Fake News has entered the fray once again and, once again, the culprit is CNN. But this is no altering of George Zimmerman (he was the White Hispanic) speaking to the dispatcher about Trevon Martin. This wasn’t staging a fake memorial vigil service in the streets of London with a bunch of fake Muslim mourners over the London Bridge terror attacks.
This was a much more devastating mistake made by upper management that could very well spell the end of the once-flagship news organization. Anderson Cooper may have the monopoly on 360, but the office upstairs may want to do a quick 180 on this one. Turns out that, in its wild frenzy to get the dirt on Donald Trump and anyone who has ever made eye contact with the real-estate-mogul-turned-president, CNN had decided to trust a source that apparently didn’t have all the facts and went ahead and published a piece online that turned out to be patently false. Additionally, the piece targeted Anthony Scaramucci for the second time this month and that information that he was part of the active investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee was a fantasy which, some in the GOP Establishmentariat claim, was none other than Faux-cahontas herself, Senator Elizabeth Warren from the Massachusetts Reservation. Whether Squaw Warren was communicating her innuendo via Instant Messenger or by smoke signals is not known. What is known is that this type of stark disregard for senatorial protocol is about as black and white as a Lenka music video.
In the interim, Breitbart had seen Scaramucci’s name and decided to launch its own investigation into the story. The information that they dug up on the Russian Investment Fund was such that the investigative journalism team opted to go public with the story that CNN had made a grave error and had published the story with little oversight and no fact-checking. You’d think with all the 24/7 fact-checking that goes on post-debate whenever a Republican utters a single syllable, that they’d at least have the leftover remnants of even one hungover Otis Campbell available to fact-check the stories that go online. Needless to say, they did not and the story went live, much to the chagrin of Jeff Zucker, who then apparently instructed key people in the chain of command to issue orders to each and every staff writer and copyeditor that any story with the Russia collusion byline had to specifically go through an expansive set of check-points before ever getting to the final draft stage.
The piece inaccurately alleged that Scaramucci and Schwarzman were under investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Treasury Department for supposed ties to what is actually a completely normal Russian investment fund. It turns out that not only is the Senate Intelligence Committee not investigating the matter, as Breitbart News discovered from sources close to Senate GOP leadership, but the Treasury Department looked into the matter and determined unfounded allegations that originated with far-left-wing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to be “without merit.”
Insiders have blamed Warren’s staff and the staff of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) for pushing the very fake news to CNN, something CNN has not denied nor has Warren’s staff. Harris’s staff did deny the charge, but her spokeswoman’s claim of certainty that nobody in the office spoke to CNN or was involved in pushing this out — made just a couple hours after an initial request for comment — strains credulity since it would be highly unlikely the spokeswoman could have spoken with every Harris staffer in that timeframe.
In wake of story retraction, CNNMoney exec editor sends memo to staff mandating all “Russia-related content” must be cleared by him or VP pic.twitter.com/2Y6QMZj1h5
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 25, 2017
CNN issued a retraction for their now-deleted story this week following an investigation by Breitbart News, saying in a statement released Friday night, “On June 22, 2017, CNN.com published a story connecting Anthony Scaramucci with investigations into the Russian Direct Investment Fund. That story did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci.” The statement was published on CNN’s verified Twitter account:
An editor’s note from CNN https://t.co/5bHxUVnHHt pic.twitter.com/W3IjT5FPN8
— CNN (@CNN) June 24, 2017
CNN’s piece was based entirely on information gained from one “anonymous source.” The article suggested shadowy connections between President Trump’s inner circle and a Russian investment fund:
The source said the Senate intelligence committee is investigating the Russian fund in connection with its examination of discussions between White House adviser Jared Kushner and the head of a prominent Russian bank. The bank, Vnesheconombank, or VEB, oversees the fund, which has ties to several Trump advisers. Both the bank and the fund have been covered since 2014 by sanctions restricting U.S. business dealings.
During an investigation into the story, a source close to Senate GOP leadership confirmed to Breitbart News that the allegations made in the CNN article were entirely false and politically motivated by Democrats.
Now, as if that was not enough, the CNN spider had spun a web of deceit much larger that has threatened to ensnare even the network president Jeff Zucker himself. In order for the retraction to have been pulled without much notice, it would have to have been pulled BEFORE Breitbart had spotted it. Once that happened, however, odds were good that this would blossom into a full-blown scandal.
Enter CNN Media Reporter Brian Stelter (most likely soon-to-be on the unemployment line, if Zucker has anything to do with it). In a show of solidarity with his CNN journalism buddies, he decided to play the maverick and try to elicit a response from the CNN Public Relations Office, but much to his shock and disappointment, he was denied a comment. That did not sit well with Stelter.
The story, by Thomas Frank of the investigative unit, said Congress was investigating a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials.” It didn’t get TV airtime, but it was shared on the web, where it was spotted and scrutinized by Breitbart. On Friday night the story was replaced by an editor’s note: “That story did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled.” The editor’s note included an apology to Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci, who was named in the story. The next morning Scaramucci responded via Twitter: “CNN did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on.” Some prominent conservative figures, like Donald Trump Jr. and Sean Hannity, seized on the story as an example of anti-Trump bias and anonymous source malfeasance…
The final strand in this very tangled web is Debbie Dooley who runs a Georgia-based Conservative Action Network that has worked night and day on this CNN fake news scandal that has rocked the old school broadcasters. Dooley has vowed to continue to protest against the network until it agrees to stop its publishing of fake news (which really could be a very long time, if you ask me). And besides, good luck on trying to get CNN to publish anything positive about Trump. Ain’t gonna happen.
“If Zucker demands President Trump’s team answer questions on camera, then he should be willing to hold an on camera press conference and take questions about the Fake News crisis at CNN,” Dooley told Breitbart News on Sunday evening. “Viewers and advertisers should demand it.”
Dooley organized a sizable protest a few weekends ago at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters. The argument that Zucker should answer questions on camera in an on-record televised press briefing comes as CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta and others at the network have whined repeatedly as White House press secretary Sean Spicer moved briefings off-camera this past week. Acosta and Stelter have hammered the White House for refusing to allow Acosta to aggrandize himself using Spicer or other White House officials as a foil at press briefings.
But, now the game that Stelter and Acosta have played with the White House seem to backfiring more on CNN at a time when the network cannot handle any more problems.
“Why does CNN even care about on camera briefings when they run ridiculous made up fake news stories?” Dooley told Breitbart News. “I am really beginning to wonder if Baghdad Bob is calling the shots at CNN. Jeff Zucker should definitely answer questions about the lack of journalistic integrity at CNN.”
Now amid a huge scandal three employees have resigned after a retraction of fake news:
Three CNN employees have resigned amid the network’s very fake news scandal in which it was forced to retract a hit piece on President Donald Trump and his associates.
“CNN said Monday that three journalists, including the executive editor in charge of a new investigative unit, have resigned after the publication of a Russia-related article that was retracted,” CNN’s Brian Stelter reported late Monday. “Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left CNN.”
Big changes are occurring there at the Clinton News Network and it’s high time. It wasn’t that long ago in December of 2012 when it was announced that Zucker would be taking over CNN for the departing Jim Walton. His vision was clear. He was not just going after Fox News and MSNBC, but the Discovery Channel, too. In fact, lots would be changing.
In revamping programming and execution, and broadening the competition beyond its core competitive set, Mr. Zucker must be careful not to alienate advertisers. “CNN needs to figure out how to change the programming without destroying the ad-sales model,” one news veteran said.
CNN prides itself on being nonpartisan, and Mr. Zucker made it clear he has no intention of changing that.
“CNN’s role in the world is more important than ever when partisan politics have been so loud,” he said during a conference call after his hiring was announced. “We will remain true to the journalistic values that have always been a hallmark of CNN.”
But if CNN is going to go down that middle road, it will need to make it as “exciting and sexy as the extremes,” said marketing expert Adam Hanft.
Well, Mr. Zucker, we can make a quick assessment of your 2012 grand plans for CNN:
- You alienated your advertisers
- You’re anything but nonpartisan (and were not long before you took over) “Journalistic values?” “Hallmark?” Okay…
- It’s not “exciting” or “sexy as the extremes” in any sense of the word.
In the famous words of Captain Quint:
“Farewell and adieu to ye fair Spanish ladies…”
Source: Breitbart1 / Breitbart2 / Advertising Age
Thanks that means the truth hurt a little orange flower