CNN Forced to Do a Makeover
By Mark Schwendau
As early as February, there was talk about CNN being in trouble with those who own the network in the form of stocks. A merger between Warner Media and Discovery created new opportunities in the streaming war dominated by Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+. For billionaire John Malone, one of Discovery’s largest shareholders, it was viewed as a play for control in an ever-changing TV viewing landscape. Malone, an influential force at Time-Warner Discovery, has been vocal about his preferences for CNN’s future path to becoming more centrist in news reporting.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with and have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” Malone said in an interview with CNBC last November.
About a month ago, the New York Times published a report highlighting the recent woes of CNN. “The network is on a pace to drop below $1 billion in profit for the first time in years, according to people familiar with its operations, amid steep declines in TV viewership,” they reported. The Times noted CNN’s new chairman, Chris Licht, told employees not to worry about ratings at the start of his tenure.
“Now, three months into Mr. Licht’s tenure, the network finds itself facing big questions about how it can continue to expand its business with its moonshot streaming service dead and the traditional TV business in structural decline,” the Times reported. S&P Global Market Intelligence projected that CNN’s profits would fall below $1 billion. The last time CNN saw profits below $1 billion was in 2016.
The Times also reported that Chris Marlin, a longtime friend of Licht, was hired on as a new addition to CNN. He will serve as executive vice-president for Strategy and Business Operations. Marlin has already made several innovative suggestions, such as “extending CNN’s brand in China” to secure extra revenue.
The Times reported, “Ratings are down from their Trump-era heights across cable news, but declines at CNN are particularly pronounced.” Interestingly, this was one of the many interesting things President Trump said would happen if he somehow lost the presidential race in 2020. Another example of Trump being right again in his prophecies!
In March of 2021, The Washington Post ran an article titled, “Trump predicted news ratings would ‘tank if I’m not there.’ He wasn’t wrong.”
A Wells Fargo analyst recently told the New York Times CNN’s declining ratings are especially concerning for the network because “when those [traditional TV] advertisers make spending decisions, they are concerned primarily with total audience size.”
A recent Gallup poll revealed that trust in the media is at an all-time low. Only 11% of respondents said they had a “great deal or quite a lot” of confidence in the industry. This was a 5% drop from the last year, 2021. Conservatives have accused the mainstream media of a liberal bias, most prominent in their absolute refusal to report on stories about election fraud in the 2020 general election. They point to the mainstream media’s hypocrisy as they pushed Trump and Russian collusion with the fake impeachment attempts while burying the “Hunter Biden Laptop from Hell” story just before the 2020 election.
These supposed professional, degreed, investigative news journalists have made themselves the laughing stock while living on air. Two recent examples were when a CNN reporter did a live stream in front of a summer 2020 riot with a city block ablaze and summed up what was going on in Portland as a “mostly peaceful” protest. Another happened in the spring of 2021 when a NASCAR audience began chanting “F*ck Joe Biden!” and the sports reporter reinterpreted their words as “Let’s go Brandon.” to fit the interview she was doing on NASCAR racer Brandon Brown.
Brown would, after that, have problems finding sponsors, which shows such actions can have very negative dire consequences. Just another example of the collateral damage of the mainstream fake news media trying to maintain a set liberal Democrat socialist narrative. Right?!
It is interesting how the leadership and direction of John Malone have been maligned by the liberal left, too. They have been quick to note Malone as a “Trump donor,” “fellow Floridian billionaire of Trump,” and “terminator of Brian Stelter,” but the fact of the matter is CNN was circling the toilet bowl when John Malone stepped in. Malone correctly pointed out the problem of on-air journalists pushing too much of their own opinions and too little of actual news.
So if you were like me and so many other dazed and confused Americans who had no idea what President Trump meant in his comments about FOX and CNN in his Pennsylvania rally last week, now you know! In his remarks, he offered to help his longtime nemesis CNN in what many took as a world-turned-upside-down moment. He also crucified Fox News!
About Fox, he said, “Wow! Fox News is really pushing the Democrats and the Democrat agenda. Gets worse every single day. So many Dems interviewed with only softball questions, then Republican counterparts get creamed.”
About CNN, he said, “If ‘low ratings’ CNN ever went conservative, they would be an absolute gold mine, and I would help them to do so!”
This is the final evidence that the news media has become biased to the point of being unwatchable. Whether you like Donald Trump or not, when was the last time you saw him invited to speak on a national network? For me, it was the absolutely unprofessional and disgusting interview of Trump by Savannah Guthrie.
“Interview: Savannah Guthrie Leads a Town Hall With Donald Trump in Miami – October 15, 2020” – NBC News
Savannah Guthrie was outright rude in interrupting President Trump as she talked over him. Actions have consequences. When her face is on my TV screen, I change the channel. Power to the people!
President Donald Trump has been systematically shunned by mainstream media ever since.
Ironically, alternative news websites like Right Side Broadcasting (RSB) and One American News Network (OANN) are now doing great reporting on Trump rallies on streaming media.
As I used to teach my college students, If you can perceive and isolate a problem and devise a possible solution, you could be the next American millionaire.
You ignore the popularity and charisma of Donald Trump and his millions of followers at your own risk.
Copyright © 2022 by Mark S. Schwendau
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Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.” He classifies himself as a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist. Mark is an award-winning educator who has published seven books and numerous peer-reviewed trade journal articles, some of which can be found on the Internet. His father was a fireman/paramedic, while his mother was a registered nurse. He holds multiple degrees in technology education, industrial management, OSHA Safety, and Driver’s Education. His personal website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.
The CNN crowd can slither over to Fox News which is becoming the new CNN.