CNN Chief Says Network Will ‘Recommit’ To ‘Attempt To Be Independent’

BOOMBy Andrew Kerr
on June 16, 2017 at 9:50am

CNN CEO Jeff Bewkes came under fire Thursday during a Time Warner shareholders’ meeting for his network’s overt bias against President Donald Trump.

David Almasi, vice president for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, happens also to be a shareholder of CNN’s parent company, Time Warner.

The shareholders’ meeting occurred one day after a gunman opened fire on GOP lawmakers at an Alexandria, Va., baseball field. Almasi said he felt compelled as a shareholder to take Time Warner executives to task for “CNN’s contribution to the increasingly uncivil environment in Washington.”

“Mr. Bewkes, we have urged you many times to make CNN more objective,” Almasi told the CNN chief. “But bias is apparently worse than ever. As shareholders, we are concerned about the reputational risk to our investment in Time Warner, as CNN appears to be a key player in the war against the Trump presidency.”

“Are you concerned about advertisers leaving CNN?” Almasi asked. “Will you continue to ignore appeals for objectivity at the risk to our investment in Time Warner?”

Bewkes defended his network against the accusations of bias, but did “recommit” to “an attempt to be independent.”

“We will recommit — I’ll do it to you now — for an attempt to try to be independent,” the CNN chief said in response to Almasi’s questions. “I do understand from your questions that you’re skeptical that we’re achieving that. You think we haven’t.”

“I don’t want you to be skeptical of our effort, and we’re very sincere to try to achieve that, that’s what we are trying to do,” he continued. “The decision on whether we’ve failed — you’re right — will be made by the viewer.”

“But we are trying to keep it balanced and fair, and I understand that you’re thinking that we haven’t succeeded, but we are still trying,” Bewkes added.

Almasi, who believes it’s important for the news media to promote “vigorous debate that looks at all sides,” took issue with the claim that CNN was keeping things “balanced and fair.”

He cited a May study by the Media Research Center, which found that CNN devoted nearly every minute of its programming on May 12 to covering the Trump administration in a negative light.

“The vast majority of all of CNN’s guests that day (96, or 78 percent of the total) were Trump critics, compared to a handful of pro-Trump guests (just seven, or 6 percent of the total),” the study found.

“On this particular day there was hardly a single person for Donald Trump,” Almasi said. “That only feeds this problem.”

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Originally Posted by Guest

CNN Chief Says Network Will ‘Recommit’ To ‘Attempt To Be Independent’

BOOMBy Andrew Kerr
on June 16, 2017 at 9:50am

CNN CEO Jeff Bewkes came under fire Thursday during a Time Warner shareholders’ meeting for his network’s overt bias against President Donald Trump.

David Almasi, vice president for the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, happens also to be a shareholder of CNN’s parent company, Time Warner.

The shareholders’ meeting occurred one day after a gunman opened fire on GOP lawmakers at an Alexandria, Va., baseball field. Almasi said he felt compelled as a shareholder to take Time Warner executives to task for “CNN’s contribution to the increasingly uncivil environment in Washington.”

“Mr. Bewkes, we have urged you many times to make CNN more objective,” Almasi told the CNN chief. “But bias is apparently worse than ever. As shareholders, we are concerned about the reputational risk to our investment in Time Warner, as CNN appears to be a key player in the war against the Trump presidency.”

“Are you concerned about advertisers leaving CNN?” Almasi asked. “Will you continue to ignore appeals for objectivity at the risk to our investment in Time Warner?”

Bewkes defended his network against the accusations of bias, but did “recommit” to “an attempt to be independent.”

“We will recommit — I’ll do it to you now — for an attempt to try to be independent,” the CNN chief said in response to Almasi’s questions. “I do understand from your questions that you’re skeptical that we’re achieving that. You think we haven’t.”

“I don’t want you to be skeptical of our effort, and we’re very sincere to try to achieve that, that’s what we are trying to do,” he continued. “The decision on whether we’ve failed — you’re right — will be made by the viewer.”

“But we are trying to keep it balanced and fair, and I understand that you’re thinking that we haven’t succeeded, but we are still trying,” Bewkes added.

Almasi, who believes it’s important for the news media to promote “vigorous debate that looks at all sides,” took issue with the claim that CNN was keeping things “balanced and fair.”

He cited a May study by the Media Research Center, which found that CNN devoted nearly every minute of its programming on May 12 to covering the Trump administration in a negative light.

“The vast majority of all of CNN’s guests that day (96, or 78 percent of the total) were Trump critics, compared to a handful of pro-Trump guests (just seven, or 6 percent of the total),” the study found.

“On this particular day there was hardly a single person for Donald Trump,” Almasi said. “That only feeds this problem.”

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Now shareholders are trying to dictate the news. That is wrong. From what I have seen of the administration of Donald John Trump the negative news is very well aimed at him. He deserves it just like Richard Nixon did.

This shareholder should be ashamed of himself.

Originally Posted by Guest

Now shareholders are trying to dictate the news. That is wrong. From what I have seen of the administration of Donald John Trump the negative news is very well aimed at him. He deserves it just like Richard Nixon did.

This shareholder should be ashamed of himself.

As you are probably aware shareholders for many corporations have become active. many of the shareholders are hedge funds. Shareholders are stakeholders and as such they have pushed anything from complaints that corporations favoring Israel over Palestine be boycotted to pushing for a complete green agenda. So I understand a shareholders interest and his right to object to certain practices.

As to CNN practices. Isn't it a journalist obligation to report an objective, well researched/documented piece that is fair and balanced?

There is no justification to intentionally damaging any person place or thing just because you as a journalist have an unfavorable opinion of the subject matter.

In law even the alleged guilty are entitled to due process and a fair and impartial trial.

CNN modus operandi is tantamount to a Star Chamber when it comes to all things Trump.

Consequently such vile and slanderous defamation leads one to seriously question the credibility of CNN simply stated they are not objective,

Personal Best Regards:

Originally Posted by Guest

As you are probably aware shareholders for many corporations have become active. many of the shareholders are hedge funds. Shareholders are stakeholders and as such they have pushed anything from complaints that corporations favoring Israel over Palestine be boycotted to pushing for a complete green agenda. So I understand a shareholders interest and his right to object to certain practices.

As to CNN practices. Isn't it a journalist obligation to report an objective, well researched/documented piece that is fair and balanced?

There is no justification to intentionally damaging any person place or thing just because you as a journalist have an unfavorable opinion of the subject matter.

In law even the alleged guilty are entitled to due process and a fair and impartial trial.

CNN modus operandi is tantamount to a Star Chamber when it comes to all things Trump.

Consequently such vile and slanderous defamation leads one to seriously question the credibility of CNN simply stated they are not objective,

Personal Best Regards:

Star Chamber and Trump? You have to be kidding me. This man lies constantly, goes on childish Twitter rants, does have many ties with the Russians, and basically insulted his way into the White House. And won by 70,000 votes total in three States for the Electoral College but lost the majority vote by almost 3 million. And that was with the assistance of Russian hackers and James Comey's very ill timed announcement about Anthony Weiner's e-mail account. If he had not made that announcement, Hillary Clinton would have easily won the Election. She had it in the bag up to that juncture.

Originally Posted by Guest

Star Chamber and Trump? You have to be kidding me. This man lies constantly, goes on childish Twitter rants, does have many ties with the Russians, and basically insulted his way into the White House. And won by 70,000 votes total in three States for the Electoral College but lost the majority vote by almost 3 million. And that was with the assistance of Russian hackers and James Comey's very ill timed announcement about Anthony Weiner's e-mail account. If he had not made that announcement, Hillary Clinton would have easily won the Election. She had it in the bag up to that juncture.

Poster:

I have expressed many times on these pages that it is a was of time to get in a fist-a-cuffs concerning the character and presidents, to wit: "character didn't matter when it came to Bill Clinton". As you may recall that was the democratic mantra. We could apply the same criticism of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. name calling is a zero sum game.

I do agree with you that Trump should back off tweeting because he is only feeding his opponents. I am from that generation that saw the benefits of "reticence" .

So far there has been only innuendo about Trump's connection to Russians. if innuendo proves to be fact and if fact provides to be criminal intent then again no one is above the law.

a woman isn't almost pregnant she is either pregnant or she is not. a presidential election is the same either you won or you lost.

In my view the only person responsible for Hillary Clinton's loss was Hillary Clinton and I doubt she had it in the bag because that reference I made of being "reticent" had application here. Middle America stood silent until the election .

I spent time in respect for you to counter respond. However my once again my intent on initiating this thread was to underscore when a news outlet let's confirmation bias overtake objectivity people will simply not rely on what they report finding them lacking credibility.

so you may want to remove your personal feeling about Trump from this topic and then look at the allegation against CNN by this shareholder

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Did you folks enter the contest and watch one of your heroes on TV tonight ?

Nice to know the President is a fan.

"Infowars, the alt-right media outlet that claims the anti-Trump protest movement is funded by George Soros and other sinister globalists, launched a contest this week that rewards Alex Jones fans $1,000 for donning a t-shirt or sign that says “CNN is ISIS” on TV.

“We are launching a new contest to stand up to the Left’s calls for violence against the president and against other Americans for simply exercising their right to promote Americana,” a blog post announcing the contest said. “Infowars is launching a new $200,000 contest to expose CNN’s Kathy Griffin and mainstream media’s call for violence. We will expose the media’s terrorist campaign.”

Taking a page out of the Westboro Baptist Church playbook, Jones, the founder of Infowars, has gone through great lengths to promote his ongoing battle with the establishment media.

“We encourage everyone to not just hold up signs to point out that CNN is ISIS and that MSM are terrorists, but to also use this campaign as an example to point out when mainstream media and entertainment writers, editors and hosts are calling for violence against Trump and against his supporters for simply only trying to make America great again,” the Infowars website said.

The rules of the contest are fairly simple: $1,000 prize for anyone who is seen on TV with a “œCNN is ISIS” t-shirt or sign; $2,500 prize for anyone who is seen on TV with a “CNN is ISIS sign” and who also is heard saying, Infowars.com.

Infowars launches $200,000 contest to pay fans wearing “CNN is ISIS” t-shirts on TV - Salon.com

So a conservative shareholder complained. Big whoop. And we care about this why? The fact that the majority of CNN guests on a particular day were critical of Trump just could be due to the fact that Trump's actions are perceived by the majority of Americans as deserving of criticism, hence his abysmal approval ratings. Oftentimes CNN has some staunch republicans on the show that are not very complimentary of Trump. That does not speak to any lack of independence of CNN, but to the quality of the person in the whitehouse.

Originally Posted by Guest

So a conservative shareholder complained. Big whoop. And we care about this why? The fact that the majority of CNN guests on a particular day were critical of Trump just could be due to the fact that Trump's actions are perceived by the majority of Americans as deserving of criticism, hence his abysmal approval ratings. Oftentimes CNN has some staunch republicans on the show that are not very complimentary of Trump. That does not speak to any lack of independence of CNN, but to the quality of the person in the whitehouse.

Agreed.

The alt right has chosen CNN as their whipping boy for now.

This dangerous, dangerous war on the free "press" is quite scary.

Of course, as you say, CNN gives both sides of stories.

See, Trump supporters, and most on here are extremists representing alt right view points (a conspiracy theory a day) and have been schooled in the "Bannon" school that teaches to attack the media, and proclaim it all fake.

The original article from the OP was not credited to anyone which is, despite being a rule of TOTV, is ignored because rules do not apply to some. Anyway, you can find it if you Google the author, and you will see it spread over a number of alt rightbsutes. The author, as with most if the OPs articles (you do always need to track the source as he appears to be exempt of rules) is another hard right guy who left his original profession (he worked in IT ) and proclaimed himself a journalist.

Originally Posted by Guest

So a conservative shareholder complained. Big whoop. And we care about this why? The fact that the majority of CNN guests on a particular day were critical of Trump just could be due to the fact that Trump's actions are perceived by the majority of Americans as deserving of criticism, hence his abysmal approval ratings. Oftentimes CNN has some staunch republicans on the show that are not very complimentary of Trump. That does not speak to any lack of independence of CNN, but to the quality of the person in the whitehouse.

You do know CNN tied to DNC in the debate cheating right. Passed debate questions to Hillary rotten Clinton. They are forever bias cheaters and should of lost they're FCC licenses and not be called NEWS network. Instead an cartoon channel. Course you are ok with cheating right?

Originally Posted by Guest

So a conservative shareholder complained. Big whoop. And we care about this why? The fact that the majority of CNN guests on a particular day were critical of Trump just could be due to the fact that Trump's actions are perceived by the majority of Americans as deserving of criticism, hence his abysmal approval ratings. Oftentimes CNN has some staunch republicans on the show that are not very complimentary of Trump. That does not speak to any lack of independence of CNN, but to the quality of the person in the whitehouse.

Poster: I love the way you skip right over the reason this shareholder complained....it was because of the oversaturation of everything negative about everything Trump. CNN has taken it upon themselves to be the weapon that takes Trump down and they do not let objectivity and ethics get in the way. viewers have lost interest in CNN and some are protesting CNN as they did in Atlanta . CNN is taking a nose dive and this shareholder has every right to speak up and protect his financial interests.

I take my coffee black and that is the way I like my news straight up with no cream or sugar to hide the taste (facts).

A serious person would demand that all news agencies abide by their ethical charges of journalism and remain unbiased, objective, fair and balanced.

What sort of person and what justification can they find viewing and supporting any news outlet that intentionally misrepresents any person place or thing?

Personal Best Regards:

Originally Posted by Guest

You do know CNN tied to DNC in the debate cheating right. Passed debate questions to Hillary rotten Clinton. They are forever bias cheaters and should of lost they're FCC licenses and not be called NEWS network. Instead an cartoon channel. Course you are ok with cheating right?

I know of one woman, since fired, who did admit she told the campaign a question might be asked, and everyone agrees that was wrong and remedies taken publicly.

YOUR ACCUSATIONS HOWEVER ARE SERIOUS, AND UBSTANTIATED IN ANYWAY.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO ALLOW ANY INSTANCES YOU ARE AWARE OF THAT INVOLVED CHEATING.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO ACCUSE, PLEASE BE AN ADULT AND BACK IT UP

Originally Posted by Guest

I know of one woman, since fired, who did admit she told the campaign a question might be asked, and everyone agrees that was wrong and remedies taken publicly.

YOUR ACCUSATIONS HOWEVER ARE SERIOUS, AND UBSTANTIATED IN ANYWAY.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO ALLOW ANY INSTANCES YOU ARE AWARE OF THAT INVOLVED CHEATING.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO ACCUSE, PLEASE BE AN ADULT AND BACK IT UP

I guess you didn't watch the news where that CNN had to apologize. DNC head worked for CNN. Conflict wouldnt you say When she had access to questions. Come on you know it was wrong. Why isn't this criminal? Made Hillary look smart with her prefect liberal answers. Which probably swayed voters making th door knob look stupid.

This wasn't cheating? What would you call it? Business as usual? IMO it's probably been happening for long time and DNC just got caught. Bottom line is they cheated, no apology going to take that back.

And another thing if hillary was so high and mighty she would of exposed the cheating if she had ANY Integrity. But, we know how that worked out.

Originally Posted by Guest

I guess you didn't watch the news where that CNN had to apologize. DNC head worked for CNN. Conflict wouldnt you say When she had access to questions. Come on you know it was wrong. Why isn't this criminal? Made Hillary look smart with her prefect liberal answers. Which probably swayed voters making th door knob look stupid.

This wasn't cheating? What would you call it? Business as usual? IMO it's probably been happening for long time and DNC just got caught. Bottom line is they cheated, no apology going to take that back.

And another thing if hillary was so high and mighty she would of exposed the cheating if she had ANY Integrity. But, we know how that worked out.

Gee...I said it happened.

You took down the network

"They are forever bias cheaters and should of lost they're FCC licenses and not be called NEWS network. Instead an cartoon channel. Course you are ok with cheating right?"

You do realize that the rabble rousers on Fox are more guilty than others of this stuff, but your hatred is obviously not aimed at CNN....it is more of the Clinton crap.

NOTE...Election is over. The woman you hate was fired. CNN continues on...they are not number 1 in cable news (MSNBC is that, but they exceed Fox viewers.

Point is......insure your hate, if you must manifest it is aimed properly.

Listen to Gingerich and his foolishness, or Hannity or many over there......and just get informed of FACTS, not hyped up bias.

The Alex Jones, Hannity, Steve Bannon have chosen CNN as their target and as we know, they are VERY SELDOM ON THE SIDE OF ANYTHING TRUTHFUL.

Your comments may play at an alt right or Tea Party meeting but that does not make them true,and in fact makes them less true

Oh, AND I guess YOU missed some things also....as you said I did...

"CNN says it is "completely uncomfortable" with hacked emails showing that former contributor and interim Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile shared questions with the Clinton campaign before a debate and a town hall during the Democratic primary, and has accepted her resignation.

Hacked emails posted by WikiLeaks show Brazile, whose CNN contract was suspended when she became interim DNC chair over the summer, sharing with the Clinton campaign a question that would be posed to Hillary Clinton before the March CNN Democratic debate in Flint, as well as a possible question prior to a CNN town hall, also in March.

In a statement, CNN spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas said that on Oct. 14, the network accepted Brazile’s resignation."

CNN severs ties with Donna Brazile - POLITICO

Perhaps you want a public flogging on this, but betting an unsubstantiated accusation about a President wire tapping, or an unsubstantiated accusation about illegal voting in the millions, or those kind of petty things mean nothing to you.

PS....I very seldom tune in to CNN, but reading the alt right hate speak on here because somewhere, somehow they got instructions to do so, or maybe feel that hate against Clinton (OH..THE ELECTION IS NOW OVER FOR SEVEN MONTHS).

So, you are ok with the cheating? This is not accusations. It was proven! Fact! It happen! I guess you don't see it has big deal during campaign? And I guess you think MSNBC are also unbiased in their reporting. I don't know Brazile nor Hillary I only know they, along with CNN cheated. PRoven fact! Has nothing to do with hate. It has to do with right and wrong, integrity form Democratic Party, National news network, and career politician. Obviously they have none, but that's just my opinion, I sure you disagree?

Liberals don't lie ,cheat. steal, fraud because they always have the high moral ground...that's there story and they are sticking to it.

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