Related: CNN Hires A Well Known And Proven Liar To EDIT The News In Secret (i.e. No Disclaimer On Anything Edited By Her!)
CNN's lack of ethics in how they edit and present the news to the public is woven into its very structure. One way they do that is by giving a platform for new faces to gain fame in the world of liars and for old faces to continue to prosper as purveyors of untruths and, ironically, giving unknowns more power to attack CNN itself (in some cases, with terror attacks endorsed by Hannity/Fox which remain unconfronted and thus continue... a fascinating pattern of behavior). Here is research by Media Matters proving this point.
Failed Trump nominee Stephen Moore: “If I'm such a scoundrel and a sexist, why did [CNN] have me on every night?” After Moore withdrew from Federal Reserve nomination process, he will not return to CNN
Media Matters: CNN’s ethics mess: Employee again used network job to promote his lobbying client’s cause
Media Matters: In patently unethical move, CNN hires John Kasich even as he considers presidential bid
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Media Matters:CNN pays Sean Duffy to make a ridiculous remark -- and then calls his statement “shocking” CNN host lets Sean Duffy question Lt. Col. Vindman's loyalty to the US, then calls his comments a ridiculous attack
A few minutes later, Berman reaired Duffy's comment, calling it “a pretty shocking statement.”
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Media Matters: CNN and Jake Tapper fail to disclose employee’s major lobbying conflict of interest
Media Matters: Broken record: CNN’s David Urban touts defense secretary, doesn’t disclose financial conflicts of interest
Media Matters: Once again, CNN is reaching a breaking point with a pro-Trump commentator A Trump rally is the latest episode of CNN’s embarrassing employment of Steve Cortes
CNN's lack of ethics in how they edit and present the news to the public is woven into its very structure. One way they do that is by giving a platform for new faces to gain fame in the world of liars and for old faces to continue to prosper as purveyors of untruths and, ironically, giving unknowns more power to attack CNN itself (in some cases, with terror attacks endorsed by Hannity/Fox which remain unconfronted and thus continue... a fascinating pattern of behavior). Here is research by Media Matters proving this point.
Failed Trump nominee Stephen Moore: “If I'm such a scoundrel and a sexist, why did [CNN] have me on every night?” After Moore withdrew from Federal Reserve nomination process, he will not return to CNN
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): I thought you just re-signed at CNN, they wanted you to work there and then I’m watching you tonight and they’re telling me that like, you’re evil. How did that --STEPHEN MOORE: This is a little awkward for CNN, because every night they trash me now, when, for the last two and a half years, I've been their senior economics writer. And the things that they're talking about now are things that happened 20 years ago. Wait a minute, if I'm such a scoundrel and a sexist, why did they have me on every night?CARLSON: What's the answer?MOORE: Well, I mean, I don't know. You would have to ask them, but -- but the point is, you know, I don't think you should hold accountable, you know, for things that were written 25 years ago.
Previously:
Stephen Moore repeatedly said he liked working at Fox News because he met “a lot of beautiful women” there
Eight times that Trump Fed pick Stephen Moore has endorsed some version of the gold standard
Pro-Trump CNN contributor goes on racist rant about “inner city” schools
Stephen Moore defended slave owner Robert E. Lee, wrongly claiming that “Lee hated slavery"
Media Matters: CNN’s ethics mess: Employee again used network job to promote his lobbying client’s cause
CNN political commentator and megalobbyist David Urban again used his network job to push for the passage of a trade agreement favored by President Donald Trump. Urban’s lobbying firm is being paid by a Trump-aligned group to lobby for the passage of the agreement, a blatant financial conflict of interest that CNN (again) didn’t disclose to viewers.
Trump has been trying to pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since he signed the deal during November’s G-20 summit. In February, Axios reported that Republicans formed the 501(c)(4) group Trade Works for America with the specific purpose of pressuring members of Congress, especially Democrats, to support the USMCA.
On April 1, Trade Works for America retained Urban and his firm American Continental Group to lobby for the USMCA. The group has paid Urban's firm $90,000 so far, according to a lobbying report filed by the firm last week.
As Media Matters reported earlier this month, Urban used his CNN job to -- unprompted -- push for the agreement’s passage just three days after he was retained to lobby for it. On the April 4 edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Urban said that the USMCA has been “getting some momentum, some traction with Democrats in the House” and Trump’s threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border would “kind of blow that up” and be “a tragedy.” Media Matters asked CNN why the network didn’t disclose Urban’s financial conflict of interest during that segment but received no response.
Urban again appeared on CNN and urged the passage of the USMCA, this time on the July 24 edition of Anderson Cooper 360. Urban brought up the USMCA essentially unprompted and said that “people want to see legislators legislate” and that “the path of success for Democrats” is to pass things like the USMCA.
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Media Matters: In patently unethical move, CNN hires John Kasich even as he considers presidential bid
CNN has hired former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich as a contributor even though he is considering running for president in 2020. Kasich’s hire is the latest example of a cable news outlet unethically allowing potential office seekers to use its national platform to boost their future election chances while simultaneously drawing a paycheck. Kasich will undoubtedly use his CNN platform to draw a contrast between himself and President Donald Trump, as he did during the 2016 GOP primary. But his “carefully cultivated appearance” as a moderate is anything but accurate.
On January 15, CNBC reported that Kasich will work at CNN as a senior political contributor. Kasich’s chief political strategist, John Weaver, told CNBC that CNN “is a strong platform for the governor to continue to offer his positive vision to the country and engage on the vital issues facing America.” As CNBC’s report notes, the hire also comes as Kasich “is planning to go on a West Coast swing this week to meet with donors and business leaders, including traveling to Los Angeles and parts of Silicon Valley.” He is reportedly considering running for president as either an independent or a Republican.
Kasich previously parlayed a cable news gig into political office. After leaving Congress in 2001, he worked at Fox News between 2001 and 2009 as a host and contributor (while also working for Lehman Brothers from 2001-2008). He then successfully ran for governor of Ohio in 2010, with Fox News acting as one of his biggest cheerleaders. The phenomenon repeated itself when Fox News gave Kasich friendly coverage leading up to his announcement of a 2016 presidential run.
When Kasich announced his candidacy on July 21, 2015, he immediately received a return on his investment with Fox; during that day’s broadcast of The Five, then-host Kimberly Guilfoyle said that Kasich “does have a tremendous amount of experience and private sector in government and as governor,” while mentioning his previous employment with Fox. Fox’s Dana Perino added that “I said for a while that I think the folks are going to like him because they have for a long time,” while Geraldo Rivera proclaimed, “Kasich could do it.”
In August 2015, then-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly acknowledged that he was advising Kasich. (Kasich was previously a frequent guest host on The O’Reilly Factor, which was cancelled in 2017 following public reports about O’Reilly subjecting some of his staff members and guests to years of sexual harassment. Kasich has denied knowing about sexual harassment at Fox while he was an employee.)
Kasich has spoken candidly about the value of a cable news job in aiding political aspirations. In the lead-up to his 2016 presidential run, Kasich reportedly “endeared himself to the conservatives by mentioning his past TV work,” telling a group of conservatives: “I used to be at Fox News. I was a big star at one time.” In 2015, David Kushma of Toledo, OH, paper The Blade noted that Kasich's “tenure at Fox News, where he honed his heartland persona, helped make him media-savvy.” And a 2002 Columbus Dispatch profile noted that Kasich “wants to be in the White House,” but in the meantime was “concerned about doing a good job with Fox, developing as 'a media person' and connecting with viewers.”
Kasich’s hire by CNN is reminiscent of the revolving door between political candidacy and cable news punditry most often associated with Fox News. Media reporter Howard Kurtz noted on CNN.com in 2013 that “Fox News is the model” for the practice, citing the hire of “potential 2012 contenders like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, with the latter two jumping from Rupert Murdoch's team into the presidential primaries,” and noting, “There is no question that the high-profile platform gave them a boost.” (Kurtz left CNN and joined Fox News as a media critic later that year.)
During the 2016 primaries -- in which, in addition to Kasich, Huckabee, Santorum, and Ben Carson also ended up running for president -- CNN’s Reliable Sources show discussed the phenomenon of the “Fox News primary” in which GOP candidates courted network executives and made appearances on the network central features of their campaigns. (Although he was never a paid employee, Trump infamously boosted his profile through years of regular appearances on Fox News.)
As he considers running for president, Kasich will now have a national platform to workshop his potential appeal to voters and distinguish himself from the current Republican president. Yet Kasich has a number of ultra-conservative positions and views, such as his extreme anti-choice positions, deep-seated animus toward labor unions, opposition to same-sex marriage, and refusal to take climate change seriously.
While Kasich used media appearances during the 2016 campaign to present himself as reasonable and friendly, that hasn’t always been the case. During a 2009 guest-hosting appearance on Fox, Kasich sounded indistinguishable from Trump, ranting about “illegals” and heaping praise on then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was later convicted of a crime for refusing to stop violating the civil rights of Latinos.
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Media Matters:CNN pays Sean Duffy to make a ridiculous remark -- and then calls his statement “shocking” CNN host lets Sean Duffy question Lt. Col. Vindman's loyalty to the US, then calls his comments a ridiculous attack
CNN’s New Day gave network contributor Sean Duffy a platform to smear Army Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, who was on President Donald Trump’s Ukraine call and is testifying that he objected to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into pursuing investigations into Trump’s political rivals. Minutes later, CNN aired Duffy’s comments as an example of an unreasonable right-wing attack.
Duffy, who has a history of pushing lies and conspiracy theories during his time as a Republican congressman, claimed Vindman is “incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense” and claiming, “I don’t know that he’s concerned about American policy.” Vindman, who was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child, is a decorated Iraq war veteran and a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Duffy also said, “We all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from. … I'm sure that Vindman has the same affinity.” Co-anchor John Berman strongly pushed back on Duffy’s comments, calling them “pretty stunning.”
Only a few moments later, Berman re-aired Duffy’s comments as an example of “the president’s Republican allies trying to discredit today’s witness, Col. Vindman, who we will note was awarded a purple heart and is an active member of the U.S. military.” Duffy’s comments come after he used his first two appearances as a CNN contributor to push a long-debunked conspiracy theory about Ukraine, requiring on-air pushback.
...A few minutes later, Berman reaired Duffy's comment, calling it “a pretty shocking statement.”
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Media Matters: CNN and Jake Tapper fail to disclose employee’s major lobbying conflict of interest
For the third time this year, CNN allowed political commentator David Urban to push for the passage of a trade agreement without disclosing that he’s being paid to lobby for that measure. CNN has repeatedly ignored questions about its failure to disclose this blatant conflict of interest.
President Donald Trump has been trying to pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since he signed the deal during November’s G-20 summit. In February, Axios reported that Republicans formed the 501(c)(4) group Trade Works for America with the specific purpose of pressuring members of Congress, especially Democrats, to support the USMCA.
On April 1, Trade Works for America retained Urban and his firm American Continental Group to lobby for the USMCA. The group has paid Urban's firm at least $90,000 so far, according to a lobbying report filed by the firm in July.
During the September 9 edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Urban used his CNN job to push for the passage of the USMCA, stating: “[Politico reporter] Melanie [Zanoa] makes a good point about there's this long laundry list of things to do in the Congress, right, whether to get things actually accomplished, USMCA, lots of things that -- ”
Tapper then responded: “The new trade deal?”
Urban replied: “Yeah, the trade deal, right, that moderate Democrats, [Rep.] Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania and a slew of others, 30-plus others, were elected to get things done.”
Tapper added: “Congressman Max Rose.”
Urban then continued: “‘We’re going to go to Washington. We're going to work with my counterparts across the aisle and accomplish things.’ And they have gotta go back and run. And they're going to run on nothing, zero. They have a very thin record to run on. They're at risk.”
Urban’s push for the USMCA mirrors that of the White House, which has been heavily promoting the measure.
This is the third time that Urban has used his CNN position to push for the passage of the USMCA without any disclosure that he is paid to lobby for the measure’s passage. He also did it on the July 24 edition of Anderson Cooper 360 and the April 4 edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper.
CNN has also not previously disclosed Urban’s conflicts of interest from lobbying on other topics, such as military issues, environmental protections, and tax policy.
CNN again did not respond to a request for comment.
Media Matters: Broken record: CNN’s David Urban touts defense secretary, doesn’t disclose financial conflicts of interest
In what's become a troubling pattern, CNN failed to disclose that one of its main political commentators has financial entanglements with the subject he was discussing.
CNN political commentator David Urban appeared on the network and touted acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper, listing him as one of the “credible people” that President Donald Trump can rely on and saying that the administration official has a “great relationship” with Trump. Urban personally lobbies the Defense Department on behalf of defense contractors and lobbied for defense giant Raytheon when Esper headed the company’s lobbying shop.
Urban serves as the president and part-owner of American Continental Group, a multimillion dollar lobbying firm. In 2017, when Trump was reportedly considering Urban as his White House chief of staff, Daily Beast reporter Lachlan Markay wrote that Urban has “not just a wealth of political experience but a roster of recent lobbying clients with business before the federal government and large sums riding on major administration policy decisions.”
Trump recently nominated Esper to serve as defense secretary in a permanent capacity. In June, Axios had reported that Esper “is close” to Urban, and Politico called him “a close ally” of Urban. The two, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, graduated from West Point in 1986.
Media Matters previously reported that Urban has pushed his lobbying interests during CNN appearances on issues such as the military, environment, taxes, and trade.
CNN has recently started adding some disclosures for Urban during his appearances. CNN’s Jake Tapper stated on the July 12 edition of The Lead that Urban is “a D.C. lobbyist” who works on “behalf of energy, defense, and transportation companies.” Urban laughed as Tapper read the disclosure, stating, “That's like a tagline ... my new tagline.” Tapper replied: “Well, just full disclosure.”
But just a few hours later, that disclosure was gone as Urban appeared on the July 12 edition of Erin Burnett OutFront with guest host Kate Bolduan, and she introduced him as a Trump 2020 adviser. The segment was about the stability of Trump’s White House intelligence community apparatus amid reports that Trump is considering firing Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. After dismissing Coats as “a glorified” staffer, Urban said that, among others, “you have a new secretary of defense coming up who the president has a great relationship with. … There's lots of credible people there in the intelligence community and other places the president relies on.”
In addition to their friendship, Urban has financial reasons to tout Esper’s credibility to CNN viewers.
Urban personally lobbies the Defense Department for clients that include military housing developer Lendlease Americas and defense contractors General Dynamics and Textron.
He was also financially connected to Esper before Esper joined the Trump administration in November 2017. Esper worked as a lobbyist for military contractor Raytheon and was its vice president of government relations. During that time, Urban lobbied on behalf of Raytheon regarding various military issues. His lobbying firm hasn’t reported any lobbying activity for the defense contractor since 2017.
Urban’s American Continental Group lists dozens of clients on its website and states that it lobbies for numerous sectors. In other words, whenever CNN decides to host Urban, the network is exposing itself to numerous potential conflicts of interest. The question remains: Why does CNN keep putting Urban on its airwaves?
CNN did not respond to a request for comment.
Media Matters: Once again, CNN is reaching a breaking point with a pro-Trump commentator A Trump rally is the latest episode of CNN’s embarrassing employment of Steve Cortes
CNN political commentator Steve Cortes this week attended a rally for President Donald Trump, who criticized CNN for its handling of Cortes and told him that he’ll “get a real job” soon. The rally is the latest episode in CNN’s embarrassing employment of Cortes, who appears headed for the exits at the network.
During the September 16 rally in New Mexico, Trump called Cortes a “great friend of mine, somebody that was on CNN and they didn’t like him because he was too positive on Trump, can you believe it? He happens to be Hispanic. … You were incredible on CNN and now you will get a real job, OK? Steve, that audience wasn’t big enough for you.”
He also launched into a bizarre monologue in which he said Cortes “looks more like a WASP than I do” and questioned, “Who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics? He says the country. I don’t know, I may have to go for the Hispanics, to be honest with you.”
In late January 2018, CNN announced that it had hired Cortes as a political commentator. CNN signed Cortes shortly after it let go of pro-Trump commentator Ed Martin, who said he was fired “for cause.”
CNN hired Cortes despite his anti-CNN history. As Media Matters documented in May 2018, Cortes called the network “fake news” and suggested he was “very happy” to work at Fox News -- where he was a contributor at the time -- instead of CNN. He also tweeted of CNN Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta: “Sadly, @Acosta has stopped even pretending to be a journalist. He's an anti-Trump activist masquerading as a reporter.”
Cortes himself indicated in May 2018 that he started working for CNN at the suggestion of Trump, who is obsessed with cable news. The commentator said on a radio show: “I used to be at Fox News, which was a whole different world. I went over to CNN partly at the suggestion of the White House itself and the president himself because -- and I wanted to do it also because I saw a narrative there that I thought was unfair to the president, and I want to try to be a countervoice.”
