President Joe Biden participates in a CNN Town Hall with Anderson Cooper Monday, Feb. 16, 2021, at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
Elle Gardey reports on the promotion of Kaitlan Collins to CNN’s primetime slot, writing at The American Spectator:
The town hall that Collins moderated last week with Trump did not go well for the network, as many on the left perceived that Trump had steamrolled Collins and seized the opportunity to platform his beliefs. Most on the left, however, did not blame Collins for what they saw as a disaster; instead, most placed the fault on CNN’s higher-ups for hosting the town hall in the first place.
For instance, Amanda Carpenter, who previously worked for Sen. Ted Cruz and now writes for the Bulwark, tweeted: “The problem is not Kaitlan Collins. The problem is a media establishment and a Republican Party that is dedicated to normalizing a radical and dangerous political figure. Applause and ratings are not more important than our democracy.”
CNN praised Collins’ performance and defended the town hall. On CNN’s editorial call, for instance, Licht said: “I want to kick off by congratulating Kaitlan for what I can only call a masterful performance last night. I couldn’t be more proud of her and the team that supported us on the ground and back home.”
Collins’ performance was not universally defended on the left. On the View, after Alyssa Farah Griffin praised Collins for her moderation of the town hall, saying that it was inspiring to see “a 30-year-old journalist take it to one of the most powerful men in the world,” co-host Sunny Hostin disagreed, stating, “I don’t think that she was prepared.”
The increased media attention generated by the town hall caused hardline leftists to dredge up some of Collins’ old appearances on Fox News. But mainstream outlets seemed to ignore these — they continued to present Collins’ past at the Daily Caller as an opportunity for CNN to better portray itself as an unbiased news source, which has been one of Licht’s top priorities since he came on as CEO of CNN last year.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, “Ms. Collins’s Alabama upbringing and conservative bona fides—she covered Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential run as the White House correspondent for the Daily Caller—have quickly made her a key player in Mr. Licht’s stable.”
Licht has already made one awful decision when it comes to Collins, as CNN’s morning show, which he engineered, has been a disaster. The ratings are awful, and the hosts took their off-air distaste for one another to the screen. That disaster is on par with the rest of CNN’s performance — on Friday during primetime, Newsmax beat CNN in the ratings. Thus, Licht is desperately hoping that putting Collins in primetime will cause him to strike ratings gold.
Read more here.
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