Connecting the Dots: What’s behind CNN's turn to the right?

Billioinaire investor John Malone.

ANALYSIS

If you're like most Americans and you depend on TV for your news source, you might have noticed a change on CNN, the mother of the all-news format.

Some wary viewers say the new CNN is a wolf  (or Fox) in sheep's clothing but the ongoing transformation of CNN from a moderate news outlet to a network with a more conservative bent is but the tip of a more troubling trend changing the world of journalism.

Already gone from CNN are John Harwood, Jeff Tobin and Brian Steiter, who pulled no punches in criticizing the Trump administration's extremist policies. 

Some staffers have confided to the Daily Beast that it may be only a matter of time before Don Lemmon and Jim Acosta, CNN mainstays and whose criticism of Donald Trump and his ultra-right allies are well known, fall victim to the transformation.

Most journalists and media watchers are aghast at the sharp right turn that's happening at CNN, but the firings of the key on-air personalities sent a clear message to staffers: soften criticism of the right or you'll be next to lose your job.

The question floating over one of the world’s largest and arguably the most important news organizations, is why the network is changing. Is it because the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, its new owner, wants to right (pun intended) the network's leftward list? Or is it a conservative billionaire John Malone, and friend to Fox's Rupert Murdoch, flexing his muscle as an investor?

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Malone's reputation and his fortune was built in the cable TV business. He has deep and longstanding ties with David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Zaslay says the changes at CNN were implemented for business and editorial reasons, not because of his relationship with Malone. To further distance himself from any controversy, Malone picked Chris Licht, former Discover CEO, to head the new CNN.

Formerly sitting on the board of the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank, and donating $250,000 to Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee says something about his conservative/libertarian bent. Additionally and more telling, at one point, he owned 32% of Fox. It should be noted, however, two years later, Malone told CNBC that Trump generated too much chaos and shouldn’t have a second term. However, he tempered his pivot when he said, “Look, I think a lot of the things Trump has tried to do — identifying problems and trying to solve them — has been great. I just don’t think he’s the right guy to do it."

It is no secret what Malone wants as an influential investor. He has repeatedly voiced in public his preference for CNN to remake itself. His dream CNN, not so coincidentally, syncs with the new CNN's plan to steer the network away from what Malone and his allies  call a "liberal bias" they say muddles opinion and news and shift it toward a more moderate and a less biased presentation.

“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” he said in a CNBC interview, in which he also suggested a model: “Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have ‘news’ news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.” 

The CNN newsroom is changing.

Are you kidding me? Malone is holding up Fox News as an example of "actual journalism?" For the sake of brevity, let's just say that what's broadcast from Fox is not news. It is propaganda.

The world has changed since CNN's birth in 1980. Back then, objective reporting was the norm and idealistic goal from which news outlets barely wavered. With the emergence of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News is just one of the media that he has under his thumb. The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and the New York Post are all part of the Murdoch media empire.

Objective, politically neutral reporting would be fine if everyone played with the same rules. Fox's impact as a journalistic poseur is so great that the journalistic ideal of objectivity and "balanced" reporting of the news doesn't effectively counter the Fox network's unrelenting right-wing bias. It is like bringing a knife to gunfight.

For a long time, conservative news outlets have been perpetuating the myth that mainstream media is owned by liberals. That is far from the truth. Studies show the majority of the media are owned by Republicans.

In today's media landscape, the burden of ferreting out the truth falls on the viewer, who is more often than not, too inattentive to change the channel, content to feel the outrage spewing forth instead of listening to the pesky complicated details.

Today, media operates in a 24/7 environment, not the one-on-one media rivalries of the last century epitomized by the NY Times competition vs. the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal.

What may seem like a liberal bias to business investors like Malone, is the traditional media trying to present verifiable evidence-backed facts vs the outright lies and disinformation screaming from Fox. Based on Maline's statements, using Fox as his North Star, anything left of Fox is liberal.

Like the Murdochs, Malone calls himself a libertarian, someone who prefers minimizing government (except the military) and letting corporations run rampant over the country (re: consumers) as long as it brings in the dollars.

CORPORATE MEDIA

Like so many mainstream media, CNN is a victim of the new ownership who like Malone, view media as investment opportunities instead of providing news to the public, a perhaps romanticized vision that may be on its deathbed.

A study, "The Politics of CEOs," published by the National Bureau of Economic Researcher, researchers found that 18.6% of CEOs consistently donated to Democrats, while 57.7% donated to Republicans, with the rest leaning toward neither party.

That may not be surprising to progressives who have long railed that conservative ownership of media are increasingly calling the shots on news coverage.. They calim that big business tends to benefit more from conservative policy goals like lowering taxes and easing up on regulations. Labor unions donate heavily to Democrats, who tend to support more worker-friendly policies.

“Public corporations have massive financial resources, and directing even a tiny fraction of them to politics could have a profound impact,” say the researchers. “In particular, because our evidence indicates that public companies are disproportionately headed by Republican CEOs, the emergence of such a scenario could have a significant impact on the balance of power and advantages between the two main political parties.”

FOX IS NOT A NEWS NETWORK

It is wrong to equate CNN to Fox as Malone does. CNN, at least to date, presents reports that have been verified, once, twice, perhaps three times, with evidence and allows viewers to digest the information.

Fox's defenders say it is just another view of the same news as presented by the mainstream media.  In my view, Fox should not be equated with CNN. Fox is not news. It presents propaganda with an agenda.

Real news organizations do not twist the news to fit their purposes. For Fox, the information they spew is to support the GOP and criticize the Democrats. Another way of saying the same thing, Fox favors that information that helps corporate interests, ie. and is not interested in dispensing information that might help the nation's citizenry make decisions.

CNN, and even the more liberal MSNBC, may present opinions but fundamentally, they adhere to the facts. Fox does not.

Investor-owned media, steers away from news that may be harmful to corporate interests, such as climate change, mass incarceration rates, racism and basically, anything good Biden has done to help the economy, strengthen infrastructure, or provide affordable health care.

The changes at CNN are likely not done.

Like many unknown billionaires who prefer to stay out of the public's eye and immune to their scrutiny, Malone claims he had nothing to do with CNN's transformation. Even if Malone didn't directly order the firing of CNN staffers, Zaslav and Licht, are aware of Malone's wishes and like good lapdogs, they did their owner's bidding.

That's how things are done in the rarified air of the 1%. Malone's hands remain clean. Let the minion millionaires do the dirty work.

Aware of the pending changes coming to CNN, on Stelter's last show he said: “It’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Historical Footnote, Part 2: More all-AAPI panels appear in news shows

I'm not sure if this is the networks way of rebuking Trump's usage of "Chinese virus" that fuels the attacks against Asian Americans, but the presence of AAPI on the network news shows are at an unprecedented high. 

RELATED: See my earlier post noting this trend.

Above, CNN reporters Kyung Lah and Natasha Chen speak to host Don Lemon Monday (March 23) about the apparent turnaround of Donald Trump's use of "Chinese virus" when talking about COFID-19 and xenophobia against Asians that is running rampant across the country, unleashing a torrent of hate-fueled acts.

Below, Monday evening, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word has three Indian American medical professionals  -- Ashish Jha, Kavita Patel and Vin Gupta -- talking about the effectiveness of the stay-at-home strategy meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Up to now, it is still a rare occurrence when Asian Americans appear in news programs -- the entertainment industry is another story -- as experts in their fields. To have an entire panel of AAPI commentators, is still rare enough to merit me posting it to bring the trend to your attention.

Hopefully, it is not a trend. Maybe the networks won't need a national emergency to notice AAPI expertise in a whole lot of fields beyond racism and medicine. The largely immigrant AAPI communities are making huge contributions to this country and maybe we should be tooting our own horn more often. #IAmAnImmigrant.

Whether or not the appearance of Asian talking heads a deliberate strategy of the networks or simply an example of how deeply entrenched AAPI people are in all aspects of US society -- I'm liking it.

Historical footnote: Networks feature two panels with all-AAPI commentators

COMMENTARY:

Did anybody notice last weekend a small footnote in history occurred when two major news networks featured two guest panels who were all Asian Americans?

Both MSNBC and CNN had all-Asian guests talking different aspects of the coronavirus.

Saturday, MSNBC's Richard Liu had his guests talking about the economic impact of COVID-19 with businesses forced to shut down by government edict and Wall Street dropping like a lead balloon.(Wiping ou people's 401K investments).

On Liu's weekly show, guests included:

• Kurt Bardella, former publicist for right-wing Breitbart and ex-Republican; 
• Chris Lu, former Obama White House advisor; and 
• Lanhee Chen, director of Domestic Policy at Stanford University. 

At rival network, CNN, Jake Tapper hosted a panel on his Sunday talk show, State of the Union.

His topic were the medical policies generated by COVID-19 and how unprepared the US was for this inevitable happening. 

Tapper's  guests included:

• Dr. Jennifer Lee, senior medical advisor and Emergency Medicine Clinical associate professor at George Washington University.
• Dr. Vivek Murthy, medical author and the former US Surgeon General under Obama;
• Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Florida, who is under self-quarantine; and
• Lahnee Chen, who must have driven over to MSNBC after his stint at CNN.

For years, Liu always made sure to have a diverse guest list on his MSNBC show and I don't watch every show he's aired so I can't say for sure if he hasn't had an all-AAPI panel before.

It was not too long ago that one would have to look long and hard to see even one Asian American pundit on a subject that wasn't about race or an Asan American issue. 

No matter how long AAPI have lived in the US, they have always been targeted as foreigners, outsiders or nonhuman "Others." It makes it easier to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, Executive Order 9066 (Japanese American incarceration), or to the present day limiting of family reunification and work visas to out-and-out travel bans

People need to see AAPI as part and parcel of this country. AAPI are doctors, nurses, lawyers, construction workers, farmers, teachers, students and also homeless, elderly and physically challenged.

And we are journalists and expert enough to be "talking heads." The two TV networks, perhaps unwittingly, provided the visual reminder that AAPI are threaded through every aspect of this country. It was only one weekend and two panels, but they were small steps in the right direction. 

US residents need to see Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders more often -- not only in fictional TV series which is starting to happen more frequently, now -- but also on serious, real-life news events because something like the coronavirus affects all of us, no matter what ethnicity.

What it says, albeit subliminally, is that we are all Americans.

It shouldn't take a worldwide pandemic for this to happen and maybe one day, the occasion might not be worthy of noting. I am waiting for that day.

Andrew Yang analyzes Democrats' Presidential debate for CNN

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Former 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate and newly annointed CNN commentator Andrew Yang.

We now know the answer to the question: What's next for former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang? He debuted Wednesday night as CNN's newest political commentator.

After the debate between Democratic Presidential hopefuls in Las Vegas, Yang joined a panel of talking heads abalyzing his former rivals' performances.

He seemed at ease and ironically, he had more airtime than he received in any of the seven debates he took part in. He has the fewest amount of airtime compared to the other candidates because he simply answered the moderators' questions and didn't use the opportunity to expand on other topics to hog more screen time.

Yang, an entrepreneur whose long-shot candidacy burst into the mainstream with the help of a loyal online following, dropped out of the race last Tuesday after failing to earn delegates in the first two nominating contests of the 2020 Democratic primary.

Wednesday morning, CNN made the official announcement.

“I’m excited to join CNN to help shed light on the election and the candidates’ experiences,” Yang wrote in a tweet Wednesday after the network announced the new relationship. “Learned a lot these past months and am glad to contribute to the public discussion.”

"I’m excited to join @CNN to help shed light on the election and the candidates’ experiences. Learned a lot these past months and am glad to contribute to the public discussion," he tweeted.

He opined that Sen. Elizabeth Warren had the strongest night among the six candidates on stage. Warren was most aggressive against billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg reminding the audience of the allegations of misconduct against women and the controversial "stop and frisk" policy that he endorsed as mayor.

Speculation about Yang's future plans still swirled around the entrepreneur whose prolongd campaign surprised and impressed the political establishment. He said he is open to any position with the incoming Democratic president and would accept an invitation to become vice president. There also were rumors that he would be run for New York City mayor.

"Andrew Yang and his bold vision for the country are not going anywhere," said Zach Graumman, Yang’s campaign manager.

“Maybe I’ll wear a tie…” Yang mused on Twitter prior to his CNN debut. Instead, he showed up with his signature look -- tieless.

Members of Congress want more AAPI journalists in news networks

Newsrooms can be lonely places for journalists of color.

During the course of my career as a journalist, I was aware every day that I was one of the few Asian Americans in a newsroom. Even in the racially diverse Bay Area where there are large AAPI communities, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were woefully underrepresented in journalism. 

Decades passed but in all that time, not much has changed.

On Monday, members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) sent a letter to executives at ABC News, CBS News, CNN Worldwide, Fox News, NBC News and MSNBC requesting information on what steps are being taken to promote representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) both on camera and behind the scenes. 

The letter was led by CAPAC Chair Judy Chu, D-CA, CAPAC First Vice Chair Grace Meng, D-NY, and CAPAC Whip Ted Lieu, D-CA. 

Specifically, the letter requests information on steps being taken to increase paid television contributors, how many AAPIs are currently in decision making positions, how many AAPI anchors there are, and what networks are doing to cultivate new talent.

“As AAPIs continue to grow in population and influence, it is important to see that change reflected in our media as well. That includes not only on-air representation, but also more seats at the table as producers and contributors in order to help ensure more perspectives are reflected in the news coverage we watch,” said Chu. 

“Increased AAPI representation is particularly important on issues like immigration, where AAPIs are the fastest growing demographic, but are often excluded from coverage of immigration issues," she said. "This is a change that media executives have acknowledged is necessary, and so we are sending this letter for an update on where things stand. As the 2020 election approaches and news coverage becomes more important, it is vital that we ensure all voices are heard and represented.”

“Diversity and inclusion are the building blocks for a more just and equitable society. That is why, I have continued to fight to make sure our institutions - from businesses to academia; from entertainment to government - live up to these ideals. Actions, however, must match words, which is why shining a light onto the diversity and inclusion efforts at major media outlets is so important,” said Meng. 

“The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, and - whether in front of or behind the camera; whether in the editing room or in the executive room - our diverse communities must have fair and meaningful representation. 

"No longer are we made invisible, without a voice, or a mere afterthought. We must hold the major network news accountable for their inclusion and engagement efforts, including efforts to build the pipeline of representation, and commitment to telling AAPI stories that resonate, not just with our AAPI community, but with our entire nation. After all, the AAPI story is the American story. The AAPI perspective and roles are critical to the full American story. I look forward to the responses from each of the major networks.”

“As a proud member of CAPAC, I am pleased to co-lead this effort to encourage increased representation of the AAPI community in the news media,” said Rep. Lieu. “For too long, AAPIs have been underrepresented within this industry, leaving many voices unheard and opinions overlooked. The AAPI community has made monumental contributions to American society and culture, and it is past time to reflect that in our newsrooms.”

A copy of the letter can be found online here.

Data from the American Society of Newspaper Editors shows newsrooms across the US are overwhelmingly white. This is true for both conservative-leaning papers like The Wall Street Journal (80.81% white) and liberal-leaning papers like The Washington Post (71.08% white).

Among the newspapers with the largest circulations in the US, The Los Angeles Times (14.8% Asian) and Washington Post (12.65% Asian) reported comparatively larger percentages of staff who identified as Asian, while The Chicago Tribune (3.42% Asian) and Boston Globe (4.86% Asian) reported smaller percentages.

Television news has a similar problem with Asian American representation. According to the most recent data from the Radio Television Digital News Association, Asian American representation in TV news has declined to 2%.

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Steve Bannon blames Asians for taking jobs from African Americans and Latinos

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

CNN host Fareed Zakaria interviewed for Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon, right

RADICAL CONSERVATIVE Steve Bannon recently took swiped at immigrants who come to America on H-1B visas, the majority of whom come from Asia. 

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, which aired on CNN a week ago, the former White House chief strategist known for his hardline stance on immigration said that if “you’re from Asia and you’re here, second-generation, you’re (an) American citizen, that’s absolutely no problem.”

But Bannon told the Indian American host that he felt differently about those who are in the U.S. via the visa, which allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. 

“These (H-1B) visas where you come here… basically to take the jobs of American citizens is just not acceptable. And that’s not racist,” Bannon said. “The central beating heart of this is that Hispanics and blacks have to get into the high valuated tech jobs; we’re never going to do that as long as they have unfair competition.”

JOHN YANG

Zakaria mentioned remarks by Bannon last year in which he said that “two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia,” and that the U.S. “is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”

Pressed to explain his views, the former former CEO for the conservative Breitbart News, said he was espousing “economic nationalism,” which he claimed has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, religion or gender, but concerns American citizenship. 

The overwhelming majority of H-1B visas go to immigrants from Asia, specifically India and China. Those who qualify for them have a bachelor’s degree or higher and work in fields that require highly specialized knowledge, especially in the fields of medicine and tech.

Bannon’s comments, however, are based off various stereotypes and fears of Asian immigrants, said John C. Yang, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC). 

Bannon is particularly misguided by the “model minority” myth that Asians have higher incomes and higher levels of education than other minorities, said Yang.

RELATED: Bannon says Catholic Church needs immigrants for economic reasons

“I think what Mr. Bannon is clearly trying to do is race-bait. He is trying to drive a wedge between races,” Yang told HuffPost. “What he’s really doing is trying to limit opportunities for all minorities.” 

“He’s just trying to draw a wedge and he’s hoping that somehow that African Americans and Hispanic Americans will read his quote and find alliance with him rather than with all the minorities.

Bannon's theory against the H-1B visa holders has repeatedly been debunked by numerous studies.

A New American Economy study showed placing caps on the H-1B visas actually disproportionately hurt U.S.-born tech workers, especially those who have bachelor’s degrees. H-1B visa denials in 2007 and 2008 slowed down jobs and wage growth and caused over 200 metropolitan areas to miss out on creating 231,224 tech jobs for U.S.-born workers. It also cost college-educated tech workers as much as $3 billion in total annual earnings.

Bannon's assertion that Asians comprise the majority of tech C.E.O. positions is way off the mark. A recent study by Ascend, a nonprofit group for Pan-Asian business leaders, concluded that although Asians and Asian-Americans are well represented in lower positions at companies— 27 percent of professionals at Silicon Valley tech companies -- less than 19 percent of managers, and fewer than 14 percent of executives at Silicon Valley tech companies are Asian or Asian American. Instead of having an overabundance of Asians in leadership positions, the data strongly suggests that systemic bias prevents Asians and Asian Americans from moving up the career ladder in proportionate numbers.

Ascend also found that when it comes to career advancement in Silicon Valley, race trumps gender. It found that U.S.-born white men and women are 154 percent more likely to have top executive roles in large companies rather than their Asian counterparts.

“If he really believed that he wanted to get more opportunities for minorities…then he should be talking about increasing educational opportunities for minorities,"  said Yang, . "He should not be talking about how one race is supposedly taking from another race. That’s just not the reality here.”

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Family spat? Kellyanne Conway angered when asked about her FilAm husband

SCREEN CAPTURE
White House aide Kellyanne Conway, left, was plainly upset when asked about her husband's social media postings.

CONVERSATION around the Conway dinner table must be super interesting these days judging how touchy Kellyanne Conway became when she responded to a question about her husband's social media communications critical of Donald Trump.

Kellyanne Conway, one of Donald Trump's best known advisors and defenders, is married to Robert Conway, a Filipno/American attorney whose name was mentioned several times for key White House positions as legal counsel. 

In the past month, he has raised eyebrows over his use of barrage of tweets Twitter has exploded with his criticism of his wife's boss.

George Conway is still a Trump supporter.

“You just brought him into this,” she angrily accused CNN's Dana Bash. “This ought to be fun moving forward, Dana. We’re now going to talk about other people’s spouses and significant others just because they either work at the White House or CNN? ... CNN just went there.”

Kellyanne Conway, Trump's "special assistant, accused the CNN moderator of trying to “harass and embarrass” her before giving a response that raised even more questions on what constitutes a “difference of opinion” between spouses.

“By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when adultery is happening,” Conway said on air. “By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when one is, I don’t know, draining the joint bank account to support things that maybe the other disagrees with. So this is a fascinating ‘cross the Rubicon’ moment.”

Conway and Bash went at it for nearly five minutes, with Bash pointing out that Trump attacked former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired last month, because his wife received campaign contributions from groups tied to an ally of Hillary Clinton.

“Kellyanne, here was my whole point of this, is that you are a professional working for the president of the United States and your husband is a very well-respected lawyer,” Bash said, “and my point is that we don’t often see ― in fact, I don’t remember the last time we saw ― somebody working for the president in a high-profile position when their spouse is saying critical things about them. That is all.”

George Conway’s tweets last month chiding his wife’s boss caught the eye of many political and media pundits. On March 23, he retweeted CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins’ tweet accusing Trump of repeatedly undermining his aides.

When Trump began ranting on Twitter about the courts' decisions against his Muslim travel ban, George Conway tweeted that Trump might be hurting his case before the Supreme Court.

George Conway, who Trump once considered nominating as solicitor general, has since deleted the eaerlier tweets, as well as several others that were critical of Trump’s legal issues.

Conway had to tweet that he is still a strong supporter of Trump despite his online criticism.

Huffington Post tried, but failed, to get a clarification from the White House regarding Kellyanne Conway’s comments about “adultery” and “joint bank account.” George Conway did not immediately respond  to a request for comment.

Kellyanne Coway, who has shown an amazing ability to befuddle interviewers by twisting interviews around so she could recite her talking points, did not appear to be on her "A" game in the Bash interview.

Apparetnly, George Conway's social media postings are still a sensitive issue around the Conway house.

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