"... it was the perfect time to exploit the situation for political gain and to help the network's ratings. Andrew Cuomo benefited from briefings that made him appear to be the adult in the room regarding COVID-19 and Trump appear to be the villain. Cuomo got a $5.1 million book deal as a result. Chris Cuomo and Zucker/Gollust/CNN benefited from marathon interviews with Cuomo's governor/brother, which didn't touch the governor's alleged nursing home scandal. Ratings soared. So, was Zucker's departure simply about a consensual relationship with a co-worker?... Moving forward, what's next for CNN when the company falls under the Discovery Channel umbrella later this year? Let's hear from its soon-to-be largest shareholder, John Malone of Liberty Media. '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,' Malone said...."
From "CNN's collapse is now complete" by Joe Concha (at The Hill).
Let's take a quick look at the Wikipedia page of John Malone, "an American billionaire businessman, landowner and philanthropist." We're told his "political beliefs have been
described as libertarian, and "he is on the board of directors for the
Cato Institute." Also:
Here's the "amazing Wired interview," if you want to read about the "cable wars" of the early 1990s.Malone reportedly shuns the limelight and glamorous lifestyle and takes his family vacations alongside long time friend Gary Biskup, in a recreational vehicle. However, in business dealings he has been dubbed "Darth Vader," a nickname allegedly given to him by Al Gore.... In 1994, Wired portrayed Malone on their cover as "Mad Max" from The Road Warrior....
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75 comments:
CNN is such a shit show why would anyone try to salvage it to try legit news? That would seem more difficult than burning it down and starting over…and where would you start? So many apologies and so much contrition…
I suspect the usual pretending while the leftie outrage simmers until it’s time for elections...
To create the CNN back when James Earl Jones did the intro, he'd have to fire everybody
I think he would certainly have to fire the on air talent and their personal support staff and editors but I have the feeling that the technicians behind the scenes might find the change refreshing and, candidly, they may be the ones hardest to replace. An aggressive recruitment effort geared to local news presenters could fill the talent ranks quickly and cheaply. I truly hope the plans are in the works right now.
In 2016 Trump campaigned on "draining the swamp." The trouble is swamp creatures want to be in the swamp and create a swamp so they can do swampy things. CNN...was a home of sex crimes...and an enabler of the rest of the Hollywood and D.C. folks wanting the same.
If Trump ever had a chance of draining he needed an army of insiders on the same page. He literally needed the left wing moralistic Woke crowed to fight against the exploitative and totalitarian fake left opportunists who created the swamp.
The naïve newly-religious Wokesters needed time to mature and awaken. Maybe now they have, after all sorts of their imagined truths crumbed with the fall of CNN and acknowledgement of "damp sock puppet" Biden?
"Maybe the swamp still needs to be drained?"
I remember reading that the first time. Malone not only controls CNN, but Formula One racing as well. He's trumped Turner and Max Mosely in the end, and did it quietly after realizing the media spotlight did him no good.
He's 80, a multi-billionaire, and his best times may still be ahead of him. Wisdom. Winning.
The only thing that bothers me about Malone is that he owns Formula One racing, which is an absolute sh*tshow.
We're told his "political beliefs have been described as libertarian, and "he is on the board of directors for the Cato Institute."
Oh goody, more of the same. I can't wait to be told by an entirely new set of journalists how I'm a racist for not wanting to import the entirety of South America into the US, or to export our entire manufacturing base to China.
Some people think Malone should clean house at CNN. I take the point but disagree.
That would probably cost money paying severance, hiring replacements etc.
I think he should keep people like don lemon and Mr Potato and the rest.
Change the people who write the stories. Make lemon do stories like "tonight, a special report on how President Trump was not so bad" or "why lower taxes help bipoc Americans", "is there any truth to the rumor that vp Harris is going to resign in favor of President emeritus Trump?" and so on.
Maybe a bit more subtle but along those lines.
Try to keep the progressive fascists watching but start brainwashing (some would say "rescuing") them.
I think Malone could have a lot of ruin and make a lot of money doing it.
And then if Truth can buy MSNBC, especially if it could be done covertly...
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Malone and Liberty Media donated $1mm for President Trump inaugural bash so definitely not a never-Trumper.
It just occurred to me that he could rebrand CNN to LNN "liberty News Network"
It would be an in your face, but deniable, political statement.
Deniable because if anyone complains they can say "oh no, Liberty doesn't have any political meaning. It's Just our corporate branding."
I have liberty cable and internet and they do a decent service. They recently went into the cellular phone business as well. They are promoting heavily (on liberty owned billboards among other media) but I know nothing about them.
I think that if I had accepted progressivism/socialism/fascism into my life, I might be even more worried about Malone than pedjt.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
The CNN anchors and opinionaters are like drug addicts. They don’t see how deep in the goo they are, and frankly don’t want to, given the self-pleasure of it all. If any outfit needed a reckoning and a purge, this is it.
I do confess I am curious what the other shoes to drop are, or what Zucker is intent on keeping secret from us, though. It’s like a soap opera there…
It’s so apt that Zucker is German for sugar. Imagine all the praise he heaped on his stars and others to keep them doing the propaganda dances for him. No wonder they’re in shock.
In order for that to happen, he'd have to mandate rules for the writers:
1. Facts only. What happened. Not what could happen. Not interpretation of what it means. Facts only.
2. No unnamed sources.
3. Opinions will be expressed in a separate program and not mixed with the news.
This was how news was reported before Woodward and Bernstein. In fact, I remember a huge discussion in the news (and industry mags like Editor and Publisher) about the validity of using unnamed sources for news. You can see how well that worked out. The temptation of let politicians and spin docs reinforce the Narrative was too great to resist.
If you look at a typical AP, NYT, NPR news story with a highlighter (clean your screen afterwards) and mark "facts" given from "unnamed sources" followed by the writer's opinions put in someone's mouth, you'd see very little room for actual facts.
All this will rebuild credibility, but that won't happen.
Words. Nice, empty words.
Anyone who Al Gore called "Darth Vader" has my vote.
I look forward to the demolition of CNN and will watch the rebuild with curiosity. Really, an actual straight news network would be refreshing and probably a high draw commodity these days. There isn't one elsewhere on the national TV scene.
It's so different it might just work.
Malone should let Zucker and Gollust stay on CNN and go on the air doing it like they do on the Discovery Channel.
Link for google search- "do it like they do on the discovery channel song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k
Better than anything CNN currently offers.
Polis has a nursing home / high elderly death scandal... but the loyal(D) local news won't touch it.
It could be great if we could have an unbiased source for news.
Fox News is the closest to un-biased - and it is obviously biased towards the right, but they are honest brokers of information compared to the paid Maddow-liars, propagandists, and insider-deal hacks on the left, at places like NBC and CNN.
Man! Zucker must've been the lynch pin of the Democrats media initiative they way they keep going on about his ousting. I mean; firing a CEO isn't that big of a deal. Boards do it all the time.
He should keep Jeffrey Toobin because he is apparently the only one who keeps his hands to himself.
Sorry. I stop that from an earlier post. It was worth repeating.
The only difference between libertarians and progressives is, libertarians want to delegate the work of oppressing the masses, Progs want to be hands on.
well it's the elliot ness problem in the untouchables where do you get an uncorrupted team
CNN was always problematic. Ted Turner's original insight was that he could pay no-name newsreaders $100K per year to read the news in Atlanta vs. paying them $1 million per year to read the news in New York. When CNN established foreign bureaus it was often with the understanding that they would go easy on the local thug in charge, a model they obviously carried forward to New York with Cuomo.
CNN could become a trusted news source if they changed everything. I wonder how Chris Wallace likes his late-season trade? He went from a contender to a team with a 365 day losing streak--but he knew that. Will Malone pull the props out from under CNN+? Their business plan seems to be to get people to pay $6 per month to watch something they wouldn't watch for free. Well, as Trump knows, there is a sucker born every minute...
As to MSNBC and Fox News, take your pick. What do you want to hear? You have a better chance of getting a straight story out of Bret Baer and Co. than you do out of either MSNBC or CNN. I think Fox News will remain a winner...unless CNN changes everything.
There is no difference between the policy goals of radical leftists and libertarians: the leftists are just more honest about wanting to eliminate police, national borders, and drug laws. CATO just funds politicians who betray their base while lying to them.
I would turn it over to Tim Pool. He may be Captain milk toast but given the current environment that would be a shock to the system.
Will Malone get the Rogan treatment?
Huh. Would there be a market for a network that just does news without spin? We could hope. Or is everyone in the country on one side or the other?
People are falling for the propaganda. As usual. Malone may not be Leftist, but he's not a conservative either. Did he vote for Trump? 100-1 he didn't. In any case, you don't get to be a big-wig in the Media/Entertainment field by going against the Rich leftists/liberals on things that matter.
Malone will just dial CNN back to being a little less Leftwing crazy than MSNBC. Instead oushing the DNC propaganda 100 percent of the time, it will be 85 percent.
The snippet from the article about CNN, Cuomo, and CV-19 is complete bullshit. Cuomo was not acting like "the only adult in the room", he was just disagreeing and attacking Trump, while asking Trump to help him out. That's why CNN and "THe Hill" praised him. And swept all the nursing homes deaths under the rug.
@ Tina Trent
They don't want to eliminate police. They want to nationalize them.
We don’t need CNN. There are plenty of news channels. Turn it into an infomercial outlet.
CNN is the propaganda arm of the democrat party. If you think they're just going to let that go you're nuts. If you think they'll yield to free market/private business you're living in the past.
@ John LGBTQBNY Henry
re: pedjt.
------
e for !?emeritus or elect?!
CNN is peddling the dog food, doesn't matter many dogs won't eat it, they just want the ones that do,
CNN was originally a good idea, as Amadeus posted above. I'm not sure there is a way back. They have wrecked the brand.
I look forward to the destruction of CNN, and I await its impending resurrection. What form will it take? Buying out its current stable of propagandists, will be enormously expensive, and a potentially unwise investment. It think his best option would be turn it into
an all news network, but it would probably never catch up to Fox, which, incidentally, also provides quality news coverage in addition to its political programing.
Purveying "misinformation" is the sin and heresy denigrated by the wokerati. Is Zuckerberg a sinner? Well your mileage may vary, but CNN was a misinformation machine par excellence in 2020. Heck it still is today.
The only difference between libertarians and progressives is, libertarians want to delegate the work of oppressing the masses, Progs want to be hands on.
The difference between Trumpers and lefties is that one wants to take your family farm and give to underrepresented minorities and the other wants to take your family farm to give to Taiwanese con-men. Libertarians think you should be able to keep your family farm
There is no difference between the policy goals of radical leftists and libertarians: the leftists are just more honest about wanting to eliminate police, national borders, and drug laws.
What are you talking about? Libertarians are completely honest about ending the drug war, open borders, free markets, low taxes, standing up for gun rights, free speech, promoting school choice, ending eminent domain abuse, a humble foreign policy, eliminating regulations, permitting and occupational licensing. This is the entire libertarian brand. We do not hide it.
To extend Amadeus's analogy, the problem for CNN now is that even paying $500,000 to an anchor in Atlanta in 2022 (accounting for CPI and Atlanta's probably COL inflation) can't compete with Internet content like podcasts, Tweets, and YouTubes produced by people happy to make $50,000 from that effort.
Bob Boyd, could you please translate your post? I'm a libertarian, a fan of Bastiat, von Mises, etc. My credo is, boiled down to that book title from a few years ago, "Don't hurt people, don't steal their stuff." Or as the late, great Leonard Read phrased it, "Anything that's peaceful." So you see no difference between a non-coercive ethic of libertarians and the statism of "progressives"? Weird.
Bob Boyd said...
The only difference between libertarians and progressives is, libertarians want to delegate the work of oppressing the masses, Progs want to be hands on.
You are probably a "conservative" who wanted the government to define marriage when you were in control and are mad that government is defining marriage when you aren't in control.
To be honest it is pretty funny watching "conservatives" talk about libertarian positions. You have the same problems as the fascist progs. You just can't be honest about what you want or the results of your nanny state crap so you make shit up.
While you are at it how is that drug war and war on poverty going?
Tina Trent said...
There is no difference between the policy goals of radical leftists and libertarians: the leftists are just more honest about wanting to eliminate police, national borders, and drug laws. CATO just funds politicians who betray their base while lying to them.
Now do the Republican Party.
Jonah Goldberg heads to CNN.
Because Muh Principles…
Facebook is supposedly doomed because it lost twenty percent of its users. CNN just lost eighty percent of its audience. It turns out there’s no market for a crappier version of MSNBC.
I look forward to airports playing something other than CNN. That would be a good first step.
Wince said...
Will Malone get the Rogan treatment?
If he's lucky. Rogan just got a $100M offer from Rumble to switch platforms.
Personally, I'd always figured if he left Spotify it would be because Elon Musk was going to stake him in a startup of his own platform.
He should keep Jeffrey Toobin because he is apparently the only one who keeps his hands to himself.
Sorry. I stop that from an earlier post. It was worth repeating.
It never grows old.
the only difference between libertarians and progressives is, libertarians want to delegate the work of oppressing the masses, Progs want to be hands on.
Yep. Remember its not bad, if the "Free market" does it.
Attack Libertarians and they argue like Leftists.
You don't get honest debate. You get snark, insults, tap dancing, evasion, and obfuscation. My favorite is the "You just don't understand Libertariansim" with 2nd prize to: "no true libertarian believes that"
D.D. Driver said...
What are you talking about? Libertarians are completely honest about ending the drug war, open borders, free markets
Since by "free markets" what you mean is "we're in favor of helping the CCP to subsidize Chinese businesses to wipe out US businesses", what you mean by "open borders, free markets" is "to completely destroy America".
Which means you're either idiots, evil, or liars. Which is it?
Achilles said...
You are probably a "conservative" who wanted the government to define marriage when you were in control and are mad that government is defining marriage when you aren't in control.
News flash, numb nuts:
1: The government HAS to define what things get teh government provided "marriage" benefits. Like tax changes.
2: The issue isn't the left wing fascists "defining marriage", it's their absolute jihad to force anyone who wants to be in teh wedding business to support the Left's f*cked up definition of "marriage".
If the bullying scum were willing to leave the rest of us alone, it wouldn't be a big issue.
The fact that so many "libertarians" are perfectly happy to see the government tell actual Christians "you can't be in the wedding business unless you give up all your beliefs and replace them with ours" just shows how fascistic and anti liberty most "libertarians" are.
My special favorite are the "libertarians" who are opposed to government stopping social media companies from censoring conservatives, but are all in favor of driving out of business any wedding photographer / website designer who doesn't want to do same sex "weddings".
Because "free speech"
D.D. Driver said...
The difference between Trumpers and lefties is that one wants to take your family farm and give to underrepresented minorities and the other wants to take your family farm to give to Taiwanese con-men. Libertarians think you should be able to keep your family farm
No, "libertarians" think your family farm should be put out of business by foreign companies. That's that whole "free markets" thing you're for, especially when the other markets are communist controlled slave states
John henry said...
Some people think Malone should clean house at CNN. I take the point but disagree.
That would probably cost money paying severance, hiring replacements etc.
I think he should keep people like don lemon and Mr Potato and the rest.
Change the people who write the stories. Make lemon do stories like "tonight, a special report on how President Trump was not so bad" or "why lower taxes help bipoc Americans", "is there any truth to the rumor that vp Harris is going to resign in favor of President emeritus Trump?" and so on.
Now, the result of that would be them refusing to read those lines, and getting fired for cause,or them quitting rather than reading those lines.
Which would let Malone avoid the severance payments. :-)
How did CNN loose their reputation? Slowly, and then suddenly. Son of a bitch! that old flop is really true. If news wants to be reputable they must stop printing leaks and anonymous sources. Then they can avoid being tools of the FBI and CIA.
Why the hate for libertarians?
We just want the government to leave us alone as much as possible. We don't think that elected office should be a vehicle to family riches by taking away from the people who produce.
Achilles said...
While you are at it how is that drug war and war on poverty going?
Well, the war on poverty was going much better after the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which actually DID do positive reforms.
Which is why the Left went to war against it. Since getting people out of poverty hurts the Left, many of whose foot soldiers get paid to "help" the poor, and so get paid less when there's fewer poor.
And Trump's immigration and trade policies really helped those Americans who didn't have college certificates.
Which, if you were a decent human being, would tell you why "open borders" and "free trade as practiced in the US in the 21st Century" are both really bad ideas
“CNN was originally a good idea, as Amadeus posted above. I'm not sure there is a way back. They have wrecked the brand.”
I got in trouble yesterday for saying this, but “Get Woke, Go Broke”. Just another example.
how is that drug war and war on poverty going?
About as well as your mind reading.
MadisonMan said...
I look forward to airports playing something other than CNN. That would be a good first step.
They ditched it over a year ago.
Which might matter if people ever start flying again
No, "libertarians" think your family farm should be put out of business by foreign companies. That's that whole "free markets" thing you're for, especially when the other markets are communist controlled slave states
So Trump just wants to "cut out the middle man" and give it to the Taiwanese directly? Why even force them to compete when you can just hand over the keys to the tractor, right?
Maynard said...
Why the hate for libertarians?
We just want the government to leave us alone as much as possible.
Because you don't want to extend that freedom to the rest of us.
I used to hang out a Volokh. If there were any "libertarians" there who thought that the Feds shouldn't be giving the Section 230 subsidy to social media companies that censor conservatives, and who were opposed to State governments forcing Christians who want to be in the wedding business to work same sex "weddings", I missed them.
"Libertarians" are, by and large, hypocritical lying sacks of sh!t. thus the well deserved hate.
The fact that so many "libertarians" are perfectly happy to see the government tell actual Christians "you can't be in the wedding business unless you give up all your beliefs and replace them with ours" just shows how fascistic and anti liberty most "libertarians" are
Are you high? Because as a libertarian I fully support your right to do so. (That said, your beliefs are insanely offbase. Libertarians are the most vocal opponents to government-controlled speech.)
Can CNN be aired within 100 yards of a school or playground?
the only difference between libertarians and progressives is, libertarians want to delegate the work of oppressing the masses, Progs want to be hands on.
Yep. Remember its not bad, if the "Free market" does it.
Thank you strawman. Now if you only had a brain. Libertarians do not think a free market poses no threat. But, like the end of Ghostbusters, we need to choose our destructor. "No destructor" is not an option, Ponyboy.
So as I choose my destructor, should I choose:
1. The people who are trying to sell me things (but who also might try to press their advantage, cheat workers, and sully the environment), OR
2. The people who can lawfully take everything I own and shoot bullets at me?
Not a tough decision.
"He's 80, a multi-billionaire, and his best times may still be ahead of him. Wisdom. Winning."
I listened to a part of Malone's (almost an hour) 11/18/2021 interview on CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/11/18/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-liberty-media-chairman-john-malone.html
It's clear that although he still has all his marbles (turns 81 March 7), by the 3-minute mark you can see how often he struggles to find the right words. Also looks kinda haggard.
Like "Slow Joe", he seems to be on the road to "Mild Cognitive Impairment".
Of course, "Slow Joe" is way ahead of him, if not already there.
I dunno if Malone is already calling the shots at CNN but it appears they have now hired another retread from Fox News. Jonah Goldberg is apparently going to join Chris Wallace over there.
I wouldn't recommend this as a way to rebuild the brand. Looks more like they're gonna go full Man Boy Lincoln Project.
Malone will just dial CNN back to being a little less Leftwing crazy than MSNBC. Instead oushing the DNC propaganda 100 percent of the time, it will be 85 percent.
That's pretty much to be expected. People in journalism do tend to follow the DNC line, and it's hard to get around that. Even if Malone wanted to, he can't make CNN another FNC.
But say it's only 75 or 70 percent Democrat propaganda. That would be an improvement and would make CNN an alternative to FNC and MSNBC and probably make it less propagandistic than the three legacy networks.
Bilwick said..."Wierd."
Not at all. It's really quite simple. A couple years ago some guys came into my neighborhood all hopped up on that marajahoonie and fucked my dog. It was obvious they were libertarians, right? You can tell. Anyway, I've been prejudice against libertarians ever since and now I troll them. They hate that.
Libertarians do not "just want the Government to leave us alone". That's a total lie and complete bullshit. If it was true, they'd be against all Government. but they're not. "Just Leave us alone" - LOL!
Gee, lets use that dumb phrase with other groups:
"Hey, all we want is to be left alone by miniorites and non-whites" /signed/ the KKK
"Hey, we just want the Capitalists to leave us alone" /signed/ the Communists
Its this kind of dishonest rhetorical bullshit makes me hate Libertarians so much.
rcocean, how much libertarian thought have actually read? Bastiat? Von Mises? Hayek? Rothbard? Judging by your post, I'm guessing not much.
D.D. Driver said...
No, "libertarians" think your family farm should be put out of business by foreign companies. That's that whole "free markets" thing you're for, especially when the other markets are communist controlled slave states
So Trump just wants to "cut out the middle man" and give it to the Taiwanese directly? Why even force them to compete when you can just hand over the keys to the tractor, right?
Exactly what is the excuse behind this insanely f'ed up babble?
D.D. Driver said...
Are you high? Because as a libertarian I fully support your right to do so. (That said, your beliefs are insanely offbase. Libertarians are the most vocal opponents to government-controlled speech.)
I spent months hanging out with the degenerate "libertarians" over at Volokh.
The bullshit they and probably you push is that it would be evil for the Feds to stop social media companies from censoring conservatives.
Ignoring the fact that the ONLY reason social media companies exist is because they have the huge subsidy from libel law known as Section 230.
However, virtually none of them have any problem with States censoring the hell out of any Christian who wants to be in the Wedding business
Talk is cheap. Show us the big "libertarian" voices fighting to protect Christians from being forced to support SSM if they want to be in the wedding business
All I can say is that you guys have known a different breed of libertarians than I have been fortunate to know. "Libertarians for Coercion" is a heretical offshoot of the philosophy of Bastiat, Von Mises, et al, that I have been blessed to have missed out on.
All I can say is that you guys have known a different breed of libertarians than I have been fortunate to know. "Libertarians for Coercion" is a heretical offshoot of the philosophy of Bastiat, Von Mises, et al, that I have been blessed to have missed out on.
Bilwick said...
All I can say is that you guys have known a different breed of libertarians than I have been fortunate to know.
Really? Which are the libertarians you know, now, who:
1: Oppose cancel culture
2: Oppose States using "anti-discrimination" law to force Christians involved in the wedding business to have anything to do with same sex "weddings"?
3:Oppose Big Tech being able to censor opposing views while getting Section 230 protection?
I'll wait
The fact that none of the "libertarians" here could provide any evidence of libertarians actually valuing individual freedom is sad, but not a surprise
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