CNN’s Chief Censorship Advocate Oliver Darcy Abruptly Departs Network

CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy announced Thursday that he departed CNN and has launched a new newsletter.

Darcy confirmed his departure to Mediaite, saying he was honored to work at the network “during a time when truth is under assault.” His new newsletter, “Status,” is independent and subscription-based, and is intended to reach subscribers’ inboxes every Sunday through Thursday evening.

“It has been the privilege of my life to report for CNN and serve as the steward of the Reliable Sources franchise — particularly during a time when truth is under assault and people are searching for accurate, reliable information,” Darcy said, according to Mediaite. “Covering the information space is more important than ever and I am excited to launch Status, embark on this new journey, and tap into my entrepreneurial spirit.”

Darcy repeatedly called for censorship of right-leaning organizations and pubic figures during his time at CNN. He wrote in a CNN newsletter from November 30, 2020, that Twitter needed to label then-President Donald Trump’s entire account as disinformation, according to Fox News.

“Nearly every tweet from the president at this point is labeled for misinfo. Which had me thinking,” Darcy wrote at the time. “Why doesn’t Twitter just take the step of labeling his entire account as a known source of election disinfo? And why stop there? Why not label accounts that repeatedly spread claims the platform has to fact-check?”

Oliver Darcy no longer with CNN. Starting his own venture and is somehow under the delusion that people will pay $150 a year to read his propaganda. Good luck! https://t.co/YEz6glL6xI

Darcy further called on cable news companies to de-platform Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network for its alleged disinformation in a January 28, 2021 analysis.

“Yes, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin and others are responsible for the lies they peddle to their audiences. But the TV companies that beam them into millions of homes around the country also bear some responsibility. And yet we rarely, if ever, talk about them,” Darcy wrote.

More recently, Darcy ridiculed Ticketmaster in a June 13 piece for selling tickets for Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson’s 15-city arena tour. He called on companies with “basic ethics” to resist conducting business with those who spread alleged “dangerous and hateful rhetoric.”

Darcy also lashed out at his then-employer CNN for holding a town hall with Trump in May 2023. He reportedly engaged in a heated spat with former CNN President Chris Licht following the event, where Licht reportedly told Darcy his coverage of the event was “emotional.”

Darcy again criticized CNN for holding a December 13 town hall with then-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, arguing the network should not give the then-candidate a platform for allegedly having “spewed dangerous lies.”

Darcy is the most recent of a longline of CNN veterans to depart the network, including Brian Stelter, John Harwood and John Avlon.

Fake News CNN Effectively Worthless After Parent Warner Bros. Takes $9.1 Billion Writedown

The Liberty Daily ^ | August 8, 2024 | Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
Posted on 8/8/2024, 11:55:49 AM by Red Badger

What had been obvious “to the rest of us” for years, is finally official: late last night, shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN and TNT, crashed 10% to the lowest level on record after it reported dire results, which missed across the board and plunged across every income statement category…

… but the biggest hit – and surprise – was the company’s stunning $9.1 billion charge taken to write down the value of its traditional TV networks, such as CNN and TNT, which were acquired in 2022 when Warner Bros Discovery was created as part of its acquisition of WarnerMedia.

The write down confirmed that legacy cable channels like CNN and TNT are no longer worth what they were when the $42 billion merger was completed. In fact, judging by the ongoing mass layoffs at the former, one can argue that CNN’s value is now negative and will continue to be so until it stops hemorrhaging cash.

For the quarter, Warner Bros. reported a net loss of $10 billion, which included additional charges of $2.1 billion related to its merger. Revenue for the quarter fell 6.2% to $9.71 billion. Of note, the revenue collapse in the company’s Networks segment, which includes CNN, just won’t stop.

“Two years ago market valuations and prevailing conditions for legacy media companies were quite different than they are today,” CEO David Zaslav said on a call with investors on Wednesday. “This impairment acknowledges this and better aligns our carrying values with our future outlook.”

As Bloomberg notes, the writedown follows last month’s decision by the NBA to drop Warner Bros. as a broadcast partner and award a $76 billion, 11-year media rights deal to Walt Disney, Comcast and Amazon.com. Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit against the NBA last month alleging a breach of contract.

“At this point, we’ve handed it off to our lawyers,” Zaslav said on the call. “We have confidence in our position.”

More importantly, the writedown reflects the continued exodus of viewers from cable networks like roaring propaganda dumpster fire CNN to streaming, taking with them the advertising sales and subscriber fees that supply most of the revenue for conventional TV. The changes have rippled across media. Disney, which announced third-quarter results earlier Wednesday, reported declines in linear television advertising sales and subscribers, sending the stock to a ten year low and once again confirming that once you go woke… well, everyone knows what happens next.

Warner Bros. has eliminated more than 2,000 positions over the past year and slashed 100 jobs at CNN last month. The company raised subscription prices for its Max streaming service in June.

Under different management teams over the past 20 years, Warner Bros. has been involved in some of the worst and most criticized merger deals. They include the $124 billion merger of Time Warner with America Online in 2001 and the later purchase of Time Warner by AT&T Inc. for $87 billion in 2018.

Warner Bros. shares plunged as much as 9.9% to $6.95, the lowest price since the stock of the merged company began trading in April 2022, and down over 70% in the past two years

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.