Cnn

Tuesday

Stephen L. Miller

The media’s bizarre Sound of Freedom freakout

A small studio-produced film managed to best a big-budget iconic action hero franchise from Disney on the July 4 box office. You would think that would make for the media an interesting story, both with the success of that small film and the failure of the iconic Indiana Jones franchise. But that is not the tale being told about Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom, an action-thriller dramatization of the life and career of Tim Ballard, the former DHS agent who founded the OUR (Operation Underground Railroad), an organization dedicated to fighting child trafficking globally. Sound of Freedom has largely been a crowdsourced word-of-mouth success.

sound freedom

Tuesday

Stephen L. Miller

The media isn’t checking Hunter Biden’s white privilege

Since George Floyd’s death in May 2020, the media has had almost a singular focus on portraying the American justice system as institutionally racist. The political left and their big-name donors have worked to install social progressives as attorneys general and prosecutors and have worked on bail reform to minimize criminal offenses, largely by African Americans. Racial conflict has driven much of the political and media conversation, leading to the widespread concept of DEI in boardrooms and newsrooms — and the Democratic Party employing a vague concept of racial “equity” in place of equality.   Yet suddenly all of that has gone out the window when it comes to Hunter Biden, the affluent and powerful white son of the sitting president of the United States.

hunter biden white privilege

Sunday

Aidan McLaughlin

Can the 2024 election save cable news?

No doubt Rupert Murdoch breathed a sigh of relief when Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s decision to launch his presidential campaign on Twitter proved disastrous. The announcement, hosted by Elon Musk, was derailed by technical glitches, leading to twenty minutes of awkward silences interrupted by occasional hot-mic moments of frustration. Even after Musk and his team at Twitter got things going, the highly anticipated event drew a meager audience of just 300,000 live listeners. The second stop of the DeSantis campaign, immediately afterward, was at Fox News, for an interview watched by an average of 2 million viewers.

cable news

Wednesday

Oliver Wiseman

Welcome to the media wars

Is Andrew Breitbart’s over-quoted theory that “politics is downstream from culture” really true? Today, with media machinations stealing prime newspaper homepage real estate from presidential campaign launches, it feels more like politics is downstream from media. Over the last twenty-four hours, Chris Licht was fired at CNN, just a year and a half after he was appointed, and Tucker Carlson launched his new show on Twitter. I get the impression people are hungrier for details about these media stories than, say, the ins and outs of Mike Pence’s presidential announcement.  That’s not because America is suddenly more interested in media than politics, but because the line between the two is more blurred than ever.

chris licht
Stephen L. Miller

Chris gets Licht: Jeff Zucker’s inmates still run the CNN asylum

It appears that Chris Licht is a victim of the Deep State of the Union at CNN. Licht is out at CNN, lasting just over a year, during which time he was unable to drain the swamp Jeff Zucker had left for him. Licht faced down several internal mutinies, reportedly some being led by former Media Matters imi-tater Brian Stelter, whom Licht released last August.After a much-hyped profile by Tim Alberta in the Atlantic, several other hit pieces followed at progressive outlets. They all smelled blood in the water and were proven right. Licht’s stated focus was to rein in CNN’s WrestleMania-style coverage of the Trump years.

Tuesday

Stephen L. Miller

Chuck Todd’s send-off from Meet the Press was a mercy killing

Chuck Todd’s departure from Meet the Press this weekend was not a victorious send-off as much as it was a mercy killing. When Kristen Welker was handed a debate in 2020, it felt like only a matter of time before NBC escorted Chuck into the car and drove him out the woods. The most striking thing about Todd’s time as Meet the Press host, following the ouster of David Gregory, is just how un-striking it was. The most significant thing to happen on the show came courtesy of a guest, with Kellyanne Conway coining the phrase "alternative facts" during an appearance. Yet Meet the Press was almost Sunday morning appointment viewing under Tim Russert, who died suddenly in 2008, and it had steadily declined since then.

Tuesday

Aidan McLaughlin

Chris Licht’s troubled first year at CNN

One year into his tenure as the CEO of CNN, Chris Licht is taking a battering. Ratings are dwindling, viewers are outraged and an internal rift is widening. The mountain of problems facing the embattled CEO erupted into public view last week in the wake of the network’s town hall with Donald Trump, an event that sparked outrage inside and outside the CNN newsroom. “It feels very bleak,” one CNN journalist told me. “Staffers are nervous about the future.

chris licht cnn

Friday

Oliver Wiseman

After Title 42

America’s border security was stretched to breaking point this week. US Customs and Border Protection chief Raul Ortiz said this morning that border patrol has averaged around 10,000 arrests a day as midnight last night, and the end of Title 42, approached. On Wednesday, Ortiz said that an estimated half a million “gotaways” have made it into the US since the start of the fiscal year in October.  Officials had expected a surge of migrants after the expiry of Title 42, the pandemic-era regulation that made it easier for authorities to deport arrivals. For now, reporting from the border suggests the new rules have been met with a lull in activity. That is a sorely needed reprieve for a system that has proven unfit to handle the influx in recent weeks.

title 42

Thursday

Stephen L. Miller

The circus returns to CNN — and CNN employees are very upset

Employees and contributors woke up Thursday morning very upset to learn that they work at CNN, the network that helped in the great cause of giving candidate Donald Trump billions of dollars in unearned media on his way to steamrolling the 2016 GOP primaries and eventually capturing the presidency.Media-at-large, and by that I mean CNN, then spent the better part of four years atoning for their failed attempt to engineer an election into a coronation for Hillary Clinton. Now, in a morning hangover rage fest over Donald Trump’s appearance at a CNN town hall (which was really more of a corporate promo for new 9 p.m. host Kaitlan Collins than it was anything to do with Trump or Republican voters), an entire new crop of contributors is very upset to learn who signs their paycheck.

kaitlan collins cnn
Cockburn

CNN reels internally from Trump town hall hangover

CNN’s town hall with 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump last night was such a doozy that the network’s own senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy, is copping to a widespread hangover this morning. It isn’t hard to find people disgusted by CNN’s choice to host Trump; Twitter is ablaze with users proclaiming that CNN has “a lot of egg on its face” (Justin Baragona) and “should be ashamed of itself” (AOC). Mediaite’s editor-in-chief, Aidan McLaughlin cited a CNN journalist who told him, “That was sickening. Shame on us.” And in his Reliable Sources newsletter this morning, Darcy reported, “CNN and new network boss Chris Licht are facing a fury of criticism — both internally and externally over the event.

kaitlan collins cnn
Roger Kimball

Donald Trump ran rings around CNN

“Thank you, CNN, for securing Trump's upcoming landslide victory in 2024.”   Perhaps that tweet slightly overstated the case, but only slightly.  All across the political spectrum today, the cry echoes: “What were they thinking?”  AOC and her minions are skirling about CNN’s “irresponsibility” for even hosting a town hall event with Trump in New Hampshire. “CNN should be ashamed of itself,” she tweeted.  On the pro-Trump side, there was also plenty of head-shaking — but this time accompanied by a dollop of glee. The CNN host, Kaitlan Collins, tried manfully to trap Trump, but he was too agile and too brazen to be caught by her little “gotcha” attempts.

donald trump cnn town hall
Ben Domenech

CNN plays with fire again

CNN's decision to host a Donald Trump town hall turned out exactly as you might have expected: a horror show that blew up in their faces. Framed as an opportunity to press the former president with all the issues CNN viewers care about — January 6, E. Jean Carroll, claims of rigged elections — Trump performed in his typical manner: brash, audacious, rude and also hilarious, mocking the network and host Kaitlan Collins openly. Trump's supporters couldn't be happier about it — and at CNN, there could not be more consternation about the decision to push forward with this idea in the first place. When you're calling a broadcast off with twenty minutes left, it's clear who won. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

donald trump cnn town hall

Monday

Cockburn

Lemon out of juice: Don done at CNN

Don Lemon announced that he had been officially squeezed out of CNN earlier today. “I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,” the former anchor and morning show host tweeted. “After seventeen years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.” CNN's PR wing later disputed Lemon’s claims.

don lemon cnn

Friday

Cockburn

Will Don Lemon be squeezed out at CNN?

Dylly dilly! Conservatives have been dumping out their Bud Lights lately — or in Kid Rock's case, shooting them —over the beer giant's decision to enter into a brand partnership with trans TikTokker Dylan Mulvaney. Higher-ups at Anheuser-Busch are thought to have been caught flat-footed by the scandal and resulting boycott and are fearful of potential financial ramifications. Could Mulvaney's other corporate partners be next? They include Nike, MAC Cosmetics, Ulta Beauty, the Qatari-owned Plaza Hotel and, most bizarrely considering Dylan's lack of a womb, Tampax... The Little Mermaid (she/her) Disney’s new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey is going even more PC.

don lemon

Tuesday

Cockburn

Did CNN censor America’s top comics?

“Thanks to the woke police, in 2023, Mark Twain would never win the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.” This David Spade joke isn't exactly L-O-L funny — it sounds more like something a crotchety senior citizen would growl at the TV about those wokey hokey cancel culture snowflakes. But nonetheless, people, particularly comics should feel able to speak freely. But sadly, there's some truth to Spade's gag, which he delivered on March 19 as part of his remarks at the awarding of the 2023 Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Comedy to his longtime collaborator Adam Sandler. It’s 2023 and that means that certain ideas are viewed as unfit for wider consumption.

adam sandler comics cnn

Friday

Stephen L. Miller

Elon Musk makes it up as he goes

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the script has been flipped. Pontificators at all points of the ideological spectrum are spinning to figure out what his intentions are with the platform and how that pertains to platform moderation going forward. Musk is seemingly making up Twitter policy on the spot by tweet — and then asking his team to come up with a justification post-tweet. This has happened on several occasions. His actions all came to a head Thursday night when Twitter, apparently under the direct instruction of Musk, suspended the accounts of several high-profile journalists from the New York Times (Ryan Mac), the Washington Post (Drew Harwell), the Intercept (Micah Lee), Mashable (Matt Binder), Voice of America (Steve Herman) and CNN (Donie O’Sullivan).

elon musk

Friday

Cockburn

Harry and Meghan’s expert: ‘never sell out’

Afua Hirsch sells out Cockburn is reeling today after a heavy night, but it was the only thing he could do to make him forget the three hours of Whinge and Ginge that he had to watch at 3 a.m. The Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary wasn’t exactly enlightening: just a rehash of their previous groans of injustice. Although Meghan did go out of her way this time to make fun of Haz’s dear old granny, by doing an overexaggerated curtsy which made even her hapless husband look uncomfortable. https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/1600845696751800321 There were new faces in the mix though, rather than the classic hagiographers. One of the journalists commentating was British journalist Afua Hirsch. Cockburn asked around... and it turns out that Hirsch isn’t exactly, er, well-liked.

afua hirsch

Monday

Cockburn

Did April Ryan have a bomb sent to her house?

Years ago, Cockburn was punishing himself by watching some CNN when fire alarms began blaring on set and the program anchors were ushered out of the building. Apparently, some nut was trying to send a pipe bomb to MSNBC contributor John Brennan but got his cable news networks mixed up. The perp was a man named Cesar Sayoc. He was a Donald Trump fan who had sent nearly a dozen defective explosives to high-profile Democrats. Naturally, the media made themselves the victims of the entire event, even though they were not the intended recipients of the explosives. Imagine how much hay they would have made if one of them actually was targeted!

White House Correspondent April Ryan (Photo by Shannon Finney/Getty Images)

Thursday

Stephen L. Miller

Farewell to Chris Cillizza, king of the Twitter ratios

Twitter Ratio King Chris Cillizza joined his friends Chris Cuomo, Brian Stelter and former boss Jeff Zucker in the long line of dismissed CNN employees on Thursday. While Cillizza may still offer up heaped dishes of bad takes on social media, he will no longer be doing so under the banner of the supposed new direction of CNN under CEO Chris Licht. What exactly do people like me mean when we call Cillizza the "Ratio King”? The ratio is what happens on Twitter when the number of comments on a tweet vastly outweighs its likes, retweets and quote tweets, meaning people are criticizing the tweet far more than endorsing it. And Cillizza, who may have accidentally even given birth to this unit of measurement, has owned the mantle for years now.

Friday

Cockburn

Why Tiffany Cross got the ax

Weekend host Tiffany Cross has been cut from MSNBC. According to Variety, "MSNBC decided not to renew Cross’s contract after two years... and severed ties with her immediately." The trade paper is rather euphemistic in its description of why Cross was shown the door: Executives at the network [were] growing concerned about the anchor’s willingness to address statements made by cable-news hosts on other networks and indulging in commentary executives felt did not meet the standards of MSNBC or NBC News. Allow Cockburn to translate: Cross was becoming burdensome to the network for her regular rash remarks.

tiffany cross