Trump Versus CNN

By Stephen Lendman.

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Cable television’s first news network, founded in 1980 by media mogul Ted Turner, is now its least reputable, its credibility in tatters, its ratings way down since Trump’s election.
MSNBC also lost viewership. Fox News gained it at the expense of its rival cable news networks.
It’s clear what’s happening. Trump supporters are boycotting CNN and MSNBC for one-sidedly supporting Hillary, denigrating the candidate emerging triumphant in November.
It may get worse for CNN, according to a Politico report, quoting an unnamed White House official, likely press secretary Sean Spicer, saying “(w)e’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda” – acknowledging a CNN boycott, adding it’s not permanent.
Spicer and senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway haven’t appeared on CNN in weeks. Spicer said he’s answering the networks questions during press briefings, adding he won’t “engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right.”
After his inauguration, Trump blasted CNN, calling it “fake news.” Since then, top administration officials appear on cable and broadcast Sunday shows regularly, CNN excluded.
The network’s State of the Union host Jake Tapper, said “(w)e invited the Trump White House to offer us a guest to provide clarity and an explanation of what the president just did, especially given so much confusion, even within its own government by those who are supposed to carry out this order, (but it) declined our invitation.”
The Obama administration “treat(ed) (Fox News as) an opponent,” according to its 2009 communications director Anita Dunn. Still, his White House officials occasionally appeared on the network.
Politico said “Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment.”

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