CNN is Proudly Morphing Into Lifetime Movie Network

Written by Peter Heck

I had forgotten the ad until I saw Erick Erickson’s tweet yesterday:

https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1252574719796273155

For those who don’t remember, back in 2017 CNN took a swipe at President Trump’s propensity to refer to them as fake news by creating an advertisement of a single apple on screen with a narrator reading this copy:

“This is an apple. Some people might try and tell you that it’s a banana. They might scream banana, banana, banana over and over and over again. They might put BANANA in all caps. You might even start to believe that this is a banana. But it’s not. This is an apple.”

The network’s go-to slogan “Facts First” was flashed up onto the screen to finish the ad. Corny? Perhaps. But the message was obvious and explicit: CNN reports facts, and when the president calls CNN fake news it’s because he doesn’t want you to know the facts.

Yet for a news organization so boastful about their devotion to facts, this Chris Cuomo incident is yet another demonstration that they’re far better at self-aggrandizement than they are reporting. The title of this New York Magazine piece said it all: “Chris Cuomo Airs Moment He Could ‘Finally Emerge’ From Basement, a Week After Leaving Basement.”

To be sure, that isn’t a smear or speculation. Cuomo himself has acknowledged on multiple occasions that he had left his basement quarantine, once for a now-notorious Easter family drive to his undeveloped property in East Hampton where he had this exchange with a local:

“I said to him, ‘Your brother (New York Governor Andrew Cuomo) is the coronavirus czar, and you’re not even following his rules — unnecessary travel,’” the man, identified only as David, told the Post.

Cuomo’s response?

“Who the hell are you?! I can do what I want!”

Cuomo discussed this episode on his own radio program where he referred to the man as a, “jack***, loser, fat-tire biker.” Almost the kind of petulant, narcissistic, name-calling CNN routinely criticizes when it comes from President Trump.

This would be a monumental embarrassment for any network capable of shame – airing obviously fake footage for the sake of creating some reality TV effect for ratings. But an increasing number of fair minds and dispassionate observers are coming to realize that CNN is no longer concerned about losing credibility, betraying trust, evident bias, or pushing obvious propaganda.

They want, need, crave attention. It’s become an obsession to the point that if anyone is talking about CNN – even if it’s mocking their foolish antics like the Cuomo made-for-TV drama – they’re content.

It’s a heck of a way to run a supposed news organization, particularly one that is so self-confident in its own apples.

This article was originally published at The Resurgent.