The CNN newsroom is reportedly down in the dumps following the sacking of three employees for publishing a fake news story on the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, and after James O’Keefe’s exposé on how the network is pushing the false Russia narrative for ratings.
Ironically, CNN has spent months feasting on stories about the Fox News Channel’s ongoing troubles, and running attacks on other conservative news outlets.
Buzzfeed’s Steven Perlberg reports (original links):
On Tuesday, CNN President Jeff Zucker sought to rally news staffers during the morning conference call, hours after President Trump tweeted about the resignations. According to a CNN source, Zucker told staffers to keep fighting the good fight, and that the impassioned response only demonstrated CNN’s growing influence.
Still, CNN sources described a glum environment in the wake of the resignations, as staffers watched conservative commentators like Fox News’ Sean Hannity revel in CNN’s pain.
CNN has been particularly sensitive to the “fake news” label over the past several months, and Buzzfeed reports that staffers are adamant that the network did the right thing by retracting its false story. Yet for all the protestations about standards, CNN has been publishing false stories for months. Earlier this month, for example, it claimed that former FBI director James Comey would testify before Congress that he never told President Donald Trump that he was not under investigation. In fact, Comey did so, validating Trump’s claims and embarrassing Zucker’s network.
The real pain may be the slow realization that the Russia conspiracy theory is fading as a potent political weapon. Already, Democrats are calling for the party to shift away from the issue: “We can’t just talk about Russia because people back in Ohio aren’t really talking that much about Russia,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) told MSNBC last week. Other Democrats are reporting the same reactions from their constituents.
The story may be good for ratings, and for attracting a left-wing audience in deep-blue districts, but it is not going to bring down the Trump administration.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.