CNN today pulled the plug on its three-week-old streaming service, CNN Plus, which was supposed to deliver on-demand news.
The idea that CNN executives thought anyone in their right mind would pay money to subscribe to a CNN-branded product as a source for "news" proves how arrogant and out of touch media executives are. So-called news organizations like CNN, Fox and MSNBC, which spend most of the day running opinion shows that deliver wacky, sensational, vitrolic attacks on the political parties they hate, can't be relied upon to deliver usable, trustworthy news during the few hours each day they devote to reporting the news rather than opining about it. Cable networks should either run opinion shows or news shows, but not both and certainly not with the same "reporters." CNN Plus might have succeeded under another brand name but even my dachshund would have known better than to link it to the CNN brand.
From the git-go, Fox News, directed by Republican operative Roger Ailes, made no pretense of being objective but formerly reliable media including CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC and CBS are no longer trustworthy news sources either. Although America's media is supposed to be objective, it has never been but, until Trump, did a fairly credible job of presenting multiple sides of key stories and issues. The Amazon-owned Washington Post, which was completely off-the-rails at the thought of Trump in charge, added "Democracy Dies in Darkness" under its masthead shortly after his election, implying what? Trump wants to destroy Democracy but the Post will prevent it by reporting objectively? The dark aspects of Trump's childish, narcissistic personality may have threatened America and the Post certainly reported about those, but democracy also dies when a leading news organization refuses to report unbecoming stories about Biden as the Post is doing.
If the Post and New York Times would actually report critical, balanced news about the current administration, I wouldn't have to go to the UK Daily News web site to find out what's really going on. Yes, it's annoying to have to wade through endless stories about the Kardashians, Meghan Markel and Beckhams, but the Mail's reporting about major news is more honest than the leading American news organizations. This journalism major doesn't know of a single online source that does a better job. (Note: I never worked as a reporter but do recall having to study the Journalist's Creed that called upon budding journalists to report the news fairly. And for the record, I wrote a column in March 2016 predicting that American journalists' obsession with discrediting Trump, whose campaign was starting to pick up steam, would result in their loss of credibility and I was right. To read it, click here.
The news media has failed Americans even more so than our elected representatives. Politicians should want to do what's best for their constituents, but they don't because, to get elected, they have to swear allegiance to one of the two major parties and compromise their integrity. A credible news organization has no obligation to any party or cause other than reporting all sides of issues but most don't even try any more.
And so, I'm glad -- more than glad, ecstatic -- that CNN Plus is going down the toilet. The public's rejection of it will hopefully give a much-needed push in the right direction -- toward the center -- for American journalism and the elite, out-of-touch fat cats who control it and are doing more damage to our country than any politician or political party ever could or will.
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