Growing up, the news was always a staple in my home. I have fond memories of discussing the local news and various topics covered on “60 Minutes” and watching the evening news with Peter Jennings.
I have clear memories of watching my older brother lip-sync the news, which illustrates how much of a dweeb he was from the start, but that was how important news was to our household. The journalists on television were the end-all be-all in what was happening and how we should feel about it.
When the Gulf War hit, I watched countless hours of CNN, dreaming of someday growing up to be a Wolf Blitzer, Bernard Shaw, or Christiane Amanpour.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, CNN lost its coveted position as one of the most trusted news sources, and the new CEO finds it difficult to right the ship.
CNN doing a major network shakeup under new CEO Chris Licht. All they need to do is start telling the truth and become real journalists instead of being the mouthpiece for woke socialist democrats.
— Conservative Star (@Conserv57869874) December 12, 2022
Breaking News: Liberals Are Uninformed
Chris Licht took over as the new CEO of CNN and has found it even harder than he initially thought to make significant changes to the first 24/7 news network. Mr. Licht told the New York Times that he was surprised by the “uninformed vitriol” from fellow liberals on his recent changes.
One of the changes Mr. Licht made was to move liberal pundit Don Lemon from his prime-time position to the morning show. I imagine this was an attempt to limit the amount of embarrassment poor Mr. Lemon has to endure; it’s been a rough year, after all, for the former prime-time member.
RELATED: VIDEO: CNN’s Don Lemon Gets Blindsided After Expecting Guest To Support Reparations
Support Conservative Voices!
Sign up to receive the latest political news, insight, and commentary delivered directly to your inbox.
Liberal blowhard Keith Olbermann came out and called Chris Licht a “TV Fascist” for the move, whatever the hell that means.
Mr. Licht told the New York Times that this sort of rhetoric:
“…proves my point: so much of what passes for news is name-calling, half-truths and desperation.”
Congratulations, Chris, you’ve adequately described 99% of the ‘journalists’ on MSNBC and CNN. It’s a shame it took taking on an impossible job for you to see just how terrible the state of your beloved industry has been reduced to.
Friday night chat with @CarlHigbie on Newsmax, including our Brian Stelter Memorial Award for the Worst Quote of the Year for Don Lemon, denying to Colbert that CNN has EVER been liberal. CNN is not moving away from liberalism, Chris Licht sounds licked. pic.twitter.com/W5L7fwU3GY
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) December 17, 2022
RELATED: CNN’s Don Lemon Demands Media Cover Republicans Differently: They Are A ‘Danger’ To Society
Fox In The Hen House
The need to bring on a new CEO came after what seemed like endless scandals within the corporation, culminating in the prior CEO stepping down due to failure to disclose a relationship with a top executive. The news for CNN, pun intended, hasn’t been good since.
The total daytime viewers for the top three cable news networks this year are as follows:
- 1.4 million – Fox News
- 733,000 – MSNBC
- 568,000 – CNN
The weekday prime-time numbers are about the same:
- 2.3 million – Fox News
- 1.2 million – MSNBC
- 730,000 – CNN
You’d think the other two networks would try to crack the code of what Fox News has been doing so well for seven years as the top-rated cable news network. But, instead, it’s been a push for the same old same old, much to Mr. Licht’s dismay.
As someone who covers the news for a living, I watch a bit of everything, even CNN and MSNBC, which I check out in the evenings. Nothing will put me to sleep faster than watching CNN. My heart stops beating out of sheer boredom.
Hat tip to CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht for having the intestinal fortitude to try to make journalism better. https://t.co/Udjo8kZHv9
— Phil Sanchez (@PhilSanchezTV) December 19, 2022
RELATED: CNN’s Jake Tapper Uses Images From the Holocaust to Attack Donald Trump and His Supporters
So, What’s The Goal?
Chris Licht has loved the news since he was a kid. There’s a great story about how he created his own pretend news network when he was just a kid, which might be the most adorable thing I’ve heard today.
Mr. Licht has news media in his bloodstream and has some lofty goals for CNN. He wants the network to offer “rational conversation about polarizing issues” and for families to “take what they’ve heard to the dinner table and have a discussion.”
If you’ve watched CNN recently, you know that’s not what’s happening. Instead, it’s little more than the campaign arm of the Democrat Party, and not particularly clever about it.
CNN shareholder John Malone echoed Licht’s hopes:
“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.”
So like what the old founder Ted Turner used to preach, “make the news the star.” What a fascinating concept; report the news in a balanced and compelling fashion.
Isn’t journalism the endeavor for truth and knowledge that is then made available to the masses for easy consumption for the consumer to make their own decisions and form their own opinions?
Tucker Carlson implicating the CIA in JFK’s murder on the biggest American TV show should be *the* story of the time but it’s not because journalism is essentially dead in this country but anyway please pray for Taylor Lorenz to get her Twitter back or else freedom dies
— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) December 18, 2022
Popped Their Own Bubble
I want to root for Chris Licht, and I want to like him. He seems like someone cut from the same cloth as me, albeit a cloth that leans more left versus mine that leans more right.
But I find it hard to swallow that he had no idea how closed-minded and ridiculously vicious the left-wing media and punditry have become.
In one interview, he said with frustration:
“One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla that I want to be centrist. That is bulls***. You have to be compelling. You have to have an edge.”
Chris, that isn’t what the left wants. They don’t want to be compelling or edgy.
They want to be the loudest voices in any room to control the minds of the consumers through fear and misdirection. The irony is your own senior media reporter thinks he’s dropped a sick tweet on the insinuated injustice of Elon Musk’s Twitter:
“Musk has restored several of the journalists he banned. But there is an apparent condition to their return. A notice on (Donie O’Sullivan)’s account said he’d been suspended for violating Twitter rules. It required him to delete a tweet before he’d be allowed to post, with option to appeal.”
Musk has restored several of the journalists he banned. But there is an apparent condition to their return. A notice on @donie’s account said he’d been suspended for violating Twitter rules. It required him to delete a tweet before he’d be allowed to post, with option to appeal.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 17, 2022
Welcome to the party, pal; these are the same rules the rest of us on the right have had to live in for years with Twitter. You created this monster, and now you are shocked when the monster bites back?
Mr. Licht wants “CNN to be essential to society.” Good luck with that, Chris.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
