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CNN

From RationalWiki - Reading time: 4 min
This is CNN's logo.
You gotta spin it to win it
Media
Icon media.svg
Stop the presses!
We want pictures
of Spider-Man!
Extra! Extra!
v - t - e
“”Fake News
—Donald Trump[1][2]
“”The fact that CNN is selling an election coffee table book says so very much.
—Drew Magary[3]
“”I know CNN has taken some knocks lately but the fact is, I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate.
—Barack Obama

CNN (Cable News Network) is the original of the United States' 24-hour cable news networks, and now sits along with MSNBC, Fox News, ABC et al. Launched in 1980 by Ted Turner, it is the home of much opinion designed to look like news. CNN got its mojo in the first Gulf War and has struggled ever since to make the news as compelling. Interestingly, CNN has a better reputation in a crisis (9/11, Katrina) than the other two, but that doesn't translate into viewership in the day-in/day-out of presidential politics.

Since the late 2000s, much of the content on CNN consists of current events, misinformation, misinformation, more misinformation, opinion pundits (mostly Very Serious People), reruns, and other shit that not many people watch anyway (like seriously raising the possibility that Flight MH370 might have been swallowed up by a Black hole[4]), as CNN's ratings have continuously dropped.[5] CNN's leader Walter Isaacson tried to take CNN in a more conservative direction at one point. He even met with Republican congressional leaders at the time.

In 2017, CNN ignited controversy after blackmailing the Reddit user who made the gif of Donald Trump bodyslamming CNN into a forced apology under threat of doxxing.[6][7]

CNN (especially the cable programming) has often bought into balance fallacy as a modus operandi, and as such the network has hosted pseudoscience promoters and quacks before: For example, in late 2018, the channel invited Food Babe during the romaine lettuce outbreak.[8] CNN also took part in GMO fearmongering in 2014 when they published the "Ten Ways to avoid GMOs".[9] To their credit, they at least are not anti-vaccine.

Slant[edit]

Unlike Fox News Channel, with its right-wing imbalance, and MSNBC, with its Democratic establishment imbalance, CNN had been the "centrist" news source for a long time, albeit left of center whenever the Republican President makes it impossible for them to stay neutral. Pew Research found CNN to be the least biased of the three major cable news networks (with Fox and MSNBC having a much larger right and left wing slant, respectively). With some "left-leaning" commentators like Fareed Zakaria, it has been accused of being slightly left-leaning. However, CNN's efforts to appear "balanced" has resulted in many cases where stories are reported with more of a right-leaning bias.[note 1][note 2]

However, with Donald Trump's arrival onto the political landscape, the network took a more adversarial stance (though not before briefly hiring Trump's own campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski[10]). Trump's relation to the facts tended to be even more egregious than your typical politician,[11] and he would get into public feuds with CNN, often singling them out much as he has The New York Times.[12][13] CNN's public image thus shifted from "balance fallacy: the network" to more of a left-leaning to left-wing reputation. As of 2020, Media Bias/Fact Check, citing Pew Research, characterized CNN as a left-wing media.[14] Since 2022 (about when Jeff Zucker was ousted), CNN's leadership has signaled some interest in moving the network back to its "balanced" reputation even in the face of Trump's continuing political presence, perhaps hoping to have their cake and eat it too.[15] It hasn't always gone very well.[16]

Controversies[edit]

Steubenville High School rape[edit]

CNN's Candy Crowley, Poppy Harlow, and Paul Callan were criticized for being sympathetic towards the convicted rapists in the Steubenville High School rape case and for placing very little focus on the girl victim on March 17, 2013.[17] An online petition garnered thousands of signatures protesting the coverage and demanding an apology.[18] CNN also revealed the name of the 16-year-old victim. This practice is against the Associated Press guidelines for coverage.[19]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Remember that this was the station that did employ Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, Erick Erickson, Glenn Beck, Robert Novak, Rowland Evans, Kate O'Beirne S. E. Cupp, and Newt Gingrich on the air.
  2. ↑ Also consider how currently almost all of these personalities are no longer employed by CNN.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Donald Trump on twitter, 5:30 am, 27 June 2017
  2. ↑ Donald Trump on Twitter, 5:45 pm, 27 June 2017
  3. ↑ Magary, "CNN's Jeff Zucker Thinks This is All a Game", GQ 4.5.17.
  4. ↑ Gawker.com: archive.is, web.archive.org
  5. ↑ CNN Fails to Stop Fall in Ratings, The New York Times, 29 March 2010
  6. ↑ CNN criticised for seemingly threatening to dox Reddit user behind Trump's wrestling video, Business Insider Australia
  7. ↑ How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF, CNN Politics
  8. ↑ CNN Lets 'Food Babe' Spout Pseudoscience on Lettuce Outbreak The Daily Beast
  9. ↑ CNN’s irresponsible article on ’10 ways to avoid GMOs’–No, GMOs are not unsafe Genetic Literacy Project
  10. ↑ James Wolcott (December 28, 2016). "How Trump Trumped The New York Times, CNN, and the Rest of the Media in 2016". Vanity Fair.
  11. ↑ Kessler, Glenn; Rizzo, Salvador; Kelly, Meg (2021-02-10). "Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. 
  12. ↑ (April 3, 2018). "Trump reignites war with long-time foe CNN, trashes networks while defending Sinclair". CBS News.
  13. ↑ Jason Schwartz (January 17, 2018). "Trump gives out 'Fake News Awards' to CNN, N.Y. Times, Wash Post". Politico.
  14. ↑ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/cnn/
  15. ↑ David Bauder (August 26, 2022). "CNN management intent on changing perception of the network". The Associated Press.
  16. ↑ Tim Alberta (June 2, 2023). "Inside the Meltdown at CNN". The Atlantic.
  17. ↑ "CNN’s Steubenville Coverage Focuses On Effect Rape Trial Will Have On Rapists, Not Victim". Huffington Post. 2017. 
  18. ↑ "CNN’s Steubenville Rape Coverage Draws Petition Demanding Apology". Huffington Post. 2017. 
  19. ↑ "CNN, Fox News, MSNBC Air Name Of Steubenville Rape Victim". Huffington Post. 2017. 
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/CNN
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