‘What Do They Want, a Cookie?’ CNN Didn’t DECIDE to Retract the Fake Russia Story, They Were FORCED To
Posted: June 28, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Mediasphere, Politics, Russia | Tags: Anthony Scaramucci, Breitbart News, CNN, Comcast, DirecTV, Donald Trump, Eric Lichtblau, Jeff Zucker, Kirill Dmitriev, media, news, Russian Direct Investment Fund Leave a comment
CNN faced $100M lawsuit over botched Russia story
Emily Smith reports: The specter of a $100 million libel suit scared CNN into retracting a poorly reported story that slimed an ally of President Trump’s — and forcing out the staffers responsible for it, The Post has learned.
The cable network’s coverage of Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci came amid federal scrutiny of corporate parent Time Warner’s pending purchase by AT&T — and the widespread belief among media execs that CNN President Jeff Zucker can’t survive a merger.
CNN immediately caved after Scaramucci, a financier and frequent network guest, cried foul and threatened to take legal action, sources said Tuesday.
This is why congratulating @CNN for firing offending staffers is silly. As Chris Rock says, what do they want, a cookie? https://t.co/XErZuJdaXS
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) June 28, 2017
Scaramucci got an unusual public apology but still hired a top Manhattan lawyer to put further pressure on CNN and “look after [his] interests in this matter,” one source said.
Sources also said the three journalists responsible for the retracted story — reporter Tom Frank, editor Eric Lichtblau and Lex Haris, who headed the CNN Investigates unit — were urged to resign.
“They called them in and said they’d pay out their contracts, but they should leave immediately,” one source said.
Zucker was afraid of facing a high-profile suit from Scaramucci while the US Justice Department weighs the proposed $85.4 billion media merger.
Meanwhile, a CNN insider said staffers are furious at “having lost the moral high ground because of this story.” Sources said Zucker tried to rally his staff during a Tuesday morning conference call.
“Zucker stressed that this issue was a ‘lapse in editorial standards’ and said it was a lesson to all reporters and editors to continue to strive for strong, accurate reporting,” a source said. Read the rest of this entry »
‘THE MOST BUSTED NAME IN NEWS’: New York Post Cover for Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Posted: June 28, 2017 Filed under: Breaking News, Mediasphere, Politics, Russia, U.S. News | Tags: Cable News, CNN, Jeff Zucker, journalism, media, New York, New York Post, news, Tabloid Leave a comment
Without Riots, CNN Primetime Slips to Third Place Behind MSNBC
Posted: June 17, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Al Gore, Barack Obama, CNN, Daniel Pfeiffer, Jeff Zucker, Joe Scarborough, Morning Joe, MSNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, White House Leave a comment
John Nolte reports: Other than the political benefits for central planning-Democrats that come from civil unrest in America’s inner-cities, another reason CNN president Jeff Zucker has turned his cable news network into a relentless hate machine is simple greed — the power and money that comes from increased ratings.
There is no questions that CNN’s dishonest but ongoing smear campaigns against Christians, conservatives and the police have stolen left-of-center viewers from MSNBC. The two left-wing networks share a very small piece of viewer pie, and when CNN is ginning up hate and civil unrest, CNN usually wins a larger piece of that pie than MSNBC.
Alternately, when CNN cannot find something cynical to exploit, MSNBC picks up a bigger piece of that pie. Read the rest of this entry »
CNN Reporter Posts Video of Her Exit
Posted: August 29, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Entertainment, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN, Jeff Zucker, Layoff, Politico, Senior management, Time Warner, Turner, Turner Broadcasting System Leave a comment‘A lot of folks are worried’ about their jobs, CNN reporter Lisa Dejardins says in farewell clip
For Variety, Kevin Noonan reports: Former CNN Capitol Hill reporter Lisa Dejardins posted a video of her final sign off from CNN on Thursday as she prepared to leave the building after being laid off.
Dejardins, a reporter for CNN.com who was not an on-air personality, compares the mass goodbye emails from laid off CNN employees to the personal ones, finding a wide discrepancy in the general tone and niceness between the two, and expresses her disappointment CNN’s decision to get rid of a congressional reporter given the bipartisan struggle in the Capitol.
However, CNN is in the midst of expanding its digital staff in Washington, D.C. as it prepares for the 2016 presidential race. The news giant recently recruited Politico alum Rachel Smolkin as executive editor for politics to spearhead an elaborate digital initiative out of D.C. Dejardins’ departure was part of a restructuring of CNN’s Washington bureau and not part of the buyout offer. Read the rest of this entry »
Thousands Mourn Cancellation of ‘Piers Morgan Live’, Outpouring of Grief Follows CNN Announcement
Posted: February 24, 2014 Filed under: Humor, Mediasphere, The Butcher's Notebook | Tags: CNN, David Carr, Fox News Channel, Jeff Zucker, Larry King, Megyn Kelly, Morgan, New York Times, O'Reilly Factor, Piers Morgan, Piers Morgan Live, Times 2 Comments
Sports events in stadiums across the country paused for a moment of silence to commemorate “Piers Morgan Live”, a program that, according to CNN president Jeff Zucker, was watched by dozens of viewers worldwide
- “Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,” Morgan told The New York Times’ David Carr.
- …dwindling viewing figures and an anti-gun campaign that alienated a vast swath of his audience had led him to conclude his show had ‘run it’s course’… — thetimes.co.uk
- By phone, Morgan agreed with Carr that things have not gone well at CNN with Piers Morgan Live.“It’s been a painful period, and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings,” Morgan said… — Brietbart.com
Multitudes of fans place candles, photographs, flowers, and mementos on the sidewalk in front of CNN Headquarters in Atlanta, in honor of the beloved TV personality’s unexpected departure.
Mourners gather to pay respects to the host of “Piers Morgan Live” before rushing home to watch “The O’Reilly Factor”
- “Last fall, the already struggling Piers Morgan Live faced increased competition from a revised Fox News Channel lineup that included a strong new performer at 9 p.m. EST with Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File…” — Entertainment Weekly
- “CNN confirms that ‘Piers Morgan Live’ is ending,” the network said in a statement. “The date of the final program is still to be determined.” — lattimes.com
- “…He hosted BBC’s “You Can’t Fire Me, I’m Famous,” and did interview shows and documentaries for ITV…CNN did not comment on Morgan’s future with the channel…” Associated Press – fox news.com
- “Mr. Morgan’s approach to gun regulation was more akin to King George III, peering down his nose at the unruly colonies and wondering how to bring the savages to heel. He might have wanted to recall that part of the reason the right to bear arms is codified in the Constitution is that Britain was trying to disarm the citizenry at the time.” — David Carr, NYT
Out-Foxed by Megyn Kelly, CNN Blows Feathers: Lowest Primetime In Over A Year
Posted: November 1, 2013 Filed under: Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: CNN, Fox News Channel, Jeff Zucker, Kathleen Sebelius, Megyn Kelly, MSNBC, O'Reilly Factor, Piers Morgan 2 CommentsFox’s Megyn Kelly Rocks Cable News Ratings Top Spot
Dominic Patten reports: A busy news day of combative Congressional Obamacare hearings and Presidential speeches did CNN no favors in primetime last night. The Jeff Zucker-run cable network hit its lowest primetime time result among adults 25-54 in over a year Wednesday despite all the cable newers being up double digits over the day before during Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius’ morning testimony. Between 8 PM and 11 PM last night, CNN had a mere 67,000 viewers among the key news demo. That’s the worst its done in the demo since August 10 last year. With the Olympics were on NBC 
last August, CNN drew just 62,000 among the 25-54s that Friday. Not only was CNN behind rivals Fox News Channel (396,000) and MSNBC (127,000) but also it did worse than sister station HLN (93,000) and CNBC (79,000). The most watched show on CNN last night was Piers Morgan Liveat 9 PM which got a soft 83,000 in the demo and 340,000 viewers overall. Overall CNN had 285,000 viewers in primetime last night compared to MSNBC’s 683,000 and FNC’s 2.312 million.
pundit from another planet 