Quote:
Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski
Not good to try and dodge blame. You seem to be arguing that someone was fired by CNN for doing a town hall with Trump. What are you saying about it? Not what Sebby is saying , he’ll get his chance.
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Points of agreement:
1. Licht was fired
in part for doing a Trump town hall.
2. Most avid news consumers desire news that reinforces their biases, and consequently there can be no successful libertarian news programs, as both the right and left detest that sort of dispassionate viewpoint.
3. Because of 2, the hoi polloi of news consumers (most avid news consumers) are siloed in what they view.
4. Media cannot successfully report on Trump in an even-handed manner. To succeed in coverage (acquire ratings and appease the siloed audience) one must always be critical or supportive of him. There is no Trump agnosticism.
Neutral points:
1. The mainstream media and social media have historically been and remain staffed disproportionately with left leaning sorts (I think Ty may disagree somewhat with this. He seemed to disagree more with the assertion that this group of left leaning people had real power within media organizations, but I don't recall him weighing in on the specific point that media types predominantly lean left. But given it is pretty obvious, with the exception of Fox, Breitbart, etc., I'm comfortable saying this assessment is not controversial to anyone and so should be deemed neutral).
Disagreement:
1. I argued the left leaning staff at CNN ousted Licht. Ty argued it was the corporate leadership, that Licht had tried to deliver libertarian news to please John Malone (CNN's new owner) and failed. He cited an
Atlantic piece that included both as causes. I think Ty held to the view that Licht's firing was a corporate leadership decision, which I admitted it was. He seemed to think it was the exclusive cause, while I concluded it was one of many, including, significantly, blowback from the left leaning staff of CNN. I based my conclusion it could not have been entirely corporate (about ratings) because the Trump Town Hall was CNN's highest rating evening for the quarter, by a wide margin. For reasons I don't know and I don't think have been fully fleshed out by him, Ty did not find my argument there persuasive.
