CNN: More News, Less Views?

Last weekend I learned that CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter was no longer on the air. 

This program, which had been on the air for thirty years, had developed an anti-Trump and anti-Fox News line. It was terminated by incoming CNN boss Chris Licht.

The acquisition of Warner Media by Discovery Communications last Spring has already ushered in many changes, including many at CNN. There is more to come.

Warner Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said at a company town hall in April that CNN should set itself apart from a cable news industry that is dominated by “advocacy networks.” CNN needs to be about reporting, truth and facts, he said.

So what’s motivating Mr. Zaslav? To find out, maybe we should follow the money.

As former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich observed in a recent editorial in The Guardian, that the leading shareholder in Warner Brothers Discovery is John Malone, a multibillionaire cable magnate. (Mr. Malone was a chief architect in the merger of Discovery and CNN.)

Mr. Malone describes himself as a “libertarian” although he travels in rightwing Republican circles. In 2005, he held 32% of the shares of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute (a right wing think tank). In 2017, he donated $250,000 to President Trump’s inauguration.

Mr. Malone told VOX News that he wants CNN to be more like Fox News because, in his view, Fox News has “actual journalism”. He also wants the “news” portion of CNN to be “more centrist”.

When CNN launched on June 1, 1980, it soon became a global leader in sober news. 

It was watched by world leaders to find out what their embassies could not about friend and foe. It was known as a responsible source of accurate news, and anchors such as Bernard Shaw and Frank Cesno were admired for their objectivity and lack of political bent. Pundit programs like “Cross Fire” were kept separate from the news, yet always had a balance between right and left.

This began to change when FOX News came on air in 1995. Objective news was turned on its head and sensationalistic infotainment became the norm. Almost everything at CNN became “breaking news” in order to create sensationalistic headlines and compete with the pundits who dominated FOX News.

Fast forward to 2015. CNN became the home of everything anti-Trump, often to the exclusion of other important global news. The polarization of American society became reflected in the coverage and reporting on both major cable networks, much to the detriment of the concept of credibility and objectivity.

So what do the changes at CNN portend?

According to an ABC report by David Bauder, Mr. Zaslav said that “CNN should set itself apart from a cable news industry that is dominated by “advocacy networks.” “CNN needs to be about reporting, truth and facts.” 

“If we get that, we can have a civilized society,” said Mr. Zaslav, who appointed Mr. Licht. “And without it, if it all becomes advocacy, we don't have a civilized society.”

This could be a move the network towards the political center and act as a place where the moderate right and left can come together and agree on facts, thus leaving both extremes on the sidelines.

While buttressing a concentration of facts and stripping opinion from most of its programming would be welcome to many, would it actually change the viewing habits or voting patterns of moderates on both sides?

Or it really could be a move to de-fang CNN from its current hosts’ ofttimes-virulent opposition to MAGA Republicans and neutralize it to the degree that neither right nor left believe it – a kind of “FOX News Lite”. This may sound cynical, but one must bear in mind John Malone’s Trumpism leanings and the reduction and possible eventual elimination of anti-Trumpism commentators on the network.

To his credit, Mr. Licht has met with Republican and Democrat leaders to explain the networks moves and, in some way, seek their support for the new model. Indeed, recently, a number of Republicans have been interviewed on the network and this is expected to continue. Meanwhile, CNN commentators can no longer refer to “the big lie” when discussing the former president.

This new outreach has created a backlash among some Democrats. 

Eric Deggans, National Public Radio’s (NPR) television critic has said that “Sometimes journalists have been accused of being partisan when what they've really been doing is insisting upon the truth and refusing to go along with a political party that is redefining the truth to serve its own ends.”

Indeed, self-censorship can be dangerous if it prevents journalists from calling things as they are.

So, will CNN become a viable objective news network capable of expanding its base and bringing moderates together? Or will it become a diminished medium that appeals to few?

We shall see.

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Edición: Laura Espejo