There was perhaps no more favorite punching bag for Donald Trump than CNN. He swung at the news network just as often as the network swung back at him.
Real journalists cringed watching the cable network’s reporters get into mud fights with the president and his people at those news conferences. And some people thought Donald Trump liked to grandstand. (To quote the producer in “Broadcast News,” when an on-air type gave his opinion: “Who the hell cares what you think?”)
An article CNN published on the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration caught our eye. Like a fish hook. The headline: “Trump departs Washington a pariah as his era in power ends.”
Oh, that’s a good headline. We’re jealous.
But since “pariah” doesn’t sound like a technical term, and isn’t surrounded by quotation marks by the copy editors at CNN, we figured upon first glance this was an opinion piece. CNN does, after all, have sections on its website labeled “political op-eds” and “social commentary.” It’s where they tend to stick Chris Cillizza’s stuff.
But this particular article was filed under regular news. It didn’t even have the cover-your-backside label-head “analysis” in the piece to distinguish it from a news article.
In the name of science, we read further into the article. Here’s the second paragraph:
“The all-consuming, camera-hungry, truth-starved era that fixated the nation and exposed its darkest recesses officially concludes at noon Wednesday. The President, addled and mostly friendless, ended his time in the capital a few hours early to spare himself the humiliation of watching his successor be sworn in.”
Ooo-wee!
And: “One thing Trump’s presidency undoubtedly accomplished: revealing in stark fashion the racist, hate-filled, violent undercurrents of American society that many had chosen previously to ignore. It became impossible to overlook as Trump’s presidency concluded with violent riots of White nationalists and neo-Nazis at the Capitol.”
Doubtless many would agree.
And this, toward the end of the article: “Trump has left the Republican Party in civil war. Its leadership remains handpicked by the outgoing President and many of its newest faces are acolytes and beneficiaries of Trump’s willingness to break with political norms. But others—including both those who worked for him and those who have long warned of his dangers—would rather Trump disappear forever, relegated to fringe politics and zoning disputes in Palm Beach.”
All of that is good stuff. Even if Mitch McConnell might take exception to being described as hand-picked by Donald Trump.
The copy just doesn’t sound like objective newswriting. It’s very good writing—but very much opinion.
The article was written by Kevin Liptak, and if you click on his profile, you’ll find he’s not a columnist, but a White House reporter. And with colorful commentary like that! Give that man a real, honest-to-God (and honest-to-readers) opinion column! He’d be excellent at it. And we’d sign up for his commentary. What the world doesn’t need is more milksop opinion.
But the world also needs commentary to be clearly labeled.
CNN can’t be honest with its audience while mixing news and opinion this way. We wonder, though, if that matters at CNN headquarters.
Whether it does or not, it matters to the American public. A new report came out this week showing trust in the news media at an all time low. That’s what happens when news organizations don’t separate news reporting from opinion, one of the most basic tenants of good journalism.