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It’s Time CNN Drops An ‘N’
Townhall.com ^ | August 29, 2019 | Derek Hunter

Posted on 08/29/2019 4:13:16 AM PDT by Kaslin

CNN stands for the “Cable News Network.” There was a time that name was accurate – they are on cable, they delivered the news, and they’re a network. But that second “N” no longer applies, and it’s about time they drop it the way they’ve dropped any semblance of journalism.

You can watch CNN for an hour, any hour, and come away dumber and less-informed than you were beforehand. That’s some kind of accomplishment, I guess, exactly what kind remains a mystery.

Without news to fall back on, they have to fill 24 hours a day with something. The something they’ve chosen is a mix of anchors reading Democratic National Committee talking points as if they were original thoughts and having paid contributors recite them as well. It’s a bland mix of repetitive blather coupled with one-upmanship from guests designed to get more bookings for themselves. It’s like a Debutant Ball for ugly people who can only get a date because their family has money. The belle of the ball is noted human potato and top-ranked Weeble cosplayer Brian Stelter. He’s supposed to be their “media reporter,” but his show – ironically named “Reliable Sources” (he inherited the name and the show when Howie Kurtz escaped the network for an actual audience on Fox) – is nothing more than an hour-long conga line of leftists complaining that conservatives exist. It’s a whine fest with a teleprompter, budget, and occasional cameos by Carl Bernstein and Dan Rather to drive home the point that the audience is being conned. Stelter’s show has more clips of Fox News than Fox News has.

Sunday news used to have Tim Russert, now it has a Russet.

Last Sunday “Tater” sat silently as a guest said President Trump is responsible for more deaths than Mao, Stalin, and Hitler. Adding that calling Trump “crazy” was an insult to crazy people.

Throughout the rant, Stelter sat staring into the camera with his patented “Please don’t let anyone hear this fart” look on his face as he desperately tried to cover up the fact that his inner monologue is “duh.” He said nothing to challenge the absurd claims, nothing to refute them. He’ll probably win a Pulitzer for it.

Later, on Twitter, he tried to claim technical difficulties caused him to miss the statement. “I agree that I should have interrupted after that line. I wish I had heard him say it, but I was distracted by tech difficulties (that's why the show open didn't look the way it normally does, I had two computers at the table, etc). Not hearing the comment is my fault,” he tweeted. Was his earpiece not working, or did the echo of what it was stuck in to distract him? It doesn’t really matter because no television show occurs in a vacuum. A control room full of producers and directors all heard it and could have whispered into his ear that his guest had declared the president of the United States responsible for tens of millions of deaths, but they didn’t. Even CNN employees who routinely ignore hundreds of murders in Chicago would have noticed that many deaths.

After his lame tweet, Tater posted a piece to CNN’s website reiterating the idea that the president is mentally unfit for office. The only thing it proved was the lack of editorial standards at CNN extend to the written word as well.

“I spent the week talking with major media figures at networks and newspapers. And that was the consensus: President Trump's behavior is getting worse in type and in frequency,” Tater wrote. The “sources” he cites were tweets from Trump Derangement Syndrome poster boy and Kellyane Conway husband, George, Anthony Scaramucci, world record holder for most disastrous and shortest tenure working in a White House on his media “redemption tour,” and a couple of writers for left-wing outlets.

His conclusion cautions, “There are legitimate ethical questions about having this conversation. Journalists in newsrooms like The AP and CNN are trained to tread very carefully when entering the realm of speculation. The goal is to gather facts, not advance a political agenda.” It was as if he wasn’t aware of the rest of his own piece or the entirety of his own network. Then again, like the rest of America, maybe he doesn’t watch CNN. Who could blame him?

I don’t care what CNN does or what their personalities say, their ratings rank up there with the test pattern network and the bulk of their audience is stuck watching them on mute while paying inflated prices for food in airports. I do have a problem with them calling it “news.” Actual news, real news, is important. Finding any on CNN is impossible. It’s about time their name reflect that.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: cnn; fakenewsnetwork; fnn
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1 posted on 08/29/2019 4:13:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Shouldn’t they drop the first “N,” not the second?


2 posted on 08/29/2019 4:16:54 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines (Their side circles the wagons. Our side revs up the bus.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
But that second “N” no longer applies ..
3 posted on 08/29/2019 4:19:12 AM PDT by tomkat
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Oops - ‘not enough coffee goof’ - sorry


4 posted on 08/29/2019 4:20:13 AM PDT by tomkat
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To: All

Back in the early 80’s they weren’t bad but went down hill fast after that!


5 posted on 08/29/2019 4:21:03 AM PDT by Doofer
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To: Kaslin
a dog smelling another dog's azz gets more information than a human watching an hour of cnn...
6 posted on 08/29/2019 4:25:37 AM PDT by Chode (Send bachelors, and come heavily armed!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

They should change from CNN to CNW for Cable Nutcases Working.


7 posted on 08/29/2019 4:30:23 AM PDT by RipSawyer (I need some green first and then we'll talk a new deal!http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3763)
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To: RipSawyer

CNN will always be the Chicken Noodle Network to me.


8 posted on 08/29/2019 4:37:46 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (It's Fredomania at the MSM)
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To: Kaslin
CON
Cable Opinion Network


9 posted on 08/29/2019 4:50:49 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: EQAndyBuzz

I prefer “Clinton News Network”.
Stinks like rotten cabbage!


10 posted on 08/29/2019 4:51:24 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement!)
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To: tomkat

No hey problema. I had to read the original article twice myself to realize the author had the wrong “N”


11 posted on 08/29/2019 4:59:28 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines (Their side circles the wagons. Our side revs up the bus.)
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To: Kaslin

These people are the ideological descendants of Moa, Stalin and Hitler. What with their love of gun control, population control and total government control of every aspect of people’s lives. At least they give SOME passing acknowledgement of how evil Mao, Stalin And Hitler were. Maybe some day they’ll come to see Castro, Guevara and Chavez as such.


12 posted on 08/29/2019 5:00:19 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Tethingxas Eagle)
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To: Kaslin
the bulk of their audience is stuck watching them on mute while paying inflated prices for food in airports.

The article nailed two of the eight-seven reasons I hate air travel. ;-)

CNN is enemy propaganda--pure and simple.
13 posted on 08/29/2019 5:07:25 AM PDT by cgbg (Democracy dies in darkness when Bezos bans books.)
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To: Kaslin

That second N is Network...which is what got them this way is the first place. Maybe if they dropped the Network they currently are owned by and were bankrolled by another “better” Network...if such a thing exists, they could finally live up to being News.


14 posted on 08/29/2019 5:16:53 AM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Canard News Network


15 posted on 08/29/2019 5:20:14 AM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.......)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

I’ve said this years ago. Fox News should be included in this to be fair too.

My main point wasn’t so much about the editorializing and punditry being lack of “journalism”. It’s all true, but not even the higher point, which is that it’s NOT NEWS! It’s wall to wall political discussion.

The punditry and editorializing are just a symptom of the problem. They exist to broadcast politics, not news.

Don’t give me the BS that politics is news. It would perhaps be true that politics should dominate a news cycle only right before an election. Let’s not quable about when “right before” starts. You, I, and everyone knows these networks only exist to exert politic influence on their audiences.

Do an audit of CNN.
Remove all commercial/advertising time and any time spent showing intros, graphics, banners, etc, and strictly audit content output.
Publish the percentages of content type.
Unless there is a significant news item occurring (hurricane Dorian is something that would tilt the numbers toward news for example) then politics will dominate the stats


16 posted on 08/29/2019 5:27:50 AM PDT by z3n
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To: Kaslin
Journalists in newsrooms like The AP and CNN are trained to tread very carefully when entering the realm of speculation. The goal is to gather facts, not advance a political agenda.

ROTFLMAO!

17 posted on 08/29/2019 5:28:30 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.)
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To: Kaslin

I see CNN at the gym. About that time it’s the extended version of the Two Minute Hate with Fredo and Don Lemon.


18 posted on 08/29/2019 6:25:22 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: Kaslin; bitt
***He {Stelter} said nothing to challenge the absurd claims, nothing to refute them. He’ll probably win a Pulitzer for it

Surely a Nobel Peace Prize also. Zero demonstrated that all you have to do to win one is to publicly hate the United States. How peaceful!

19 posted on 08/29/2019 6:32:24 AM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrap Party is the enemy of freedom.They use all the seductions and deceits of the Bolshevics)
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To: Kaslin

I like Derreck Hunter’s writing style! :)


20 posted on 08/29/2019 6:34:00 AM PDT by Lazamataz (We can be called a racist and we'll just smile. Because we don't care.)
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