During a Sunday meeting, CNN employees – including Anderson Cooper, left, and Jake Tapper, right – were told to avoid covering President Donald Trump the way the network has in the past. (Christian Monterrosa – AFP / Getty Images ; Shannon Finney / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short January 23, 2025 at 10:37am
Can CNN rescue itself from ruin during President Donald Trump’s second term? CEO Mark Thompson hopes so.
The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that the network had an editorial meeting Sunday ahead of Trump’s inauguration the following day.
During the meeting, Thompson reportedly told his team to refrain from “pre-judging Trump.”
His instructions went further, saying CNN’s coverage of Trump should not “relitigate the past.”
In that meeting were two of CNN’s most outspoken anti-Trumpers, journalists Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper.
After Thompson gave his marching orders, things were reportedly quiet.
Tapper and Cooper apparently did not have much to say after figuring out that this would not be former President Jeff Zucker’s CNN.
Under Zucker, CNN was a prime anti-Trump network, becoming the president’s adversary whenever the chance arose.
During Trump’s first term, correspondent Jim Acosta physically had the microphone taken away from him during a press conference in 2018 when he confronted Trump for his framing of illegal immigration as an invasion.
Would you ever give CNN a second chance?
In that exchange, Trump gave Acosta advice that his network maybe should have listened to looking back.
“I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if you did it well, your ratings would be much better,” Trump jabbed at Acosta.
The Daily Beast also reported Wednesday that CNN plans hundreds of layoffs after having its worst performance ever with the 25-54 demographic in 2024.
Last Friday, CNN was also found liable for smearing a Navy veteran in a 2021 story.
Fewer people are watching, and CNN isn’t trustworthy.
This isn’t some nuanced position existing on the fringes. More people are coming to this realization.
CNN news anchor Kaitlyn Collins was humiliated by laughs from the live audience of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” when host Stephen Colbert referred to the network as “objective” during her appearance in August 2024.
Senior pundit Scott Jennings earns his salary and then some as his takes are the only thing carrying the network’s corpse to its next workday.
CNN reporter Oliver Darcy indicated Thompson’s vision going forward includes giving Trump supporters a voice.
“He has made it clear that he wants the MAGA movement to have a seat at the table when discussing political topics … even if certain pundits do use the platform to make incendiary and sometimes false claims,” Darcy said.
Thompson knows the current formula won’t extend the shelf life of this product. Whether it’s giving MAGA a voice, putting Jennings out there for more viewers to see, or telling Tapper and Cooper it’s time for a change, something must be done.
Tapper and Cooper probably walked away from Sunday unhappy, but they can thank Thompson later when they still have jobs.
Sam Short is an Instructor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London.
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