Apologizing to Trump campaign aide Anthony Scaramucci for publishing a fake news story about his involvement in a Russian investment fund, CNN announced resignations of its author, Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, editor of CNN investigative division and Lex Harris who oversaw the unit. CNN ‘s 52-year-old CEO Jeff Zucker was forced to take action to preserve what’s left of the most biased, anti-Trump news outlet on the airwaves, with the possible exception of left-leaning MSNBC. Seventy-one-year-old President Donald Trump has been calling out the mainstream media for fake news and anti-Trump bias since he strutted down the escalator at Trump Tower with his wife Melania June 16, 2015. After all major broadcast and print outlets endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for president in 2016, Trump’s historic Nov. 8 victory was a stunning rebuke of the American media.
Since Trump won the election, the media has been on a terror to destroy Trump’s presidency, reporting daily every possible presidential gaffe or misinterpreting, misreporting and exaggerating any possible mistake by Trump surrogates. Broadcast and print media have been inundated since the election with negative news stories about Trump and his associates. When Harvard’s School of Government in Shorenstein Center of Media and Politics published May 18 its definitive report of media bias against Trump, the findings were alarming. CNN received a 93% negative reporting score since Trump won the White House. Shorestein’s study showed that an average of 80% of broadcast and print media published negative stproes about Trump, as compared to 40% negative about former President Barack Obama. Of all the news outlets, CNN was the most egregious abuser of the negative Trump stories.
CNN’s Zucker admitted as far back as May 2, 2016 that his network had moved too far to the left yet made no effort to rein in its primetime news hosts, assembling teams of anti-Trump pundits. Watching CNN accept resignations in the Scaramucci story is the tip of the iceberg of CNN’s attempt before-and-after-the election to discredit Trump in every way possible. Trump tweeted “FAKE NEWS!” yesterday. “Wow. CNN had to retract big story on “Russia’ with 3 employees forced to resign,” Trump tweeted, questioning other fake news stories. “What about all the other phony stories they do,” asked Trump, not getting to heart of the fake news cycle that not only fabricates stories to allows them to hit the headlines without sourcing or verification. CNN went out on a limb after Nov. 8, 2016, reporting one negative story after another about Trump’s campaign or current White House staff.
Hoping to repair its damaged reputation, firing a few employees doesn’t change the nightly news lineup that continues to hype the Russian story, no longer looking like a sure thing for Democrats and liberal news outlets. Today’s anti-Trump broadcast and print outlets typically rely on single anonymous sources to launch broadcast and print stories. Deleting the Scaramucci story from its Website, CNN hoped to put the fake news story behind them. Questions remain about the way the anti-Trump media operates, failing to report on White House accomplishments, as much as its focus on negative news stories. CNN and MSNBC spend almost no time questioning the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey who practically accused Trump of obstruction-of-justice in recent Congressional hearings. Neither media outlet raises Comey’s questionable intel on Trump.
Reporting outright fake stories is only one way the anti-Trump media disseminates negative news. Using the same polling apparatus that predicted Hillary would win by a landslide Nov. 8, the same anti-Trump polls report abysmally low approval ratings. When a June 23 Rasmussen poll contradicted their finding showing Trump at around 50% approval rating, it wasn’t reported by any of the anti-Trump media outlets. When Trump delivers a big campaign-type speech in Iowa June 22, it wasn’t covered at all by CNN and other anti-Trump new outlets. Outright fake news stories are only one way the anti-Trump media disseminates propaganda. Abusing their First Amendment right to protect free speech, CNN and other anti-Trump news outlets use the airwaves to advance a left-wing political agenda, designed to undermine Trump’s six-month-old presidency.
CNN’s embarrassing retraction and firings are the tip of the iceberg of a media organization gone rogue, wed not to the First Amendment but to the Democratic Party and anti-Trump deep state, containing Obama and Hillary holdovers looking to destroy Trump’s agenda. Whether or not Scaramucci accepts CNN’s apology doesn’t begin to clean up CNN’s daily lineup that spends hours a day slamming Trump. Failing to report on positive developments in the fight against ISIS or on foreign policy gains with China against North Korea, CNN shows it has no plans to reverse its anti-Trump message or change its primetime programming. Violating every tenet of responsible journalism, CNN must do more than fire a few folks connected to one fake news story. Zucker must overhaul his programming to stop CNN from advancing the anti-Trump Democratic Party agenda.
