there have been some disquieting reports. Consider, for instance, the New York Times piece, published in May of this year. Titled “CNN’s Zucker, Reunited with a Powerful Friend, Sees his Fortunes Change,” the article goes on to report that “Phone buddies, and golf partners, Jeff Zucker and David Zaslav have a 30-year history. Now Zucker may be open to working for the man he calls “a best friend.” Elsewhere in the same piece it’s revealed that when Zaslav presented an achievement award to Zucker in 2019, he called the CNN president “one of the greatest media leaders of all time.”
Of course, whatever their personal relationship, it’s possible that Zaslav may be put off by CNN’s and Zucker’s Democratic party and left-wing political leanings. But even here there is some evidence that undermines that hope.
The group CampaignMoney.com shows Zaslav’s political campaign contributions in the 2020 election cycle. That cycle, which covers contributions made in 2019, shows Zaslav contributed small sums to one Republican and three Democrats. But he also contributed $100,000 to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund, and $124,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
So maybe Zaslav isn’t offended by the transparent political bias of CNN. Maybe he likes it. Either way it will be a disgrace if Zucker and his propagandists survive the coming merger.
The Democrats and progressives reading this piece will, as one, protest that the same conditions exist at FOX News. And they’ll be wrong. Though FOX clearly relies on opinion commentators in the evening hours, their daytime programming features real journalists. Contrast this with CNN, and the daytime performance of reporters like Jim Acosta who, during White House press conferences in the Trump years, acted like an agent for the Democratic National Committee.
Patrick Maines is the President Emeritus of The Media Institute, and the creator of the national celebration called Free Speech Week, now in its 16th year.
