Okay, so they've hired some new broom. Christ Licht. And like all new brooms, he seems like he figures he's got to shake everything up to distinguish himself from the last guy. That usually means contrarian decisions even if they don't make sense.
Which brings me here. CNN was gaining some traction, in part because Trump's antics gave them some easy drama to respond to literally day after day and night after night. Even with all that, pundits like Anderson Cooper set a gold standard.
And pundits aren't journalists. They provide commentary on the news, not the news itself. Cooper comes the closest to being more like a balanced reporter and interviewer, but even he obviously has a position. So, no, they're not going to be purely objective. That's not what punditry is about. They're like Fox, if Fox had any integrity at all and didn't want to ruin America.
They also had some good guests every so often. Some of their regulars were good, too, like Jeffrey Toobin and Nia-Malika Henderson. Articulate, thoughtful people.
Now? I don't know what happened. Everything is so low energy. They've jettisoned quite a few of the regulars and replaced them with boring tools, like Elie Honig. I mean, does that smirking, toucan-faced guy have to be on every single program? Seems like he is.
And does every program have to cover the same three or four topics, sometimes with the same guests? I mean, there's a whole world out there to report on. Is CNN saying that only three or four things happen each day?
With this parade of questionable talent and decisions, I don't see CNN's ratings doing well. I don't even know what demographic they're after. Yeah, yeah, I get that it's White males in some form or another, as it so tiresomely always is, but what's the age? Income? IQ?
If CNN keeps up this rudderless approach, it's going to collapse into the level of MSNBC irrelevance. That would just be embarrassing.
UPDATE: It's now more than six months later, and CNN just keeps getting worse. Does every program have to have mumbler John Miller and grinning Andrew McCabe commenting? Who annointed these guys experts on everything. Long-time viewers might also notice CNN pulling away further and further from diversity. Oh, yes, if there's something dealing with, say, a mass shooting in the inner city, you'll see a mostly Black panel. But the rest? Far less diverse than even a year ago. For instance, what happened to the few Asian Americans CNN trotted on for reports and China and the pandemic? It's all just getting worse and worse. I now find myself flipping to other channels and relying on the Internet more.
