Glenn Greenwald’s point about CNN, and Brian Stelter especially, needing a ‘new Trump’ is pretty spot on. For the past year even we wrote about how much the media actually needed Trump to win in 2020 …
Turns out we were both right but Glenn said it way better.
And he knocked Tater around a little so it made us smile.
With their ratings in free fall, they desperately need "the new Trump." They tried to make it Marjorie Taylor Green but nobody cared about a first-term backbencher, so they're now auditioning Tucker for the role. A bit bizarre for cable hosts to elevate another TV host this way: https://t.co/FCGiZWKqiH
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2021
Brian knows they need a new ‘orange man’ to obsess over for their angry viewers desperate to shake their fists at someone again. And God knows they won’t go after Biden.
Sad, ain’t it?
One earnest question I have:
Why is it OK to devote hours of TV time to maligning and stoking hatred against a cable host (and I do think it's fine), but it's not OK — it's abusive and violent — to voice criticisms of a front-page NYT reporter.
What's the principle here?
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2021
There is no principle here.
They just don’t care if people call them out for it.
Tucker Carlson actually had protesters outside his home when his wife and kids were inside. Using the logic now marshalled to place off-limits criticisms of NYT reporters, couldn't he allege that CNN's attacks on him incite harassment and violence?https://t.co/pGn8teigs0
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2021
But TUCKER bad!
Hrm, that doesn’t work as well as ‘orange man bad.’
Dammit.
One very significant defect plaguing contemporary discourse is the inability to think in terms of principles:
Q. What's the principle that permits a cable host to be harshly critiqued but not a NYT reporter?
A. One sucks, the other doesn't.
That's the opposite of a principle.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2021
Ding ding ding.
Brian responded …
Ratings are not in free fall, Glenn. They're just coming back to pre-election levels, as expected. I am covering the news, not conducting "auditions." Tucker is big media news. If you don't agree, say so. But don't dream up sinister motives and claim to know what's in my head.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 16, 2021
Sinister motives?
What?
And c’mon man, we’ve seen the ratings, that drop is way more than just pre-election.
Glenn came back with the TKO.
CNN and MSNBC's ratings are falling compared to the Trump years. But I still don't understand why it's permissible to spend hours bashing and inciting contempt for a cable host, but it's considered harassment and abuse to criticize a NYT reporter?https://t.co/fopho5xmb5
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2021
Oof.
Gonna leave a mark.
***
Related:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member