Chris Licht's Trump-a-palooza event on Wednesday debased the very concept of journalism, striking a critical blow to the network's credibility. What's more: it won't win him any new viewers.
what burns me up about the working-the-refs thing is, it always works. every outlet buys it and scurries further and further right as if that will get them points. how can they not know after all this time that it’s never-ending, that if they prostrated themselves to Candace and Co they’d still draw disgust and loathing for their nonexistent liberalism?
is there any way to put a stop to it? it’s had a large role in landing us in the soup.
My guess is that upper management and certainly the owners know this "liberal bias" stuff is bullshit, but they want to move to the right anyway, and claiming that they're trying to placate their critics on the right gives them cover to do that.
The biggest mistake is imagining that "thinking people" will be turned off by his performance and this will actually work against him and in Biden's favor (I actually heard someone make this argument on MSNBC this morning.) Tens of millions of people are repelled by who he is, but tens of millions are also thrilled by him, and the difference in numbers is just too close to call*. When it's American voters we're talking about, nobody should be saying "Oh, this is just too much" or "Now he's gone too far."
*Given our absolutely fucked-up Electoral College system
It could theoretically happen. Theoretically, CNN could now do 18 months of stories on the fact that all on Wednesday night, Trump:
* wouldn’t stop lying about the 2020 election;
* won’t rule out trying to kill Congress again if he loses next year, and
* won’t say that he won’t leave Ukraine out to dry.
These could be the only three things CNN says about Trump between now and the election. And their panels could talk about what it means that millions of Americans are good with this.
But we all know they won’t do it. And honestly I don’t care anymore about parsing which of them will let this slide because they actually agree and which are doing it for (the false hope of) ratings.
Increasingly, people aren't consuming this "news" directly from the network, they're seeing curated clips on social media, carefully chosen to reinforce their own team's view. That's why it doesn't matter if the interviewer fact-checks Trump, or the panel afterwards says he's a liar. That stuff ends up in selected clips sent to people who already hate Trump, but his supporters get Pure Trump, with everything else filtered out. In the end, all that counts is exposure, because it creates the raw material for your team's Facebook and Twitter videos.
CNN is a pile of crap. It no more practices legitimate journalism than Fox News. All they cared about was what kind of ratings they'd get for hosting a bullshit town hall for Trump which degenerated into a rally for the scumbag. What is sadly missing from CNN, the NY Times, WaPo, and quite a few others is ethics. They're all so desperate for viewers and readers that they've been pandering sickeningly to the GOP and its stable of lying sacks of shit.
I'm so tired of it. This is what capitalism and its obsession with profits has done to journalism and ethics. Meanwhile, the NYT and WaPo email me every day begging me to "come back for a special price." Whatever it is, it's always too high for me to sell off my own principles for. Nothing would make these whores happier than to have Trump back in the WH, when the stories will once again write themselves, and this country will again see its people suffer, only this time 2024 will probably be the last democratic election we ever see.
And what do they think would happen to them if Trump wins in 2024? It's pretty clear his first choice would be to simply dispense with elections, and if we're no longer bothering with elections, do we really need all these news networks? And while we're at it, Mr. Billionaire, that's some real nice real estate you're holding there, you wouldn't mind if President-For-Life Trump takes that off your hands to add to his portfolio? What are you gonna do about it?
The most charitable thing you can say about CNN etc. is they’re like the generals who are always re-fighting the last war. Last time Trump ginned up viewers and profits to an incredible degree. When he was out and boring Biden in all that went away. And they want it back.
Of course, things are never the same and slavishly promoting Trump this time isn’t going to produce the same levels of viewer or profits. Parker is on target that CNN won’t win right wing/Fox viewers no matter how pro-Trump they become.
So how bad does it need to get at CNN before Tapper and the other legitimate journalists decide they need to leave? Or should they stay, under the "someone's gotta be the voice of reason" argument (that coincidentally, a lot of former Trump staffers used)?
That’s the thing. People always stay — as long as the paychecks keep coming at least. They’ll continue to work at horrible companies, carrying out horrible directives and console themselves by saying “someone has to be the voice of truth” even though there’s no possibility of changing anything.
Obviously some will leave for better jobs but many/most will stay out of loyalty to a company that no longer exists or because they’re vested in the pension plan or something.
The free campaign rally for Trump was way over the line of reasonable journalism for me. CNN used to be one of the networks that Trump criticized the most, and no they are supporting his campaign with a major airtime gift.
I mean with respect to catering to conservatives by capitulating to their interests or worrying about alienating them. It doesn't seem like a winning formula.
Last night underscores CNN’s new approach to news under Chris Licht’s leadership. Instead of being MSNBC-light, Licht is rebranding the network to return to its roots by covering news and newsmakers. Go read Jon Ralstan’s defense of CNN, he makes an interesting point. https://twitter.com/RalstonReports/status/1656386049902530561
great analysis, thank you Parker.
what burns me up about the working-the-refs thing is, it always works. every outlet buys it and scurries further and further right as if that will get them points. how can they not know after all this time that it’s never-ending, that if they prostrated themselves to Candace and Co they’d still draw disgust and loathing for their nonexistent liberalism?
is there any way to put a stop to it? it’s had a large role in landing us in the soup.
My guess is that upper management and certainly the owners know this "liberal bias" stuff is bullshit, but they want to move to the right anyway, and claiming that they're trying to placate their critics on the right gives them cover to do that.
The biggest mistake is imagining that "thinking people" will be turned off by his performance and this will actually work against him and in Biden's favor (I actually heard someone make this argument on MSNBC this morning.) Tens of millions of people are repelled by who he is, but tens of millions are also thrilled by him, and the difference in numbers is just too close to call*. When it's American voters we're talking about, nobody should be saying "Oh, this is just too much" or "Now he's gone too far."
*Given our absolutely fucked-up Electoral College system
It could theoretically happen. Theoretically, CNN could now do 18 months of stories on the fact that all on Wednesday night, Trump:
* wouldn’t stop lying about the 2020 election;
* won’t rule out trying to kill Congress again if he loses next year, and
* won’t say that he won’t leave Ukraine out to dry.
These could be the only three things CNN says about Trump between now and the election. And their panels could talk about what it means that millions of Americans are good with this.
But we all know they won’t do it. And honestly I don’t care anymore about parsing which of them will let this slide because they actually agree and which are doing it for (the false hope of) ratings.
Increasingly, people aren't consuming this "news" directly from the network, they're seeing curated clips on social media, carefully chosen to reinforce their own team's view. That's why it doesn't matter if the interviewer fact-checks Trump, or the panel afterwards says he's a liar. That stuff ends up in selected clips sent to people who already hate Trump, but his supporters get Pure Trump, with everything else filtered out. In the end, all that counts is exposure, because it creates the raw material for your team's Facebook and Twitter videos.
So they don’t even get ratings out of an abject disaster like this. Beautiful.
CNN is a pile of crap. It no more practices legitimate journalism than Fox News. All they cared about was what kind of ratings they'd get for hosting a bullshit town hall for Trump which degenerated into a rally for the scumbag. What is sadly missing from CNN, the NY Times, WaPo, and quite a few others is ethics. They're all so desperate for viewers and readers that they've been pandering sickeningly to the GOP and its stable of lying sacks of shit.
I'm so tired of it. This is what capitalism and its obsession with profits has done to journalism and ethics. Meanwhile, the NYT and WaPo email me every day begging me to "come back for a special price." Whatever it is, it's always too high for me to sell off my own principles for. Nothing would make these whores happier than to have Trump back in the WH, when the stories will once again write themselves, and this country will again see its people suffer, only this time 2024 will probably be the last democratic election we ever see.
And what do they think would happen to them if Trump wins in 2024? It's pretty clear his first choice would be to simply dispense with elections, and if we're no longer bothering with elections, do we really need all these news networks? And while we're at it, Mr. Billionaire, that's some real nice real estate you're holding there, you wouldn't mind if President-For-Life Trump takes that off your hands to add to his portfolio? What are you gonna do about it?
The most charitable thing you can say about CNN etc. is they’re like the generals who are always re-fighting the last war. Last time Trump ginned up viewers and profits to an incredible degree. When he was out and boring Biden in all that went away. And they want it back.
Of course, things are never the same and slavishly promoting Trump this time isn’t going to produce the same levels of viewer or profits. Parker is on target that CNN won’t win right wing/Fox viewers no matter how pro-Trump they become.
So how bad does it need to get at CNN before Tapper and the other legitimate journalists decide they need to leave? Or should they stay, under the "someone's gotta be the voice of reason" argument (that coincidentally, a lot of former Trump staffers used)?
That’s the thing. People always stay — as long as the paychecks keep coming at least. They’ll continue to work at horrible companies, carrying out horrible directives and console themselves by saying “someone has to be the voice of truth” even though there’s no possibility of changing anything.
Obviously some will leave for better jobs but many/most will stay out of loyalty to a company that no longer exists or because they’re vested in the pension plan or something.
The free campaign rally for Trump was way over the line of reasonable journalism for me. CNN used to be one of the networks that Trump criticized the most, and no they are supporting his campaign with a major airtime gift.
Please do this again but for the Democratic Party.
?
I mean with respect to catering to conservatives by capitulating to their interests or worrying about alienating them. It doesn't seem like a winning formula.
Last night underscores CNN’s new approach to news under Chris Licht’s leadership. Instead of being MSNBC-light, Licht is rebranding the network to return to its roots by covering news and newsmakers. Go read Jon Ralstan’s defense of CNN, he makes an interesting point. https://twitter.com/RalstonReports/status/1656386049902530561