Trump Donor Just Took Over CNN – Employees Heads Explode

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OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion

You really can’t predict these kinds of things. There are some major changes coming to CNN, and a major Trump supporter is to thank.

CNN has fallen on hard times as of late.

In April, CNN+ was pulled from the air. That was only three weeks after it launched, despite an investment of $300 million.

Fox News defector Chris Wallace, who reportedly makes $9 million annually, joined the doomed streaming news service to pursue a lucrative job and to get away from Tucker Carlson. So Wallace was out of work.

Of course, back in December, Jake Tapper’s top producer was arrested in connection with allegations of sexual misconduct with ‘juvenile victims.’ That came just weeks after another CNN producer, that one for Chris Cuomo, was also fired over similar allegations.

That same month Chris Cuomo was terminated from his position as a CNN host after an investigation found he had supported his brother Andrew through a sexual misconduct scandal.

Early in May, Chris Licht was named the president of CNN. Licht has hinted that he would move CNN away from opinion-led shows that have dominated the network in recent years.

In a memo on his first day, Licht said that the emphasis should be on ‘straightforward facts’ and ‘insightful commentary’.

In an email to staff, the former CBS executive also warned that ‘too many people have lost trust in the news media’.

It has been said that insiders expect him to run CNN his own way rather than as a ‘cult like Jeff Zucker’.

Now, one of the older, anti-Trump anchors may be about to bite the dust.

Conservative Brief reported:

CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter’s career at the far-left network could be over in “weeks.”

News Cycle Media President Jon Nicosia took to Twitter and reported that sources told him that Stelter has “weeks” left at the network and that other CNN employees are complaining about changes made by new management.

CNN anchor Brian Stelter

Nicosia tweeted: “SOURCE: “Stelter is ‘down to weeks if not days’ left at CNN. They go on ‘He is everything that reminds the new owners of the Zucker era they desperately want to get past.”

“They continue: ‘Management is confident Stelter is the one sharing the internal pushback to fellow media reporters while simultaneously stirring discontent within the ranks.’”

And beyond Stelter, it’s being reported that Licht has told staff that he wants “The Big Lie” to stop being used to describe Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

Mediaite reported:

On a Tuesday conference call with management and show executive producers, Licht was asked for his thoughts on “the big lie,” and said he preferred that staff avoid the term. He made clear this was a preference, not a mandate, but staffers have taken it as a clear directive from the new boss.

He encouraged producers to instead use the terms “Trump election lie” or “election lies” in banners and graphics.

According to a source, Licht argued that using “the big lie” makes the mistake of adopting branding used by the Democratic Party, thereby weakening the objectivity of the network.

Anonymous sources inside CNN believe that Licht’s desire to stop using the term may have been influenced by a billionaire Trump supporter who is basically Licht’s boss.

In April, AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery merged together, forming Warner Bros Discovery Inc.

WarnerMedia owned CNN. But now Discovery execs and shareholders have a say in how the outlet is run.

Liberty Media, Discovery’s largest shareholder, is headed by John Malone, a billionaire Trump donor. He retains a 25 percent voting interest in Discovery.

Who is John Malone?

John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media

Gentlemen’s Journal did a deep dive into one of the country’s most powerful men.

As Liberty Media’s chairman and largest stakeholder, John Malone is one of the world’s most influential media magnates. He also possesses 28% of Discover Communications (which recently snapped up fellow cable TV stalwart Scripps Network for $14.6bn), has 25% shares in Liberty Global (the largest international cable company that boasts just under 30m subscribers) and owns 8% of professional baseball team Atlanta Braves.

Oh, and he currently owns more land in America than anyone else: 2.2m acres to be precise.

As a result, Malone has a net worth of around $9.22bn, and thanks to his buccaneering role in media deals and land ownership, he’s been nicknamed the ‘Cable Cowboy’.

People inside CNN are certainly not happy about Malone’s influence.

The Mediaite report on Licht’s desire to stop using the phrase “the big lie” continued:

“It’s worrisome that we’re being told how to talk about one of the worst things that ever happened to American democracy,” a CNN insider told Mediaite. “We have to call lies, lies, whether they’re small lies or big lies. Is there any lie bigger than that lie?”

They speculated that the directive could be coming from Warner Bros. Discovery board member John Malone, who has criticized CNN’s approach to news under former boss Zucker.

“It seems to indicate where things are headed,” they added. “We didn’t have this problem until John Malone was sitting on the board of this company.”

Liberal heads on social media are exploding over the news about Malone.

The far-left organization Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting isn’t a fan of Malone, either.

From the FAIR site (The article was written before the WarnerMedia, Discovery merger):

Malone, in fact, is more than a Discovery board member; he’s its chair and largest shareholder. CNN, started by Ted Turner and now owned by AT&T, is part of an $85 billion acquisition by Discovery, expected to be finalized this year.

Malone’s links to politics include being an active supporter—he’s currently a board member—of the Cato Institute, the Washington-based libertarian think tank that espouses the privatization of numerous US government agencies and programs, including Social Security and the Postal Service.

His Liberty Media empire was among the big contributors to Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration festivities in Washington, DC, with personal and corporate contributions adding up to $1 million.

So there we have it. It seems that a lot of billionaire businessmen are coming to America’s rescue as of late. First, we had Trump, then Elon Musk, and now John Malone. We could use a few more to hit back at socialist billionaires like George Soros, but this is a good start.

Source: The Republic Brief