Can CNN change and be successful?

CNN will do fine. Fair Journalism for a TV based audience is an oxymoron. Any organization will do what’s best for the bottom line and their owners/board.

Fox news quietly began to go that direction and quickly reversed back to partisan politics. I expect the same here. Go to Reuters for real-ish news.

It can certainly survive. I won’t take fucking Murdoch’s word for how bad week 1 seems to be going, but anyway. Will this change on direction work out… it could. I like to think there is an untapped well of reasonableness that has not been properly catered too, but maybe I’m fooling myself. One hope is that society is becoming more media savvy, after a couple decades of war of the worlds like foolishness, and will gravitate away from sensationalism

I think CNN is still going to tank in the ratings. CNN is planning on going back to what is referred to as “neutrality” not objectivity. Basically they’re going to give equal air time to debate both sides of the issue, even if the facts lead to a “liberal” point of view, like the fact that global warming is real or that Trump lost the election.

@rockfan

CNN Personality: “Is the world flat?”
Guest 1: “It’s flat! Just look at the horizon.”
Guest 2: “That’s absurd, it’s round!”
CNN Personality: “Interesting debate. I“m afraid that’s all the time we have. We’ll have to leave it there. After the break we’re going to discuss whether people actually need air to breathe…”
[Exxon commercial plays]

CNN is owned by AT&T. So if you want AT&T’s perspective on the news, it’s a great resource.

Most likely not it won’t last much longer without government funding and private donations.

@gorillapaws @rockfan
Tale as old as time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE&t=358s

Yes, I think CNN can continue to be corporate news and survive. Most people want their slop and they will get it.

I switched from watching mostly MSNBC to mostly CNN, because I couldn’t take MSNBC’s bias, but now MSNBC has shifted back a little more towards the center too, but still left leaning for sure.

I think CNN should stay the course of more straight journalism and see how it goes. As long as they have a profit I hope they are satisfied. They might make more with more of a bias and more hysteria, but being more balanced and hopefully reporting on more of a variety of news items rather than just harping on two or three for days on end serves the common good.

Ironically, the Trumpers and bots and trolls on Facebook used “CNN” as their primary network to attack as fake news, but it’s MSNBC that has always been more left and more blatantly anti-Trump.

@JLeslie Wait, are you suggesting that “anti-Trump” requires somehow being left of center?

“CNN should stay the course of more straight journalism” You’re kidding right? They’re very left of center. So much so that at one point I began to think they were worse than Fox News.

In either case, it’s always interesting to me that it’s perfectly fine that Fox News is right-biased, in fact it’s better for them and for America if they are, but CNN must change and be more neutral! Left-biased news bad. Right-biased news good.

@Zaku Absolutely not. Thank you for asking. I have plenty of conservative and Republican friends who were anti-Trump from the start or have converted along the way. Some of them have become Democrats, or are voting Democrat, because the right wing extremism that has been going on lately has woken them up. Even so, I think they would prefer to identify as Republicans, I think it’s been hard on them. I’m not really sure.

@gorillapaws AT&T no longer owns CNN.

CNN is boring. Not that the news is boring, just the opposite.

As for MSNBC, they’re owned by Comcast (notice a pattern). It’s shocking to me that people describe these media conglomerates “left leaning.” I’m not sure they’ve ever interviewed an actual Marxist in the entire time they’ve been broadcasting—certainly not equivalent to the time given to a pro-capitalist, or hyper-capitalist perspectives like 99.9% to 0.1% or even worse? I’m pretty sure they’ve aired pieces supporting radical right wing economic policies like corporate welfare for shareholders.

If we’re describing them as “left leaning” simply because they’re not racist or transphobic, then I think the phrase “left leaning” isn’t being applied properly.

@filmfann “AT&T no longer owns CNN.”

I think they still own controlling interest of the stock. Regardless, if you look at the Board of Directors for Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. it’s an interesting list of folks who ultimately dictate the national conversation. I think it’s the duty of everyone who watches CNN for their news to read about each and every member of that board to understand who shapes the news coverage they’re getting.

I watch extremely little cable TV, but I seem to remember the media (including CNN and MSNBC unless I mis-remember or didn’t pay enough attention) in 2016 and 2020 supporting and expressing biases in favor of Clinton and Biden and other mainstream party Democrats over Sanders, no?

@Zaku I think the coverage of both sanders and trump was probably unnecessary politiking. They basically said, look at these idiots, look at the LOOK AT THEM! Don’t you hate them? Don’t vote for them. It increased both of their visibilities early on, it’s just that one candidate used it to his advantage, and the other failed to.

@Smashley That’s not quite accurate. They essentially blacked-out any coverage of Bernie and propped up Trump (at the request of Clinton’s campaign):

“A new report finds the flagship news programs at major networks NBC, CBS and ABC have dedicated 234 minutes this year to stories about Donald Trump—compared to just 10 minutes for Democratic presidential candidate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The gap comes despite Trump and Sanders often having similar levels of support in primary polls. The Tyndall Report found ABC’s World News Tonight, for example, has devoted 81 minutes to Trump campaign stories—and less than one minute to Sanders, for the entire year.” (Source)

@JLeslie “Ironically, the Trumpers and bots and trolls on Facebook used “CNN” as their primary network to attack as fake news, but it’s MSNBC that has always been more left and more blatantly anti-Trump.” CNN has fewer letters than MSNBC. Mystery solved.

@Demosthenes You have an interesting point. I don’t watch Fox any more than I watch CNN, and much for the same reason. I’d personally like to see a “major” news outlet start to get into actual journalism. Imagine if the media was actually reporting facts and questioning things that are said and done? What a world it might be. But since CNN is left and Fox is right, their “proofs” would be different. For instance, if CNN suddenly did an investigative bit into Hunter Biden’s laptop and started really make the big deal out of it that it is, I’d almost believe they were serious. Fox would have to start showing more viewpoints of people on the left to let their viewers understand what both sides of any issue are viewing.

Unfortunately that’s not likely to happen as long as they are businesses that need to attract and keep viewers to stay viable. Even more difficult when they’re so entrenched in the bias they have come to be known for that they’ve built up a mass of loyal followers who will see any attempt to show the “other side” as a kind of betrayal (e.g. when Fox did come out and say Trump lost the 2020 election and consequently they were skewered for it, with many seeking out OAN and other networks that would toe the line).

@Demosthenes Unfortunately their mass of loyal followers have consistently put them well behind the competition. If you are doing something and it does not work repeatedly, it’s time to try something new. One of the reasons Fox beats them all the time is that Fox presents an alternative view to most of the MSM. When you hear the same thing…almost the exact same words…on 6 different news channels and then you hear an alternative view point, you take notice and start to question those that sing the same song.

Please note, I’m not saying Fox is giving the “correct” viewpoint or isn’t presenting their own bias. It’s just different. That’s why I think CNN moving to real journalism might actually work. I believe America is aching for an actual news outlet that gets to the root of the stories instead of trying to tell the stories from their viewpoint.

Fox News has Tucker ( I love Russia)!

wonder how much money is coming from Communist countries for Fox?

Pretty sure CNN isn’t getting any.