Media top headlines February 8
In media news today, a CNN panel bashes Stacey Abrams over a maskless photo at school, Spotify CEO’s apology letter to employees over Joe Rogan gets slammed as contradictory, and James Carville says he wants to punch unvaccinated people in the face.
NewsNation host Dan Abrams took a swipe at CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter over his denial that the liberal network has become “opinionated” in recent years.
Following a brutal week for CNN over the forced resignation of network president Jeff Zucker, Stelter ended “Reliable Sources” on Sunday with a monologue firing back at naysayers who’ve accused CNN of losing its way as a news organization.
“Jeff Zucker’s departure was shocking to the staff of CNN. But CNN was not built by just one man, not by only Ted Turner, and it was not led only by Jeff Zucker,” Stelter began. “CNN is so much bigger than any single individual. It is about teams and teams of people, thousands of individuals who make up CNN.”
“This place is not perfect. It will never be perfect. We will always have flaws, we will always screw up, we will always have to run corrections, we will always have to keep working to make it better and better and better every single day. That is the goal,” Stelter said. “But people who say we’re lacking journalism, that we’ve become an all-talk channel, that we’ve run off, and we’re our opinions all the time, that Jeff Zucker led us astray, those people aren’t watching CNN. They’re not watching CNN. They’re watching complaints about CNN on other channels that don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s the truth.”
FILE PHOTO: Jeff Zucker, president of CNN attends the grand opening of The Hudson Yards development, a residential, commercial, and retail space on Manhattan’s West Side in New York City, New York, U.S., March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo ___ CNN building Getty images
(Getty images | REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)
CNN has been under intense scrutiny following Zucker’s resignation, which sent shock waves throughout the media industry when he announced his immediate departure for failing to disclose his consensual relationship with Allison Gollust, a deputy executive.
Statements from both Zucker and Gollust suggest their relationship began during the COVID pandemic, despite new reporting that alleges the CNN lovebirds became an item in 1996 while working at NBC when he served as the executive producer of “Today” and she was a trainee in the communications department.
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Reports also claim Zucker and Gollust gave “talking points” to her former boss, now-ousted Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the early months of the pandemic to combat then-President Trump and were directly involved in orchestrating the infamous Chris Cuomo-Andrew Cuomo interviews.