Three journalists quit CNN in fallout from retracted Russia story

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Howard Kurtz - FOX News


http://i.imgur.com/K20aRQB.jpg

Three CNN journalists who worked on a now-retracted story about Russia and a top Trump adviser are leaving the network.

CNN is casting their departure as resignations in the wake of the fiasco, but the network has come under substantial criticism since apologizing for the story. The move would also help CNN’s legal position in case of a lawsuit.

Anthony Scaramucci, the Trump adviser who is the target of the story, told me that he has no plans to sue. He said he has accepted CNN’s apology and wants to move on.

But Scaramucci also told me in an earlier interview, “I was disappointed the story was published. It was a lie.”

Lex Harris, executive editor of CNN’s investigative unit, was the highest-ranking official to resign. Thomas Frank, who wrote the story, and Eric Lichtblau, who edited it, also turned in their resignations. Lichtblau is a highly regarded reporter who spent nearly a decade and a half at the New York Times.

The story tried to draw a link between Scaramucci and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Scaramucci was a Trump transition team member who has been nominated to an ambassadorial-level post based in Paris.

The CNN.com article said that Scaramucci, back in January, held a secret meeting with an official from the Russian fund. According to an unnamed source, Scaramucci discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions at the meeting.

But Scaramucci told me there was no secret meeting. He said he had given a speech on Trump’s behalf at Davos, and fund official Kirill Dmitriev approached him in a restaurant to say hello and they had a brief conversation, with no discussion of sanctions.

In the retraction, the network said the story “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards.” The network is now requiring approval from two top editors before any Russia-related story can be published.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:haha:

[Pony]

Bla bla bla

They will continue to post garbage because they know the original story will go viral but the retraction will only reach 1% of the original audience. It's more profitable to fabricate a story then apologize for it later then to tell only the facts.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Yep, and of course no editors were dismissed

[Muddy]

The left are online defending CNN tooth and nail.. :lol:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Of course

[deebakes]

:shock:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Bla bla bla

They will continue to post garbage because they know the original story will go viral but the retraction will only reach 1% of the original audience. It's more profitable to fabricate a story then apologize for it later then to tell only the facts.

Project Veritas Captures CNN Producer Saying Russia Reporting Is ‘Mostly Bulls**t’
By Paul Crookston - Washington Free Beacon



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdP8TiKY8dE

Project Veritas released an undercover video Monday showing a CNN supervising producer saying that reporting on the Russia investigation is "mostly bullshit" but leads to high ratings.

Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe introduced the video as the first in a series called "American Pravda" seeking to expose mainstream media outlets' slanted coverage. In the video, CNN producer John Bonifield said the network's focus on potential ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia is based on ratings.

"I mean, it's mostly bullshit right now. Like, we don't have any big giant proof," Bonifield said of the Russia story. It is unclear when he made the statement.

"And so I think the president is right to say, like, ‘Look, you are witch-hunting me. You have no smoking gun. You have no real proof,'" Bonifield said.

He explained that ratings motivate CNN's focus on the Russia story. Asked why the network aired so much Russia coverage, Bonifield said, "It's ratings."

"Our ratings are incredible right now," he added.

Bonifield said that the emphasis on Russia came from upper management. He detailed a meeting in which President Jeff Zucker advised staff to focus on the Paris climate accord for a day and a half before returning to Russia.

"The CEO of CNN said in our internal meeting, he said, ‘Good job everybody covering the climate accords, but we're done with it. Let's get back to Russia,'" Bonifield said.

Bonifield also described a jaded business culture at CNN and in cable news generally.

"All the nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school, you're just like, ‘That's adorable, that's adorable. This is a business,'" he said.

"They gotta do what they gotta do to make their money," Bonifield added. "And so I love the news business, but I am very cynical about it. At the same time, so are most of my colleagues."

Bonifield said that CNN would have turned off its liberal viewers if the network strongly scrutinized former President Barack Obama, but Trump is "good for business."

O'Keefe said in the video that this exposes CNN's "editorial bias and anti-Trump agenda."

O'Keefe concluded the video by discussing CNN's retraction of a recent story tying a Trump associate to a Russian financial group. He called the journalists who resigned as a result "victims of fake news."

In February, O'Keefe released undercover audio from CNN employees discussing haphazard reporting of poll numbers, insulting Fox News, and claiming the "primary role of a journalist" is to "aid the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Why isnt he getting fired

[perrhaps]

Why isnt he getting fired

Good ratings?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Joe Simonson - Heat Street


Conservative filmmaker and activist James O’Keefe released his latest undercover sting video featuring CNN Health Supervising Producer John Bonifield criticizing the network’s coverage of President Donald Trump. He declares the investigation into any possible collusion between the president’s campaign and Russia “mostly bullshit.”

Shortly after the video’s release, supporters of President Trump demanded accountability from the cable news network. On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson from CNN released a statement to the Daily Beast defending Bonifield.

“CNN stands by our medical producer John Bonifield,” the e-mail read. “Diversity of personal opinion is what makes CNN strong, we welcome it and embrace it.”

The video confirms nearly every right-wing complaint about the mainstream media—ranging from admissions that former President Barack Obama wouldn’t receive the same kind of scrutiny as Trump, to admissions that CNN is more focused on ratings than journalistic ethics. Bonifield later goes on to say that the president is justified in saying “Look, you are witch hunting me.”

Just days before the video’s release, three journalists at CNN resigned after a Russia-related article based on unsubstantiated claims was published. After one of the subjects of the piece, Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci, threatened a lawsuit, it was retracted and an apology was issued.

A hashtag, #AmericanPravda, surfaced after the video’s release. President Trump himself tweeted about the video Tuesday morning.

http://i.imgur.com/5RdSs5E.jpg

CNN responded to the tweet by citing the network’s high ratings in the wake of the around-the-clock coverage of the Trump administration.

http://i.imgur.com/YnFwxhk.jpg

Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also referenced O’Keefe’s video during Tuesday afternoon’s press briefing in a tense exchange with members of the media. “There are multiple other instances where that outlet that you referenced has been repeatedly wrong and had to point that out or be corrected,” Sanders said of CNN.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

So they are just TMZ then

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I think TMZ has higher standards than CNN

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I believe they actually fact check :)