By Kevin Price, Editor in Chief, Publisher, USDR.
Progressives in politics and the media are using the language of alarmism to talk about CNNs hiring of a former Republican strategist to oversee the media coverage for the 2020 Presidential Campaign.
The Daily Caller reports “Sarah Isgur Flores, the chief Department of Justice spokeswoman under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a former campaign aide to Carly Fiorina, will help oversee CNN’s 2020 campaign coverage. CNN appears to have a habit of hiring former Obama officials to handle coverage — particularly current anchor and former chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto — but the addition of a Trump administration official led to severe criticism of the network from the left.”
The response from the vast majority of journalists was overwhelmingly negative.
Brian Stelter of CNN claimed in his Tuesday night newsletter that ““CNN employees are concerned, according to numerous people who reached out to me on Tuesday. They are asking what Isgur’s role will be and questioning whether her sudden leap from the Trump administration to the CNN newsroom is an ethical breach.”
The liberal news site, The Daily Beast weighed in too, stating “CNN staffers are upset and confused about the network’s decision to hire a partisan political operative to oversee its 2020 campaign reporting.”
Former Obama and prominent podcaster, Tommy Vietor said in a Tweet to CNN that “Flores gave every Democrat in the country a reason to doubt your objectivity.”
“There weren’t any journalists available?” NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen said to The Daily Beast. “This person is not a journalist,” wrote Parker Molloy, a reporter for left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters.
The Daily Beast also reports that “During her time managing (Carly) Fiorina’s campaign, Isgur often complained about CNN’s coverage of the election.
“At a Harvard University post-election panel, CNN chief Jeff Zucker said the network didn’t give Trump preferential treatment, and that other campaigns were offered the same interview opportunities as the then-Republican presidential candidate. “I don’t remember getting invited to call in, though!” Isgur heckled him, referring to Trump’s telephone interviews with cable networks.
Instead of being “demoralized,” liberals both in and outside of the media should be thrilled by the hiring of a Republican for this position. Especially this Republican. Isgur is an establishment Republican who served under former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Anyone who supported Sessions had to despise the treatment of him by Trump. In addition there are few Republicans that had a more strained relation with Trump than Isgur’s former boss, Carly Fiorina.
CNNs choice indicated that it may have had a reality check. No, not in terms of its ideology, but whether it is being effective. The media has been demonstratively anti-Trump for years. When Trump declared the US was pulling out of Syria, the media (including CNN) attacked that position with arguments that were typical of the neoconservatives it despises. Regardless of what Trump does, the media can only find it harmful for the country. Another (of many) examples is the media’s narrative about the Pelosi “winning” over the government shutdown, since Trump agreed to put DC back in business, without getting his funding for the border wall. “’Pelosi wins’ argument is journalism at its worst. It is not accurate, and it actually builds support for Trump as a sympathetic character because it shows the depth of the media’s bias.” More information about this ludicrous argument can be found here.
The hiring of Isgur immediately makes it much more difficult for Trump to decry the bias nature of CNN. In fact, Trump likely quietly loathes this choice. If Isgur pushes for different perspectives to exist on CNN’s stories, there is a high possibility that it will do more to damage Trump’s reelections than all of the obvious propaganda that CNN and other media have had since he announced his candidacy. As stated before, this is clear, “If the media wants to actually be effective against Trump (not the role of media, but it is clearly the its desire), it would actually strive to be more objective.” The choice of Isgur allows CNN to pursue that objective. Only the most hardcore progressive would be unable to see that such is CNN’s objectives.
Kevin Price is Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business show, Editor of US Daily Review, is a syndicated columnist, author, and guest on numerous national business and news programs.
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