New masters, new direction: CNN fired Brian Stelter and cancelled his show Reliable Sources (which was on the air for 30 years) and then, on September 2nd, John Harwood, was pushed out the door as well.
• Sept. 7, 2022
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John Malone is a right-leaning billionaire libertarian, close friend of the Murdoch family, and key Warner Bros Discovery board member. In 2021, CNN at AT&T spined off and combined Warner Media with Discovery, so now CNN is a Warner Bros Discovery WBD entity. And with this change of corporate hands, came a new board and .. new masters.
Both Brian Stelter and John Harwood described Donald Trump as a “demagogue” in their last appearances on the network. 1, 2
John Malone, a Fox News fan and Trump donor, has deep and longstanding ties with David Zaslav, the CEO of WBD. In an interview with CNBC in 2021, John Malone said, “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.” 3
He proposed a model:
“Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have ‘news’ news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.” Hen also said, according to Vox, that “a time of change” is coming..
Is CNN turning into Fox News Light? Malone has denied he is “directly involved” in any decisions about CNN, but multiple current and former staffers who spoke to journalists are indicating that Malone is indirectly dictating an agenda to Chris Licht, the newly installed CNN boss. 4
1. Brian Stelter. Brian Stelter speaks about cancellation of his CNN show 'Reliable Sources'. Youtube. August 2022. ⇤
2. Ramon Antonio Vargas. Correspondent abruptly leaves CNN after calling Trump a ‘demagogue’. The Guardian. September 2022. ⇤
3. Amanda Northrop. Why billionaire John Malone’s shadow looms over CNN. Vox. August 2022. ⇤
4. Adam Parkhomenko. Tweet: The new head of CNN met with Congressional Republicans and is now checking off their to do list. Twitter. September 2022. ⇤
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