All TV networks, of course, had plenty of coverage, and plenty of good coverage, of the events in Israel. But it is at moments such as this — breaking international news — when CNN is at its best.
As one Poynter Report reader, a veteran of the news business, pointed out to me: CNN never hesitates to go to its top talent — such as Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, Dana Bash and its most valuable resource, Christiane Amanpour — to tell the story.
CNN’s Rolodex of experts is exhaustive and its on-location reporting is strong.
In a gut-wrenching interview with Tapper, a woman said her children, ages 12 and 16, were taken by Hamas. Through tears, she said, “Even war has rules. They just don’t have any morals.”
These kinds of human stories, along with the strong focus on what’s going on and what it means, are often what sets CNN apart from the others.
This isn’t to say there aren’t strong reporters elsewhere. For example, Fox News boasts Trey Yingst — possibly that network’s best reporter — who has been doing superb work.
In one powerful report, Yingst said, “Behind me I want to show you an Israeli artillery unit that is here, staging. Soldiers have been flowing this direction over the past several hours. They're in high spirits despite the trauma that this country has experienced because they are prepared for this moment. It is so difficult to describe what Israel has gone through over the past two days. Simply a massacre against civilians, the death toll according to Israeli media has now reached 600 people, both civilians and soldiers.”
MSNBC also had strong reports, including this one about Americans who were killed in the attacks.
But, once again, big international news shows that CNN is a go-to news source.
Speaking of CNN …
Mark Thompson officially takes over as the top boss at CNN today. But, according to Semafor’s Max Tani, Thompson, “… has already been preparing for the new role, meeting with anchors and producers and commuting into the network’s New York office. He’s made pilgrimages to see CNN staff in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, and has been offering feedback in meetings (he recently mused about whether CNN anchors should be dressing less formally on-air).”
So far, the vibe is that CNN staffers are hopeful about Thompson taking over, especially after what turned out to be the dismal leadership of Chris Licht.
Licht took over for Jeff Zucker, who was mostly liked and respected by CNN staff. Maybe Thompson will benefit from being the guy who takes over for the guy who took over for a popular boss.
He also might benefit from being way more competent than the last guy.
Musk’s dangerous recommendations
Twitter owner Elon Musk posted and then later deleted tweets after being called out for promoting accounts as reputable sources about what’s going on in Israel.
Along with his recommendations, Musk wrote, “As always, please try to stay as close to the truth as possible, even for stuff you don’t like. This platform aspires to maximize signal/noise of the human collective.”
But after posting what he called good sources, it was widely pointed out that one of Musk’s so-called good sources has pushed misinformation in the past, as well as using the word “Jew” as a slur.
CNN’s Jake Tapper showed examples of the account using the word “Jew” in a negative way and tweeted, “Elon Musk lauds this bigot as a good source of information.”
Podcaster Tommy Vietor, who worked in the Obama administration, tweeted back at Musk underneath his recommendation: “This site is a cesspool of disinformation. You have made it exponentially worse, and just this morning you recommended an account known to spread lies and antisemitism. Other than that, great job.”
Good pushbacks
I want to take a moment to point out three good examples of Sunday morning moderators pushing back on guests.
First, “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan had on South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who was one of the Republican lawmakers who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. Mace wrote on X that she supports Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan as the next speaker of the House.
Brennan asked Mace, “I know you've been outspoken about defending victims of sexual assault. Do the past allegations against Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you any reservations? How do you square that?”
Mace said, “Yeah, I'm not familiar or aware (of) that. He's not indicted on anything that I'm aware of. And so I don't, I don't know anything and I can't speak to that.”
Is she serious? Not familiar with allegations that Jordan, while an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, denied knowing that a team doctor was sexually abusing student-athletes? At least six former wrestlers at Ohio State say Jordan knew. And this story is well known. For Mace to act as if she has no idea what Brennan is talking about seems ludicrous.
Even after Brennan added, “It's the Ohio State University allegations,” Mace repeated, “Yeah, I don't, I don't know anything about that.”
Mace then moved on to talking about her support of Jordan.
Meanwhile, there were two occasions on the Sunday shows when guests suggested the $6 billion the U.S. gave to Iran to facilitate a prisoner exchange was used to help fund the Hamas attack over the weekend.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made that claim on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying, “Let’s be honest with the American people, and understand that Hamas knows, and Iran knows, they’re moving money around as we speak, because they know $6 billion is going to be released. That’s the reality. … It doesn’t go to the Iranian people, it goes to terrorist attacks. And Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken’s just wrong to imply that this money is not being moved around as we speak to hurt those that love freedom.”
Moderator Kristen Welker quickly responded with, “And yet, there’s just no proof of that yet. This is just the hours after that immediate attack. Is it irresponsible to level that charge when you really don’t have any evidence of that at this point in time?”
Haley said, “The evidence is to look at what the Iranian people have done to freedom-loving people around the world.”
Meanwhile, on Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show, New York Republican Congressman Mike Lawler made the same claim about the $6 billion and Psaki jumped in to say, “What you just stated is inaccurate, the funding, congressman, the funding does not go to Iranian hands. It goes to approved third-party vendors who provide humanitarian support.”
A warning
