"Insiders" at CNN Whine That Warner Discovery's "Libertarian" Investor John Malone Is Going to Turn The Dying Joke of a Channel Into Some Kind Of Centrist News Operation Or Something

And they run to the absurdly leftwing Daily Beast to make their hysterias heard, so you know these are serious people.

CNN insiders tell Confider that staffers cannot shake the feeling the shocking move was made to appease John Malone, a right-leaning billionaire, close friend of the Murdoch family, and key Warner Bros. Discovery board member who has made it well-known that he would like CNN to be more "centrist"--whatever that means.

I believe the writer, the Daily Beast's Lachlan Cartwright, just confessed to being so absurdly leftwing he couldn't tell you what "centrist" might possibly mean.

Hint: It means "in the political center."

That wasn't too hard, was it?

While Malone has denied he is "directly involved" in any decisions about CNN, multiple current and former staffers who spoke to us relayed a fear that the libertarian mogul is indirectly dictating an agenda to newly installed CNN boss Chris Licht.

Almost everyone suspects that one of the loudest "former staffers" making this charge is none other than Brian Stelter, Who Is a Potato. I think it was Joe Nicosia who has reported that Chris Licht was particularly annoyed by Stelter because he knew it was Stelter constantly leaking negative stories about the new regime's plans and outlook to leftwing allies.

And also, just flat-out picking fights with them in open comms, in his "news" letter.

...

Stelter had been an antagonist of right-wing media for much of his time at the Reliable Sources desk, but other similarly vocal CNN stars like Don Lemon and Jim Acosta are safe for now, sources familiar with the matter told Confider.

People say that. But they keep saying, "For Now."

Instead, these insiders said, Licht will next turn his attention to "blowing up" CNN's ratings-challenged morning show New Day, having brought on his old buddy Ryan Kadro from CBS to help rework it.

Ed Morrissey claimed he didn't know why Licht would turn to New Day because he thinks Berman and Brianna Keillor are fair and balanced.

I've seen enough clips of them engaging in absolutely earpopping bias to know that's not true.

Is... is there something medically wrong with Ed Morrissey's brain?

Meanwhile, The Wrap also hears that there are "no immediate plans to remove" Acosta and LeMon.

It should be noted that LeMon and Acosta are obviously not "news" people but outrageous carnival-barker opinionmongers, so they are, perversely enough, protected from Licht's back-to-the-news agenda. People who don't even pretend to be the news wouldn't be affected, unless his plan is to go totally 100% full news -- which of course he doesn't.

Licht, they report, wants to get away from Zucker's WWE style of "journalism."

"It's not a good brand position to be the opposite of Fox News," said a network insider familiar with Licht's thinking. "He wants to be tough and no bulls--, but not affiliated with a side. It's fair to say he doesn't like the CNN vs. Fox thing."

They also note Tater's open-comms feuding with the biggest shareholder of Warner Discovery -- for daring to note that CNN was leftwing as all-get-out.

...

Stelter called out Malone in February, accusing the billionaire of criticizing CNN without actually watching it and creating an atmosphere of anxiety in the newsroom. "Malone's comments stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice," Stelter wrote in his widely read media newsletter at the time.

Is that what you were doing when you were attempting to goose your terrible ratings by offering up another Deplatforming of the Week, you ugly borderline-retarded cow?

Krystal Ball actually made a good point on her YouTube show. CNN can claim it wants neutral coverage, but Zucker's toxically-leftwing coverage actually boosted CNN's ratings -- during the Trump years. And Trump seems to be on the verge of announcing he's running again, which means Trump Derangement Television will be good for ratings again.

When LeMon and Acosta start pulling good ratings -- at least, good ratings for CNN -- with their overwrought theatrics and bizarre rantings about Trump, is Licht really going to restrain them and tell the alleged "straight" anchors not to imitate them? Ball asked (approximately).

Doubtful.

By the way, I can't find this clip, but Megyn Kelly has repeatedly cited it. She said that shortly after the merger, Don LeMon spoke to the camera and said, in so many words, "Don't fire me, I'm black and I'm gay."

I think maybe... yeah, that counts for something. And Acosta, I'll bet, has been wearing serapes and pointy shoes to work lately, coming in on burro.

Meanwhile, Jake The Snake Tapper, who's actually been cited as possibly in danger, at least of losing his gig as anchor, tried to pretend he was "centrist" by retweeting an article by center-right writer Salena Zito on his Twitter feed.

As you might know, that's Jake Tapper's favorite move -- he stuffs his actual "news" show full of leftwing bias, but then he retweets something on his twitter feed and says "I covered that story."

I imagine this is Fake Jake's effort to show Chris Licht that he is "centrist."

But Fake Jake's leftwing fans noticed his deviation from Party Orthodoxy, and mounted a #cancellation effort.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper sparked fury on Twitter on Tuesday by sharing an article written by Salena Zito, a columnist for the New York Post and the Washington Examiner, about the race for the US Senate seat from Pennsylvania.

Question: If you "spark fury" among your followers by merely retweeting a story by a center-right writer that is merely a process/horserace story, isn't that a sign that you yourself are on the extreme left yourself?

Why do people pretend that Jake Tapper is "fair"? Is it just because he DMs all of you?

You do all know he spends all fucking day on his DMs DMing everyone, right? He used DM me all the time. This doesn't make him "fair;" this just makes him a narcissist with nigh-inexhaustible amounts of time and energy to spend on reputation management and flattery of the Twitter Court.

In fact, he spends so much time on these pursuits that I do not believe that it's him doing most of this work. I do not believe one man, even a narcissistic twit as obviously consumed with managing his online reputation as Jake Tapper is, has the ability to be so omnipresent in Twitter DMs as Tapper seems to be. I think he has a Team of "Jake Tappers" flattering and fluffing the Twitter Great and Good.

Did I ever tell you my favorite Fake Jake Tapper story?

Remind me some time to tell you my favorite Fake Jake Tapper story.

Anyway:

Tapper, the host of CNN's daytime show "The Lead" and co-anchor of its Sunday political broadcast "State of the Union," shared the link to a story by Zito that appeared in the Washington Examiner.

The Washington Examiner, noted far-right home of extreme right-wing provocateur... Seth Mandel.

And that brutish, brooding, 250 pounds of Rompin' Stompin' Sex known as Quin Hilyer.

So Fake Jake just tweeted out the article and the headline, about Oz having a chance in Pennsylvania, if he just worked hard enough.

Obviously, some really hard-hitting right-wing stuff.

...

"Jake drank the kool-aid," one Twitter user wrote.

"Why are you retweeting a Washington Examiner opinion piece?" another Twitter user demanded to know.

"This isn't journalism; this is pandering to the new boss. I assumed you were one of the good ones."

The naysayer added: "An honest journalist. What a joke. Chris Cuomo looks like he has more integrity than you at this point."

Tapper's tweet fueled suspicions among his followers that it was part of an effort by the cable news channel to pivot to the political center after it was taken over by a new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ahem. I suspect that myself.

posted by Ace at 05:03 PM

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