Eric Boehlert: CNN keeps trying to bury Biden

[babylonsister]

https://pressrun.media/p/cnn-keeps-trying-to-bury-biden?

CNN keeps trying to bury Biden
They miss Trump
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago


CNN faced a predicament recently when its new poll showed President Joe Biden with a healthy 50% approval rating. The high-profile survey was certainly good news for the White House, which has been battered with negative news coverage since August, with the Beltway press circling, eagerly predicting the Democrat’s demise just nine months into office.

The CNN poll represented an internal problem because it punctured the preferred media narrative about Biden being caught in a slow-motion spiral. Plus, the 50% poll followed on the heels of a Fox News poll, which also showed Biden at the respectable 50% mark — a public approval plateau that Trump never once reached while in office.

So what did CNN do? Did it buck the Beltway groupthink and report that Biden’s popularity was on the upswing? It did not. Instead, the network did its best to bury, or downplay, its own polling so it wouldn’t have to upset the beloved storyline of Biden being locked in a constant state of crisis. (A White House “under siege.”) Still itching for the daily drama of the Trump years, CNN continues to uncork breathless, perilous coverage that often does not match reality — even the reality of its own polling.

snip//

CNN’s doomsday drumbeat has become relentless: “The coronavirus pandemic Biden thought he had tamed this spring continues to deny Americans a return to normal life,” one piece recently claimed. Americans haven’t returned to a more normal life under Biden? 50 million school children aren’t back in classrooms? Football stadiums on campuses coast-to-coast aren’t packed with fans? Tens of millions of employees haven’t returned to their workplace? 190 million Americans haven’t been fully vaccinated?

Last month, I recounted how CNN seemed to traffic a made-up GOP story about how a bipartisan group of lawmakers “stormed out” of a classified briefing session regarding Afghanistan. It was all part of the network’s urgent attempt to paint the Biden White House as besieged and floundering. According to CNN’s own polling, voters aren’t buying it.

[badhair77]

1. ABC is just as bad as CNN.

Every introduction is presented in a breathless voice and sense of urgency and doom. I have more free time because I’m not having it.

[Walleye]

6. Martha Raddatz smells the blood in the water

She doesn’t even try to hide her bias against Biden anymore.

[badhair77]

17. During GMA yesterday the White House correspondent was speaking

so fast she could hardly breathe. She was giving her perception of a failed Biden presidency. Gloom and doom everywhere. Then came a promo of Martha on a boat at the Port of Los Angeles. It looked like she was channeling Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio at the bow of the Titanic, all to sensationalize the supply chain crisis. Disgusting.

[Walleye]

18. Yep. She has been seduced and believes her own publicity.

They not only want to pick on Biden for everything and don’t analyze things fully. They seem to do it with such glee. The same glee they have when they are still interviewing the fucking former guy. I really hate celebrity journalists.

[WHITT]

27. Indeed

Raddatz was SO bad this past 'This Week'. She kept asking guests leading questions - shouldn't they have seen this coming? & were they unprepared for this? - obviously trying to slam Biden. Not to mention the outright lying. I cringe every time I see she's substituting for Stephy.

She's such a hack.

[Walleye]

34. Yes that is a big part of the problem they are all such hacks.

They love their comfortable both sidesism And they love to pick on Biden because they know he will not yell at them and call them stupid. I’m afraid the journalists are demonstrating the same kind of cowardice and laziness that the people working in trumps White House showed. Maybe it’s just the TV journalist so I don’t know. I’m usually the first one to defend journalism

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

7. It's a toss up which is worse.

[LymphocyteLover]

2. Gotta love Eric Boehlert and fuck CNN

[Lovie777]

3. Majority of the voters and Americans see thru this bullshit . .

They see how republicans are destroying our democracy.

[spanone]

4. k&R

[BlueLucy]

5. CNN ratings are at a all time low.

I quit watching all news. If I want to see something, I'll read.

[Sherman A1]

8. Exactly

Turn off the cable noise infotainment and look elsewhere for information.

[JI7]

12. Great to hear

[doc03]

9. I am guessing the veiwership at all the cable

news channels are down. Controversy attracts viewers.
Thats like the Facebook business model angry people makes you more money.

[Demsrule86]

13. I think viewership is down because of their coverage...many of my Democratic friends have stopped

watching as they are seeking ratings and one can't believe a word they say. The righties don't watch CNN or MSNBC...so they are losing us due to their shitty coverage.

[McKim]

23. Yep, We turned it off!

Yep, we turned it off for all those good reasons! Let CNN know, don't be silent!

[Wednesdays]

14. Which is why we must be vigilant these upcoming election cycles

It was a non-stop reality show during Mango Mussolini's tenure. The M$M would do anything to have that back!

[bamagal62]

16. This.

[Demsrule86]

10. MSNBC is awful too. Turned off the news. I refuse to watch made up crap.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

33. Not all of them. Just chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell

[The Blue Flower]

11. I stopped watching CNN

They really have tipped their hand, and I find it disgusting.

[Chipper Chat]

20. I dropped cnn from my Sirius xm favorites

And added SPA.
Lowered my blood pressure fo sho.

[PatSeg]

30. I quit watching CNN years ago

and over time they've just gotten worse. They appear to have no idea what kind of news channel they want to be. Lately I watch Brian Williams on MSNBC most weeknights. I only watch other shows if there is some major breaking news. Most of the shows just recycle the same stories all day long. I get most of my news by reading it and I am amazed at how many stories never even get covered on television.

[badhair77]

37. I really like Brian Williams' show. Wish he were on earlier.

I still watch Rachel when she’s hosting. I often watch Anderson Cooper also. I like his “Keeping Them Honest” segments.

[PatSeg]

39. Yes, now that I live on the east coast,

I really wish Williams was on earlier. I can't always stay awake for the entire program. I used to watch Rachel every night, but now I prefer Williams' crisp, professional style with with the perfect mix of occasional understated wit.

[moose65]

15. And yet....

The deplorables on Facebook are constantly ranting about "liberal" CNN.

The alternate reality these people live in defies logic.

[Aviation Pro]

19. All about the Benjamins for these fuckwits

Nothing is more important to the media than clicks and views. Gotta rake that muck to keep normies and proles naked and afraid.

[Tommymac]

21. I call them C(O)NN

Have for years.

Met Blitzer briefly during Sen Kerry's 2004 run, and he is a narcissistic pompous ass.

Told me all I needed to know about those fucks. They helped swiftboat John - I will never forgive them for that.

C(O)NN has always been a corporate RW predator disguised a 'reasonable' moderate voice.

[Thunderbeast]

22. You know...Maybe there just isn't enough compelling news

to fill 7/24 news programming.

Huntly-Brinkley (NBC) started network news as a FIFTEEN MINUTE nightly broadcast.

No time for tear-jerking puppy stories.

The cable networks' news model is based on entertainment, not journalism. If the lead teaser is not interesting, people just might read a book, go do some gardening, or go for a walk. Turning the TV off is their real competition.

[FoxNewsSucks]

29. That is part of the problem

Ownership is the main problem, because owners get to set the message.

Take out commercials and intro/credits, and every hour of show time contains about 43 minutes of programming. Unless some event is happening, that's way more time than needed to cover the news.

Particularly since ownership won't allow coverage of many topics.

[Efilroft Sul]

32. The media are only as liberal as the corporations that own them.

[Jon King]

24. CNN logic, if Biden tries and falls short, put back in Repugs who do not even try.

CNN is constant...."Store shelves empty, trouble for Biden". "Coronavirus still around, doom for Biden". "Infrastructure not passed in full, doom for Biden".

So if Biden and Dems work like hell to do infrastructure, health care, climate change, and on and on....but fall a bit short on some things.....that means they should be replaced by Repugs who have absolutely zero plans for anything.

So replace a player who scores 40 points in a basketball game because he did not score 50 points....with a player who does not even take a shot? Yeah, that makes sense CNN.

[OhZone]

36. Well said but -

The store shelves aren't even empty in NJ.

We're having almost no shortages.

Oh well.

[Fla Dem]

25. Not surprising. ATT owns Warner Media which includes CNN. ATT built OAN.

A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
How AT&T helped build far-right One America News
By JOHN SHIFFMAN in San Diego Filed Oct. 6, 2021, 11 a.m. GMT


https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oneamerica-att/

A Reuters review of court records shows the role AT&T played in creating and funding OAN, a network that continues to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr has testified that the inspiration to launch OAN in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

“They told us they wanted a conservative network,” Herring said during a 2019 deposition seen by Reuters. “They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other [leftwing] side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.”

Since then, AT&T has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue, court records show. Ninety percent of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV, according to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant.

More at link

[Jon King]

26. Sold all our ATT stock, switched our phone service.

Want no part of ATT ever again.

[Bev54]

28. CNN viewership, including me, are tuning them out and turning the channel

[PortTack]

35. CNN and MSNBC for that matter...Completely tuned out here...not having any of their BS

[WHITT]

31. Almost All Of The MSM

is still peddling the 'Biden is way down in the polls' bullshit. Even those that don't only weakly say, well he's recovered somewhat.

Nevermind he never went anywhere outside the margin of error of the polling, except for the polls that oversampled Repubs.

[moondust]

38. Stephen Collinson

CNN "reporter" and nonstop Biden attack dog. I've noticed his "reports" (Biden hit jobs) are often the headline on the CNN website early in the morning, perhaps because "conservatives" tend to be morning people.

https://www.cnn.com/profiles/stephen-collinson

[NNadir]

40. They got a lot of clicks when Trump was around.

I recall Wolf Blitzer calling for the head of Saddam Hussein because Saddam was a terrorist. 500,000 innocent Iraqis died in terror as a result.

I never forgot it, because I was often in airports in those days, where CNN functionedike Orwell's telescreen.

[Blue Owl]

41. Glad I stopped watching ABCNNBCBS News 6 years ago