When has CNN ever been a real journalism outlet? The network made its name at “Breaking News” and having people on the ground in the Gulf War #1, and ever since then its model for news reporting has been to exaggerate every major story into an immediate crisis which it then pumps by repeated ‘roundtable discussions’ with pundits, most of whom are so ill-informed on the topic at hand that they just repeat one another’s misapprehensions throughout the ‘news cycle’. And if there isn’t anything at all going on in national affairs to report on, they’ll dig up some local interest story about an abducted white woman or some salacious bit of celebrity gossip to manufacture into a national issue complete with ‘expert’ commentary.
CNN does not really care for the business of actual journalism, and especially not anything that requires investigation or deep fact-checking, which is why all of the actual journalists it has had on staff have long since fled to other ventures, and it spends so much time fluffing up its own personalities. It is basically what Fox News would be if the latter did not have a dedicated mission to disseminating conservative propaganda.
CNN said a while ago that it was going the fair and balanced route, i.e., trying to capture a MAGA market share. I stopped looking at CNN at that point.
Not to disparage you, but this is whats wrong with American politics today. People stop listening when an opposing view (no matter how nastey) is given. It’s the nasteyness of their view that we need to expose and question, not hide from. Canceling CNN is not the answer. Perhaps they want to attract MAGA’s so that they can show them something different from what Fox offers. Perhaps then thy can be convinced that its crazy to follow him.
Some attempt has to be made to move the needle from the 50-50 split we have. The status quo isn’t working. Hiding from hate doesn’t work, it must be exposed and confronted. And it isn’t pretty, some people are goiong to be offended.
You are being far too charitable. CNN just wants to get views and clicks whether from agreement or outrage, and this stunt gave them plenty of both. Anyone who has a pulse, eyes, and ears for the last eight years either understands how corrupt and incompetent that Trump and his coterie are, and either are repulsed by or entranced with it. All this did is to give Donald Trump a national platform from a quasi-reputable source to rile up supporters, and the patent efforts at fact-checking by the host were predictably completely ineffectual because Trump doesn’t deal in facts, just a drunkard’s walk of vague mistruths, invective, baseless conspiracy theories, and billingsgate. You literally cannot fact-check anyone who just doesn’t care about facts, and you can’t ‘expose’ Trump to his supporters for being an awful, incoherent, bigoted, abhorrent candidate when those are the qualities that they actively embrace and engage with.
This was a stupid, foolish, and ill-considered move by one narcissist body to celebrate another, even if just to get attention.
Good luck with that. You think this 50/50 split is accidental? It is by design. Both parties have discovered that a 50/50 split (or close to it) will maximize donations. And that, after all, is what is driving current politics. In both parties, the reins are being held by the people the party believes will maximize income for the party. Not what is best for the country.
CNN proved that, last night. They aren’t concerned about where this country is headed, they look at it as not only being beyond their control, but none of their business. Same with the ones driving the Democrats and Republicans. Those leaders are not trying to get elected to do anything other than what they are doing, maximize income. It is the job of the candidates who get elected to be concerned where the country is headed.
Corporate-think has taken control of the two-party system. Both parties benefit from the 50/50 split. Neither one would benefit from a 80/20 split, both of them would lose revenue.
The parties are out of leadership control because of the triumph of the primary system. So there is no design.
Where you may sort-of be pointing in the correct direction is that the importance, to political success, of raising a lot of money, is overstated. But then — what should a political leader do about that? Theoretically, he or she could make polling-approved centrist statements that piss off contributors. My personal favorite is for Democrats to oppose race-based affirmative action. Beyond that, theoretically, a not-so-fearless leader could do some triangulation on trans rights (beyond Biden’s position on trans men in sports, which already is split-the-difference centrist). But the question then is — would this really gain votes? Maybe not! Most voters — even centrists — want a politician to stand for something. If Biden, or McConnell, were to base all their statements on median/swing voter polling and focus groups, they would lose votes of those who believe in the cliché that a politician must be a fighter.
Good post. I have always thought that
Baby Jessica (1987) as the standard by which future news stories set themselves to beat. Her story meant literally nothing for 99.99% of the audience, allowed news organizations to avoid reporting on real news (cost savings!), and got enormous ratings, far more than boring old men talking about the Soviet Union.
In short, Jessica made it out of that well but the American news industry found a new home there.
It isn’t a matter of having an opposing view-It is a matter of giving a broad forum to outright lies. You make it sound like “You have your opinion, and they have theirs”, but reasonable people are under NO obligation to give lies an equal opportunity with facts.
No, I said expose their nasty ass opinions, not promote them nor hide them. Liberals need to face these fascist, not just ignore the enemy. Are people mad that CNN gave him time and they listened to him, then good. Likley the first time many directly saw his act and it disgusted them, as it should.
Living in a bubble where you aren’t exposed to his hatefullness diectly but thru filtered snipes isnt getting people angry enough. Are you afraid he is going to convert people over to his thinking?
Yeah. Fuck CNN. It’s a shame, though because I appreciate Jake Tapper. He needs to get on over to MSNBC, or something. Maybe take over the Morning Joe show, which is terrible.
You expose it by reporting what is said and done, not by giving it a fresh new forum to allow it to reach a wider audience pretty much unopposed. If you think that many saw his act for the first time last night, that there were many that watched that travesty and said “Golly gee! That Trump guy sure is a bad dude, and I don’t think I like him”, then you are just wrong. He was the freakin’ President for four years, and anyone that would be surprised and/or shocked by what he said last night would have literally had to have been born yesterday. Last night was for the purpose of rallying and reinvigorating the troops.
I would guess that’s the only people they could get to attend. At this point, there’s probably not too many people who are thinking something like “Trump? Hmmm… I wonder what he’s about. I should probably learn a little bit about this guy.”
I would have expected there to be people in attendance who simply wanted to confront him and ask sensible questions. Town hall style.
That’ll teach me to think.
And fuck CNN very much for this.
Not the guy, the crowd. They saw his people laughing at rape, applauding his lies and gusting over his “witty” replies. Those people are our coworkers and neighbors. Unless you have been to his rallies most people dont fathom how much of a Hitler like cult he really has, made up of seemingly everyday people, not just the ones that stormed the capitol. Thats what scared me last night, I have coworkers that are like this, which means they are mad dog crazy racist when they are with their own kind.
When you turn over a rock you often see all the vermin scattering to get out of the light. Trump has nothing to fear from the light because his followers are perfectly fine with how gross and ugly he is. Since 2016 at least, they have had ample opportunities to see what kind of man he is and they have collectively decided, “Yes, this is a man who represents my values.” Giving Trump a platform, especially one that is friendly to him, is irresponsible. By all means report on his activites, tell your audience what he said, and explain why his comment are all bullshit. But do not give that man a platform. Because exposing him to the light doesn’t hurt him it only lends him credibility.