CNN Hurt Its Credibility

 

CNN is not wrong that the President of the United States ought to stop behaving like a clown. But they overshot this week.

As someone who has about the lowest possible tolerance for Trumpian vulgarity, I thought the imbroglio over the CNN logo gif was overwrought. This was an invitation to violence? Look, we know that Trump is not above stoking violence. He encouraged it more than once at his rallies. But the gif? The original WWE clip was a joke. Superimposing the CNN logo on the face of Vince McMahon was a joke on top of a joke. It was bad taste, but not incitement.

CNN, not unlike Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, laughs all the way to the bank when Trump tangles with them. Like him, they’re in the eyeballs business. They might even subscribe to his philosophy that “all press is good press.” When he takes aim at them, it provides fodder for hour after hour of self-promotion disguised as news analysis. During the campaign, they earned eyeballs by lavishing (generally positive) coverage on him. Now that he’s president, they keep ratings up by denouncing him. Either way, it’s good for CNN.

The deep investigative report into the origins of the gif, however, makes CNN look vindictive and petty. Just as Trump ought not to “punch down,” neither should CNN. The network claims that the gif’s originator had also posted racist and anti-Semitic material in the past, and then issued a statement saying that out of concern for the man’s safety, they were withholding his identity. They added that the decision was subject to change if he didn’t behave himself.

Perhaps the gif-maker is a racist moron. So what? Are they going to police Reddit now? Maybe that would be good public hygiene, but CNN is chasing down a rabbit hole here. In order for this to reflect on Trump, they would have to somehow demonstrate that the president was familiar with the previous offensive posts and retweeted anyway, which might be true, but seems unlikely and impossible to prove. And now it appears that the gif-maker CNN found may not even be the right one.

The point, surely, is that the president of the United States spent God only knows how much time scrolling through internet garbage to find this gif.

With Donald Trump as president, we are living a reality TV show. He is doing what he has always done. He creates cliffhangers: Did he have tapes of his conversations with James Comey? Stay tuned. He picks fights with TV hosts, the mayor of London, and even his own party. He sows chaos. He warns. He taunts. He threatens. A staggering percentage of what he says, and instructs his minions to say, is false.

The CNN logo gif was a joke, but his attacks on anyone who criticizes him are not. His defenders call him a “counterpuncher.” But the president of the United States is not a tabloid celebrity trading jabs with other shallow publicity hounds willing to say anything to keep their ratings up.

If Donald Trump the TV star lashes out at Rosie O’Donnell, it’s entertainment (if you like that sort of thing). When the president of the United States launches a consistent campaign to delegitimize any news outlet that criticizes him (even harshly) as “fake news,” that’s corrosive. He has power now. It’s the job of the press to criticize him. Respect for the free press is American etiquette, not to mention law. And yes, of course Republicans get more biased coverage from most outlets than Democrats, but Trump should be able to shrug that off with a joke and a smile. His obsession with his enemies is beyond Nixonian (and remember how well that turned out). As only Sen. Ben Sasse has had the integrity to say, Trump is “weaponizing distrust” in an era when we are already crippled by mutual suspicion.

There is a seemingly inexhaustible well of antipathy toward the “MSM” in conservative world. I certainly have shared in it over the years, and probably contributed to it in some fashion. But I just cannot see that Trump’s hostility toward the “failing New York Times” and the rest has anything to do with conservatism. It’s all personal. He almost never knocks them for biased reporting on health care or regulation or even immigration. He seems hardly to notice anything that isn’t about himself.

And so, while CNN did itself no favors this week, the president who cannot see past his own nose has little standing to protest.

Published in Journalism, Politics
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  1. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Martel (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Martel (View Comment):
    I believe I’ve seen her vaguely address anybody in the comments a grand total of once.

    Was that me? If it was somebody other than me than it was twice.

    I don’t remember because it was well over a year ago.

    I haven’t read all of the comments on all of her posts, but I have read a lot of the comments on a lot of them, and Mona rarely, if ever, makes an appearance.

    I wrote a post that was directly in rebuttal to a column by Ms. Charen.  My problem was the way she framed the Never position as the only moral position.  By the time I posted on the member feed, her column had been posted to the main feed.  Her post attracted a lot of really strong push-back, some of which could be characterized as “vitriol.”

    That was in mid-October.  I received a private message from Ms. Charen in late November, in which she cited my post.  We had a nice exchange, in civil language, discussing the moral aspects of the choices that had been presented to conservative voters.  I gently chided her for under-valuing some aspects of the considerations involved.

    As a result of our exchange, neither of us changed views.

    I don’t think I blame her for avoiding the comments here.  Emotionally-charged rhetoric was used, and nobody had their opinion changed.

    Some Nevers are just stuck on Never.  Ms. Charen is one of them.

    The rest of us can cheerfully celebrate the conservative victories of President Trump and Team Trump.

    • #31
  2. Martel Inactive
    Martel
    @Martel

    MJBubba (View Comment):

    Martel (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Martel (View Comment):
    I believe I’ve seen her vaguely address anybody in the comments a grand total of once.

    Was that me? If it was somebody other than me than it was twice.

    I don’t remember because it was well over a year ago.

    I haven’t read all of the comments on all of her posts, but I have read a lot of the comments on a lot of them, and Mona rarely, if ever, makes an appearance.

    I wrote a post that was directly in rebuttal to a column by Ms. Charen. My problem was the way she framed the Never position as the only moral position. By the time I posted on the member feed, her column had been posted to the main feed. Her post attracted a lot of really strong push-back, some of which could be characterized as “vitriol.”

    That was in mid-October. I received a private message from Ms. Charen in late November, in which she cited my post. We had a nice exchange, in civil language, discussing the moral aspects of the choices that had been presented to conservative voters. I gently chided her for under-valuing some aspects of the considerations involved.

    As a result of our exchange, neither of us changed views.

    I don’t think I blame her for avoiding the comments here. Emotionally-charged rhetoric was used, and nobody had their opinion changed.

    Some Nevers are just stuck on Never. Ms. Charen is one of them.

    The rest of us can cheerfully celebrate the conservative victories of President Trump and Team Trump.

    Thank you for the anecdote.  I’m sure she’s not a bad person, but I do think her silence serves neither her nor the Ricochet community particularly well.

    We outsiders feel that our opinion leaders don’t pay any attention to us, and it certainly seems like she doesn’t pay any attention ot us, which makes her seem like one of those elites we’ve such a hard time with, whether she deserves it or not.

    • #32
  3. genferei Member
    genferei
    @genferei

    For what it’s worth, I don’t fault MC for not routinely engaging in the comments. When she has, it has generally been to celebrate the positive, which is much better than some contributors in the past who have basically ended up trolling the members.

    Political commentators, like all journalists, are just entertainers. Sometimes they hit a rich vein of interesting form; sometimes their acts get stale. In the latter case, their popularity becomes more selective. Still, as long as her editors are willing to pay her, you can’t completely blame MC for trotting out the NT stuff. You might wonder what the editors are doing… (But, then, no one sensible believes that Rupert Murdoch approves of every sentiment expressed in the WSJ or the Times or on Fox.)

    • #33
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Mona Charen: It was bad taste

    I disagree.

    First, I understand Trump merely repeated the post a sixteen-year-old kid (later bullied by CNN to apologize) made on Reddit.  Trump is fighting slime with slime, and one has to like the mud in order to wrestle in it (think pigs, which is what Mika and Morning Joe have become).  No, CNN went after a little guy, and that’s what the left has been doing since the age of Obama.

    Cake bakers, wedding photographers, pizza restaurant owners – they are ordinary people targeted by the left – over social media mostly, but also in the courts.  This is why Trump’s tweets are supported.

    Trump was not my first choice (Cruz was), but The Donald has performed well beyond my expectations.  If Republicans really do lose the House or Senate in 2018 (which I think they won’t), it will be because mainstream Republicans and Trump supporters (many white working class Democrats) won’t show up at the polls to vote for spinelessness.

    And my God, Trump defended Western Civilization . . .

    • #34
  5. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Martel (View Comment):

    MJBubba (View Comment):

    Martel (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Martel (View Comment):
    once.

    Was that me? …

    …Mona rarely, if ever, makes an appearance.

    I wrote a post that was directly in rebuttal to a column by Ms. Charen.  … I received a private message from Ms. Charen in late November, in which she cited my post. We had a nice exchange….

    As a result of our exchange, neither of us changed views.

    I don’t think I blame her for avoiding the comments here. Emotionally-charged rhetoric was used, and nobody had their opinion changed.

    The rest of us can cheerfully celebrate the conservative victories of President Trump and Team Trump.

    Thank you for the anecdote. I’m sure she’s not a bad person, but I do think her silence serves neither her nor the Ricochet community particularly well.

    We outsiders feel that our opinion leaders don’t pay any attention to us, and it certainly seems like she doesn’t pay any attention ot us, which makes her seem like one of those elites we’ve such a hard time with, whether she deserves it or not.

    Our opinion leaders don’t pay any attention to us ?

    That is worthy of a post.

    • #35
  6. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    Mona Charen: Respect for the free press is American etiquette, not to mention law.

    What law is there that I have to Respect anyone? Could you point to that Statute?

    We have a 1st amendment that guarantees a free press, not that anyone has to like them or listen to them. Respect is earned not demanded.

    Further look at the polling for the approval of the press. Not many American’s seem to be following the etiquette of respecting the press.

    • #36
  7. Martel Inactive
    Martel
    @Martel

    Jager (View Comment):

    Mona Charen: Respect for the free press is American etiquette, not to mention law.

    What law is there that I have to Respect anyone? Could you point to that Statute?

    We have a 1st amendment that guarantees a free press, not that anyone has to like them or listen to them. Respect is earned not demanded.

    Further look at the polling for the approval of the press. Not many American’s seem to be following the etiquette of respecting the press.

    When belonging to an institution that “etiquette” prescribes we respect, some people will feel humbled and honored to belong to such an institution, working hard to earn that respect.

    Others will see such respect as a license to get away with whatever they can, knowing they can lie and weasel with impunity because society will deem any pushback against their shenanigans as a violation of “etiquette.”

    Guess which category the modern media falls into.

    • #37
  8. Dick from Brooklyn Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn
    @DickfromBrooklyn

    #alwaysmona

    • #38
  9. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Pretty soft report on North Korea. “What its really like to be in North Korea”

    http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/04/14/what-north-korea-is-really-like-orig.cnn

    Quite soft, the guy says he’s been there 11 times in the past few years – but doesn’t sound like he has any idea of what its really like to be in North Korea…

    • #39
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