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CNN And RT Are Giddy Over Vivek [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-08-27
This morning on the CNN most watched political show, State Of The Union, Vivek Ramaswamy was given a forum to air some of the most inflammatory propaganda laden nonsense we have heard since Donald Trump first shocked us back in 2015.
He proceeded without much resistance from host Dana Bash. This is his third high profile appearance on the network and he owes much of his growing audience of admirers to CNN.
The network’s move to the right following the ouster of CEO Jeff Zucker’s has not been successful for ratings. It seems a desperate decision to abandon common sense political programming is taking hold now that a futile effort to bolster its viewership; appealing to a disenfranchised mythical center right isn’t working.
Our first indication of a turn to the darker side came when with the Trump town hall appearance this spring. If providing a platform to extremism is going to be acceptable under the new management, the public needs to be aware and push back. That it looks calculated and cynical to most people of both parties doesn’t seem to be a deterrent for the current head of CNN, Chris Licht, who continues to defend it as responsible journalism catering to public broader public interest. The irony lost on him is that the public interest is fueled by CNN’s own programming.
The argument that CNN is just presenting all sides becomes a slippery slope when one of those sides says the Democrats are the modern KKK, climate change is a hoax, 9/11 may have been an inside job by America and white supremacy is a myth.
Attempts to push back by the host of major cable news network on something said in a public forum in front of millions of people is not a deterrent to mainstreaming craziness with poisonous rhetoric that emboldens the fringe elements who increasingly resonates with burning the whole thing down.
People tend to believe what they see on television more than any other medium. The media is the only thing less popular than politicians. When they appear to be foils guess who’s getting more people rooting for them?
Kremlin backed networks on Russian television are very excited by Ramaswamy and his stances against the US military support in Russia’s war on Ukraine is very popular as you might expect. His every appearance and media clips are running on a loop on RT. The CNN brand provides international exposure and credibility to Ramaswamy’s rants. This led one RT network host to suggest that since they helped “install” Donald Trump, maybe it time to back the efforts of Vivek now.
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