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John Harwood leaves CNN [1]

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Date: 2022-09-02

John Harwood is leaving CNN. The sudden departure does not sound like a planned career move; it is most likely a firing, a firing enforced by the new management at CNN, which lately seems to have taken a sharp right turn.

x personal news:



today's my last day at CNN



proud of the work



thanks to my colleagues



i've been lucky to serve the best in American media - St. Petersburg Times, WSJ, NYT, the NBC family, CNN



look forward to figuring out what's next — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 2, 2022

Was it this kind of reporting today by Harwood that broke his (Republican) bosses’ back? Or was he ordered to leave few days ago?

x Media: @JohnJHarwood: "The core point @JoeBiden made about a threat to democracy is true. [As journalists], we're taught not to take sides in honest disagreements between parties. But these are not honest disagreements. The @GOP right now is led by a dishonest demagogue." pic.twitter.com/Exktgz1aoM — Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) September 2, 2022

Harwood:

The core point he made in that political speech about a threat to democracy is true. Now, that’s something that’s not easy for us, as journalists, to say. We’re brought up to believe there’s two different political parties with different points of view and we don’t take sides in honest disagreements between them. But that’s not what we’re talking about. These are not honest disagreements. The Republican Party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue. Many, many Republicans are rallying behind his lies about the 2020 election and other things as well. And a significant portion—or a sufficient portion—of the constituency that they’re leading attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, violently. By offering pardons or suggesting pardons for those people who violently attacked the Capitol, which you’ve been pointing out numerous times this morning, Donald Trump made Joe Biden’s point for him.

This follows on the heels of the firing of Brian Stelter few weeks ago.

x Then came the sign-off, which I partly wrote ahead of time and partly ad libbed on live TV. My HS journalism teacher liked to say that "the greatest inspiration is the deadline." The most intense deadline of all is the floor director saying 3... 2... 1... https://t.co/bTHn1qb56F — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 24, 2022

About the new owners and managers at CNN, from www.thedailybeast.com/… -

Network insiders recently told The Daily Beast’s Confider that staffers feel that right-leaning billionaire John Malone, a key Warner Bros. Discovery board member, was behind Stelter’s firing in an effort to make CNN more “centrist.” Additionally, staffers feel that Malone is “indirectly dictating an agenda” to new CNN chief Chris Licht and fear more layoffs and cutbacks down the road to make the network “more vanilla.”

Is this what CNN will become? Fox-lite or peddler of both-siderism? Are trump supporters going to switch to CNN?

x CNN's new leadership has let go of John Harwood & Brian Stelter, two journalists that consistently exposed & Trump's extremism and authoritarianism.



It's a message for every other CNN employee: get in line, or you're out. We do "both sides" here and your job is to deliver it. — Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) September 2, 2022

Last night’s coverage of the Biden speech by CNN was downright from the republican playbook.

x CNN’s Brianna Keilar just attacked Biden for having Marines positioned behind him during his speech. She said the military shouldn’t be “politicized.” They’re not. The military stands against Fascism and they support the President. CNN stands against Biden and supports Fascism. — Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) September 2, 2022

Who’s next? Jim Acosta? Will others just go with the flow at CNN or resist or leave?

It is an unfortunate fact that the media is controlled by a few billionaires, whose biases and personal ambitions control what the audience watches and how news and information is presented. CNN had its shortcomings for often resorting to both-siderism but it was still a reliable source, not beholden to MAGA Republicanism. Now, it seems to be taking a turn towards the dark side. Let’s see where this goes. The future does not look bright at CNN. We, all of us here, have to remain vigilant and keep spreading the truth and keep neutralizing the right-wing disinformation machine.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/2/2120435/-John-Harwood-leaves-CNN

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