White House Warns CNN That Critical Coverage Could Cost Time Warner Its Merger

[workinclasszero]

White House Warns CNN That Critical Coverage Could Cost Time Warner Its Merger
By Eric Levitz July 6, 2017 11:38 am

It’s quite possible that Donald Trump would never have become president were it not for CNN.

The network nurtured the reality star’s campaign in its infancy, broadcasting entire stump speeches, uninterrupted by correction or commentary. And it is likely that the president would be little more than a cultural artifact — a walking reminder of 1980s nihilism — were it not for the network’s president Jeffrey Zucker, who reintroduced Trump to the American public as a no-nonsense businessman in NBC’s The Apprentice.

But CNN is a journalistic enterprise. Or, at least, it plays one on TV. And so when a politician spews vicious, obvious lies on a near-daily basis — and directs a good portion of that venom at the free press itself — CNN’s anchors and reporters feel compelled to correct and condemn such mendacity. And that makes the president feel “betrayed.”

So, now, his administration is openly threatening to punish the network by sending the Justice Department after its parent company.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/white-house-if-cnn-bashes-trump-trump-may-block-merger.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. The ultimate example of the death of America

[malaise]

2. As we say in these parts

cockroach nah business wid fowl fight.
Both the Con and his administration and the corporate media have failed the American people

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Mueller can add another charge to the blackmail episodes.

If someone warned Trump about blackmailing a biz, he would not listen, so let's just keep letting him Tweet more and more evidence.

[malaise]

34. Hope so

[oberliner]

3. Watching Trump vs. CNN is like watching a football game where you want both teams to lose

As this article suggests, CNN helped make Trump.

Remember when they covered his Trump Steaks press conference?

[emulatorloo]

6. Are you seriously gonna cheer a President's attempt to blackmail a news organization?

Look at the big picture and put your greivances aside. This is a serious issue and a serious overreach.

[still_one]

9. excellent point, but beyond that, the WH is treading very closely to violating the Constitution

[SusanaMontana41]

31. He violated the Constitution long ago.

If this report is accurate we have no time to waste. Taking control of the press is one of the first moves despots make when launching a coup.

[SusanaMontana41]

32. The GOP is not preserving, protecting and defending

the Constitution. F*cking traitors.

[still_one]

33. I agree, and 2018 is very critical

[oberliner]

10. No

I just said I'm not cheering anyone.

Trump must be stopped from doing this - it is a serious issue and a serious overreach.

Also, CNN has become unwatchable of late with it's six screen shouting matches and Jeffrey Lord nonsense.

[emulatorloo]

4. More attempted blackmail for un-critical coverage.

[maxsolomon]

5. Authoritarianism proceeds apace.

This is the only thing the Trump Org knows: how to conduct business as a zero-sum game.

[Hortensis]

7. Overreaching fool. The real could-be authoritarian

powers behind the Republican Party would prefer more subtlety.

[workinclasszero]

12. Yes and where is

one tenth of the outrage over Hillary's email about a sitting american president threatening/blackmailing a major news org to get favorable treatment?

[maxsolomon]

13. it's buried in the blizzard of daily bullshit

people have outrage fatigue. I have outrage fatigue. and a degree of despair.

[workinclasszero]

25. I'm sure if Dump was a black democratic president

we would be well into his impeachment process by now and the MSM would have screaming headlines about it 24/7/365!

I would bet my life on that!

[McCamy Taylor]

8. Good grief! Time Warner has better lawyers than the DOJ. Who is Trump kidding?

[kimbutgar]

11. That's kind of thuggish behavior.

[spanone]

14. the white house is blackmailing cnn for more favorable coverage? how democratic... LOCK. THEM. UP.

[HAB911]

15. WAIT WAIT WAIT

It's not a good deal for us if ATT and Time are one is it? Let him stop it.

[Caliman73]

18. While true regarding the merger and consolidation of media...

Equally troubling is the potential abuse of presidential power to settle personal scores. That should NEVER happen in a legitimate State. While we have had plenty of Presidents "take on big business" or weigh in on issues that were important to them, only two other presidents that I can think of off the top of my head, went after single entities or an industry for personal reasons. Andrew Jackson with the Bank of the United States, which he hated and revoked the charter from causing one of the longest and deepest recessions in US history, and Richard Nixon, who hated the Press like Trump because he was paranoid and a crook; which gave rise to one Roger Ailes who wanted a media space to spread the conservative message. The actions of rash, paranoid, and power hungry people never lead to truly positive outcomes.

The merger should be stopped based on the Sherman Act, FTC Act, and the Clayton Act, not on the whim of an unstable tyrant. A potentially positive side effect of a horrible situation does not do us any good in my opinion. I can't support that.

[HAB911]

19. obviously

[Caliman73]

20. Did I miss the sarcasm?

It can be hard to pick up in print, unless you know the source. If so, my bad...

[HAB911]

22. not really, no sarcasm in orig post

but I do acknowledge your point!

[workinclasszero]

28. In exchange for fake news propaganda of pResdient Twitler?

No sale.

[SusanaMontana41]

29. Abuse of power.

Again and again and again.

Nothing changes.

[dalton99a]

16. Can't they be more subtle?

[SusanaMontana41]

30. It's the same tone

Mulvaney displayed when he announced that Trumpf's budget wouldn't cover Meals on Wheels.

Dreadful.

[Vinca]

17. You know your cute, little dog? It'd be a shame if anything happened to it.

Goon governing.

[JCanete]

21. these mergers shouldn't be allowed anyway. our news could hardly get worse...and yet mergers

are certainly capable of making it even shittier...I doubt CNN will take much of a stand on this one, because the corps love their mergers, and CNN hates to do real reporting anyway. This little ratings tick for somehow emerging as the bastion of truth against trump, and even trying to maintain the brand integrity that CNN hardly has anyway, isn't worth the loss of a merger.

[itcfish]

23. Does Trump Actually

Have the authority to do such a move???

[Blue_Tires]

24. Mafia presidency, plain and simple

[Doodley]

27. CNN should make this their number one story.