Chris Licht was right — people want more neutrality in journalism
Zachary Faria
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Chris Licht may have lost his job as CEO of CNN, but most people would agree that his vision for the network was correct. While establishment media have turned sharply toward adding their own context and explanations to the news, most people still want a neutral media.
A poll from Echelon Insights found that most people (53%) think that the media “often appears biased against one political party and should do more to ensure it remains impartial” compared to a minority (34%) that thinks the media “creates a false equivalence” between two sides and should be more biased. All political groups other than “very liberal” Democrats want a more neutral media, and even Democrats agree with that by a three-point margin.
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Notably, this holds true for CNN’s audience as well. The poll relays that 52% of self-described CNN viewers want the media to remain impartial, while just 34% think that the media should focus its fire on one political party more than the other. Licht had the right view of it, he simply didn’t have the awareness or the stomach to commit to that vision and clear house at the network, instead only trimming the most obnoxious, outspoken fat at the edges.
The true problem for Licht, though, is that journalists do not believe their job is to be impartial. Obviously, most of them in establishment media would fit into that “very liberal” category, but a Pew poll last year made it clear that a majority of journalists (55%) think that every side “does not always deserve equal coverage.” Journalists think their job is to make decisions about the news for normal people, while those people simply want the facts so they can make decisions for themselves.
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Under Licht, CNN got rid of some of the more obvious partisans at the network, but he allowed many hosts who embrace the view that journalists should be biased to remain in their job. Jim Sciutto came to the network from the Obama administration. Brianna Keilar regularly parrots liberal talking points. Jake Tapper made a sanctimonious show of claiming he wouldn’t have Republican election deniers on his show, only to regularly turn the microphone over to Stacey Abrams, whose election denialism was excused because she is a Democrat.
CNN is a mess that likely cannot be salvaged, and certainly can’t be while all the same partisan hosts it employed before Licht remain at the network. People do not want to be lectured when they turn on the news, they simply want the news. CNN’s decline, and the cratering trust in journalism as an industry, are a direct result of journalists not recognizing or caring about that fact.