It’s moments like these when CNN shows its value

Since the early 1970s, the al-Assad family regime had ruled Syria with an iron fist. On Sunday, that brutal leadership came crashing down when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia after rebels seized control of Damascus.

The New York Times called it an “earthshaking moment in the history of Syria,” adding, “Rebel factions that have been trying to unseat him for more than a decade upended his government in a matter of days, after years of civil war. Many in Syria greeted Mr. al-Assad’s fall with hope after long living in fear of a government that had gassed its own people during the civil war and used oppressive tactics to silence dissent.”

President Joe Biden said, “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” adding that the fall of Assad was a “fundamental act of justice.”

However, Sunday’s news is being met with caution, as well. The Times wrote that “deep uncertainty over who will rule Syria next raised worries of a possible power vacuum in a country where competing factions have vied for territory against each other and Mr. al-Assad’s forces.”

In real time, as they so often do in such big world breaking news events, CNN delivered top-notch coverage.

Among the highlights was CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reporting from the streets of Damascus.

Ward said on the air, “The moment is utterly surreal. For those of us who have been covering this story for more than 14 years, it never seemed possible that it would end like this. The streets are incredibly calm and quiet. There’s definitely a sense when you talk to people that they’re delighted, but they’re cautious and they’re concerned. What comes next? Will there be chaos? Will there be lawlessness? Will we see more looting like we saw today?”

Ward also said, “This is a momentous, mind-blowing, frankly, historic moment. There’s no way of extricating it or seeing it separately from the events that have transpired since Oct. 7.”

In the car crossing the border into Syria, Ward reported, “It's astonishing to see it's absolutely empty at the border points. Before there would have been soldiers, there would have been border guards. Now there is absolutely nobody from the Syrian regime. Just a few friendly people waving us through.”

Ward added, “The last time I came down this road was back in 2011 as I was leaving Syria. I had been undercover in Damascus posing as a tourist. And I never imagined this moment would come when we would be driving through this border with no one from the regime to stop us.”

It was incredibly compelling news coverage, something Ward and CNN do so well. CNN also had expert analysts, smart conversations and, again, more real-time reporting throughout the day and night.

At a time when cable news has too far often devolved into analysts simply sitting around a table and debating the hot-button political issues of the day, or conducting interviews with politicians and spokespersons trying to sell their personal talking points, this is the kind of journalism that cable news was meant to produce: facts, deep-source reporting, real-time video, context.

While CNN often gets beat up for its coverage, and sometimes deservedly so, reporters like Ward and coverage of a story such as Sunday’s Syrian news shows the network at its very best.

Here are some other notable stories involving Syria and the fall of President Bashar al-Assad

• The New York Times’ David E. Sanger with “With Assad Gone, a Brutal Dictatorship Ends. But the New Risks Are Huge.”
• New York Times opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman with “Five Quick Takes on Regime Change in Syria.”
• And one more from the Times as opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof writes, “The Winners and Losers Following the Fall of Assad.”
• The Washington Post’s Max Boot with “The 10 days that shook the Middle East.”
• The Washington Post’s editorial board with “Why the U.S. needs to help build a new Syria.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board with “After the Fall of Syria’s Assad.”
• The Los Angeles Times’ Tracy Wilkinson with “Assad was a brutal dictator. Will Syria’s new leaders be any better?”
• A Syrian herself, BBC Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab says this is the first time she has crossed into the country "without fear of detention, without fear of arrest.”
• Also from the BBC: “BBC sees looting at Bashar al-Assad's residence.”
• Deadline’s Melanie Goodfellow with “Syrian Rebels Announce Ousting Of President Bashar Al-Assad In Dramatic TV Broadcast.”

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Hoping for the best

With Syria in the news on Sunday, there came an optimistic development. President Joe Biden told reporters that the United States believes journalist and Marine Corps veteran Andrew Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012, is still alive.

Biden said, “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”

The Daily Beast’s Lily Mae Lazarus wrote, ‘The president’s comments come on the heels of an effort by opposition forces in Syria that ousted the nation’s President Bashar al-Assad. Assad has since fled the country for Russia. Thousands of prisoners have poured out onto the streets of Syria once rebels took control, having been emancipated from the nation’s vast and lucrative detention system. Many of these political prisoners are now being reunited with their families.”

Tice has been missing for 12 years, but the U.S. government and Tice’s family believe he is still alive. The U.S. has tried negotiating for Tice’s release, although the Syrian government has always denied having Tice.

Late last week, after meeting with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Tice’s family said they believed Andrew is alive and has been treated well. Tice’s father, Marc Tice, said, “We are confident that this information is fresh. It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”

In a statement to Axios, the Tice family on Sunday said, “We are reaching out to all contacts in government and the region. We encourage everyone to help us in our search for Austin. As a family, we are all in D.C. working for his fast and safe return.”

Trump meets the press

In a much-anticipated conversation, President-elect Donald Trump sat down Sunday with “Meet the Press” and moderator Kristen Welker for his first exclusive broadcast news interview since winning the election.

James Downie, MSNBC opinion editor, summed it up well, calling it a “mixed affair.”

Downie wrote, “At times, he tried to sound almost measured: Trump told the ‘Meet the Press’ host that he would work with Democrats to find a way to preserve Dreamers’ legal status. He said he would not ban abortion medication, fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell or order the prosecutions of his political opponents.”

“But as always,” Downie added, “Trump’s more aggressive impulses inevitably got the better of him. Not long after promising not to go after his foes, Trump said the members of the House select committee on Jan. 6 ‘committed a major crime and they should go to jail.’ He told Welker that he would pardon rioters from the Capitol attack on his first day in office. And echoing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, he flirted with the debunked theory that vaccinations are responsible for increasing diagnoses of autism.”

About those punished for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump said, “These people are living in hell.”

Trump repeated a debate line, saying he had “concepts of a plan” for health care, although he gave no timeframe for when he might present a plan to the public.

Meanwhile, Trump said he wants anyone born in the U.S. to stay in the country, but said he will not hesitate to deport children born in the U.S. whose parents do not have legal status.

Trump said he wants Dreamers — individuals protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy — to stay in the country. But he also said he would not hesitate to deport mixed-status families — families with members who have legal status and members who don’t. Trump said, “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together, and you have to send them all back.”

The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote, “Most legal scholars have said the president has no power to overturn the right to citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, which says that ‘all persons born’ in the United States ‘are citizens of the United States.’”

For more on the “Meet the Press” interview, check out Baker’s story, as well as The Hill’s Brett Samuels with “5 takeaways from Trump’s ‘Meet the Press’ interview.”

And just one final thought: Welker performed well, pressing Trump when needed and getting Trump to reveal a lot of his plans for when he becomes president again.

Check the facts

PolitiFact’s Louis Jacobson has “Fact-checking Donald Trump’s interview with ‘Meet the Press.’”

Among some of the false statements Trump made include tariffs “cost Americans nothing”; the U.S. is "the only country that has" birthright citizenship; the U.S. let in 13,099 murderers “within the three-year period. It's during the Biden term”; “crime is at an all-time high.”

About Trump’s crime claim, Jacobson wrote it was “far off base,” adding, “The violent crime rate, as measured by the FBI, is about half as high as it was in the early 1990s.”

Cheney’s reaction

During his “Meet the Press” interview, Trump said former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney and other members on the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection should go to jail.

Cheney responded with a statement, saying:

This morning, President-elect Trump again lied about the January 6th Select Committee, and said members of the Committee 'should go to jail' for carrying out our constitutional responsibilities. Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power. He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave.

This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.

Alisyn Camerota signs off from CNN

After 10 years with CNN, anchor Alisyn Camerota signed off for the final time Sunday.

She told viewers, “This is my last day on air at CNN. I’ve had such incredible opportunities here these past ten-plus years. I’ve interviewed presidents and heroes and extraordinary people — the kind of peak career experiences that I had dreamed of since I was a teenager.”

Camerota, 58, joined CNN in 2014 after 16 years at Fox News. Earlier this year, Camerota announced that her husband of 20 years had died from pancreatic cancer in July.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Camerota was leaving CNN. She broke the news herself early Sunday with an Instagram post saying it was her last day, writing, “Big News, Everyone! — today is my last day on CNN. Tune in at 4:50p (et) for my sign off. Keep it here for updates!”

In a statement, CNN boss Mark Thompson said, “Alisyn is a rare talent with the ability to interview world leaders and everyday heroes with both strength and empathy. She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN for more than a decade, and we will be cheering her on in her new pursuits where she will surely find much success.”

Media tidbits

• CNN’s Clare Duffy and Erika Tulfo with “What’s next for TikTok now that the app might get banned?”
• Good to see: NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki and his big board on Sunday night’s “Football Night in America,” breaking down the latest NFL playoff scenarios.
• Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz with “ESPN blasted for taking 34 minutes to reveal College Football Playoff bracket.”
• SI.com’s Tom Dierberger with “MLB Insider Jon Heyman Hangs Up on Radio Interview After Angrily Shouting at WFAN Host.”

Hot type

• From The New York Times Magazine, Giles Harvey with “What Alice Munro Knew. The Nobel-winning author’s husband was a pedophile who targeted her daughter and other children. Why did she stay silent?”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Robert McMillan and Vipal Monga with “He Investigates the Internet’s Most Vicious Hackers — From a Secret Location.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].