Malone, John $

</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SEE CNN
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/angelo-carusone/watch-angelo-carusone-explain-how-trump-town-hall-exposes-cnns-willingness">https://www.mediamatters.org/angelo-carusone/watch-angelo-carusone-explain-how-trump-town-hall-exposes-cnns-willingness</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-figures-celebrated-trumps-sexist-and-anti-abortion-comments-cnns-town">https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-figures-celebrated-trumps-sexist-and-anti-abortion-comments-cnns-town</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></p><p><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-disastrous-trump-town-hall-was-exactly-what-its-leaders-want"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-disastrous-trump-town-hall-was-exactly-what-its-leaders-want</font></a></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>cNN’s predictably calamitous town hall with former President Donald Trump is the natural extension of the ideological vision cultivated by the network’s leaders. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can tell that’s the case because even as the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-boss-chris-licht-doubles-down-on-disastrous-trump-town-hall" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">network’s journalists</a> are describing the event as “awful” and “one of the worst hours I’ve ever seen on our air,” CNN CEO Chris Licht is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/business/media/cnn-donald-trump-chris-licht.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">singing its praises</a>, reportedly <a href="https://twitter.com/maxwelltani/status/1656650741719728128" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">telling his staff</a> that “America was served very well by what we did last night." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My colleague John Whitehouse <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/cnn-trump-town-hall-kaitlan-collins-propaganda-rcna83957" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">documented</a> last night’s atrocities for MSNBC.com:</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some are trying to blame CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who moderated the event. There were some glaring Trump lies that she didn’t correct. But on the whole, it’s impossible to deny that she tried to some degree, and that it wasn’t close to enough. Her colleague Jake Tapper gamely tried to clean up immediately after the event, before admitting that there wasn’t enough time in the night to fact-check every false statement Trump made. The format forced Collins to try to interrupt Trump with various fact checks, which only turned him and the audience more against her as the night went on. It culminated with Trump calling Collins “a nasty person” — to big applause from the audience.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement, a CNN spokesperson defended Collins as “a world-class journalist” who “asked tough, fair and revealing questions ... and fact-checked President Trump in real time.” Yet primary fault for the disaster lies not with Collins, but with basic errors CNN made well before the town hall aired — decisions that guaranteed to push things beyond a breaking point. It’s no coincidence that Fox News and conservatives loved this event: It was, literally, classic Republican propaganda that Fox News co-founder Roger Ailes, who died in 2017, likely would have applauded.</font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The town hall debacle brings back disturbing memories of CNN’s coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign. Under <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/02/03/jeff-zucker-donald-trumo-cnn/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Jeff Zucker</a> — who had previously overseen Trump’s NBC reality show <b><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Apprentice</span> </b>— the network’s spectacle-obsessed, horse race-focused treatment helped lift Trump to the presidency. CNN’s new leaders seem to be returning to old practices as they seek to move the network to the political right. And that bodes ill for the quality of CNN’s coverage as the 2024 presidential election looms.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CNN regularly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/you-showed-empty-podiums-gop-operatives-blast-cnn-president-jeff-zucker-networks" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">built its coverage</a> of the 2016 race around obsessive promotion of Trump's rallies, which the network frequently aired live and unedited. The network also hired a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sexual-harassment-sexual-assault/video-cnn-has-trump-surrogate-problem" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">stable of unhinged pro-Trump contributors</a> whose lies frequently turned segments into trainwrecks, including former Trump campaign manager and walking ethics disaster <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-chief-criticizing-presidents-war-media-last-year-he-hired-trumps-top-press-abuser" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Corey Lewandowski</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">None of this was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/there-are-plenty-good-reasons-oppose-mega-mergers-trump-hates-cnn-isnt-one-them" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">enough for Trump</a>, who prefers his propaganda purer. He regularly denounced the network as “fake news” and threatened on the campaign trail to halt the merger between its then-parent company Time Warner and AT&T. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Following Trump’s election, out of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/business/media/jeff-zucker-helped-create-donald-trump-that-show-may-be-ending.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">guilt or duty or (most likely) pursuit of an audience</a>, Zucker’s network pivoted. There was still plenty to criticize about the network’s coverage, particularly its <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/study-cnns-paid-trump-shills-made-more-500-appearances-over-last-three-months" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">nonstop platforming</a> of dishonest <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnn-bemoans-lack-civility-after-spending-years-hiring-pro-trump-commentators" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pro-Trump pundits</a>. But it also provided an outlet for journalists and commentators like Brianna Keilar, Jim Acosta, Brian Stelter, John Harwood, Chris Cuomo, and Don Lemon to take on Trump and his Fox News megaphone. The president responded with fury, and his <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/trump-administrations-war-press" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denunciations of the network</a> were followed with <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/attack-twitter-right-shows-it-has-institutionalized-trumps-corrupt-use-government" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">action</a>: Trump’s Justice Department tried to halt the AT&T-Time Warner merger, he seems to have tried to broker a sale of CNN to Rupert Murdoch, and his White House <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/40-times-trump-administration-specifically-targeted-jim-acosta-and-cnn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spiked</a> Acosta’s press pass.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">These external attempts to bring CNN under MAGA control were unsuccessful. But a second try from within appears to have gotten the job done. Following a corporate <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/08/warnermedia-discovery-complete-merger-become-warner-bros-discovery.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spin-off and a merger</a> in 2021 and 2022, CNN is now part of Warner Bros. Discovery. Those developments were overseen by David Zaslav, the company’s CEO, and<b> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/discovery-warnermedia-merger-john-malone-synergies-1235039183/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">John Malone</a>, a right-wing billionaire who was Discovery’s largest shareholder and has a seat on the new conglomerate’s board.</b></span><b> </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Malone, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">legendary media investor</a> who chairs Liberty Media, is a self-described <b>libertarian and former member of the Cato Institute</b>’s board. A <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=John+Malone&contributor_employer=Liberty&max_date=12%2F31%2F2022" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">frequent donor</a> to Republican candidates and causes, he <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10476079/Billionaire-John-Malone-known-corporate-policies-followed-Zuckers-romance.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">chipped in</a> $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund, <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=John+Malone&contributor_employer=Liberty&two_year_transaction_period=2020" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tens of thousands of dollars</a> to Trump’s 2020 campaign and political committees focused on his reelection, and even <b>“contributed to Trump’s ‘Save America’ PAC, which funded the January 6 rally”</b> at which Trump encouraged the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, as my former colleague Parker Molloy <a href="https://www.readtpa.com/p/trump-announcement-headlines" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Malone <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/discovery-media-board-chair-john-malone-lauds-fox-news-before-saying-he-wants-cnn-to-evolve-back-to-actual-journalism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">detailed his hopes for CNN in a November 2021 interview</a>, as the corporate merger that would put him on the board of its parent company was underway.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">According to Malone, CNN needed to start emulating Fox News, which had <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-republican-party-here-are-over-400-examples-proving-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spent the previous four years</a> merging with Trump’s White House and serving as his right-wing propaganda organ.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have news news — I mean some actual journalism — embedded in a program schedule of all opinions,” he explained. “And I think they’ve been relatively successful with that, with a service like Bret Baier, and Brit Hume before him, that tried to distinguish news from opinion.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” he ad</span>ded.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Malone has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/business/media/cnn-brian-stelter-reliable-sources.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denied</a> that he is “directly involved” in shaping CNN’s programming to that vision. But he doesn’t need to have a day-to-day role to influence the network. Licht, whom Zaslav hired as CEO of CNN last year after Zucker <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/media/jeff-zucker-cnn/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">resigned</a> over a relationship with a subordinate, seems to be <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-air-talent-get-message" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">operating from the same playbook</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Licht has engaged in a “strategy shift” geared at presenting “a new, more ideologically neutral CNN,” as The Washington Post put it. Stelter and Harwood lost their jobs while Keilar was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/09/15/cnn-morning-don-lemon-chris-licht/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">demoted</a>. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/chris-cuomo/widespread-condemnation-chris-cuomo-focuses-attention-cnn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Cuomo</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/24/business/media/don-lemon-cnn.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Lemon</a> are also out — albeit for much more credible reasons — with their prime-time slots now filled by coverage from the network’s anchors. <b>These changes don't seem to be benefiting the business — CNN’s ratings <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cnn-ratings-chris-licht-584ea2b45819d2cc416006d7bd8b77e8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">have tanked</a> under Licht — but he’s accomplishing Malone’s ideological goal.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those decisions set the stage for Wednesday’s disaster. In a CNBC interview <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/warner-bros-ceos-comments-raise-serious-questions-about-how-well-equipped-cnn-confront-dangers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">last week </a>touting the town hall, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Zaslav made clear that his network was deliberately avoiding the lessons of the past. “Republicans are on the air on CNN, Democrats are on the air. All voices should be heard on CNN,” he said. “We've got a great political season coming. This is a new CNN.</span>”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>That sounds a lot like the old 2016-vintage CNN. </b>It’s clear that’s what Licht, Zaslav, and Malone want — a more compliant network that treats Trump like any other candidate, lets him make his case to viewers regardless of how frequently he lies, and gets attention that might generate ratings.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s the Trump Show all over again. And we know how that one ends.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media celebrate CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">05/11/23 </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN should have known better than to give Donald Trump free rein to lie to a national audience</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">05/11/23 </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN’s on-air talent get the message</font></p></div></div><p name="c89f" id="c89f" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" color="color" rgba="rgba" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 38px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/sean-hannity-2657922552/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/sean-hannity-2657922552/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Thursday, August 18, CNN announced that it had canceled the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brian-stelter-cnn-departure-reliable-sources-8c8b4bbd2035fc84c5c6f62807bb4642" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Sunday-morning show “Reliable Sources”</a> and that host Brian Stelter would be leaving the network. Reportedly, CNN’s new CEO and chairman, Chris Licht — who has said that he wants more “straight news reporting” and less commentary at CNN — disliked “Reliable Sources” and viewed Stelter, who spent a lot of time debunking Fox News hosts, as overly opinionated.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Liberal economist Robert Reich, in an <font color="#0b0d65"><span style="transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">op-ed published by The Guardian</span></font> GUK on August 24, is highly critical of CNN’s decision to cancel “Reliable Sources” — and he views it as a glaring example of CNN changing for the worse.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Reich, who served as secretary of labor in the Clinton Administration and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, essentially argues that if “Reliable Sources” had been canceled because it had terrible ratings, that would be one thing. But he implies that Stelter was fired for political reasons and a misguided effort to offer “balanced journalism” at a time when extremists who are threatening U.S. democracy have no interest in balance.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“For several years,” Reich observes, “Brian Stelter’s Sunday show on CNN, ‘Reliable Sources,’ has been a reliable source of intelligent criticism of Fox News, right-wing media in general, Trumpism, and the increasingly authoritarian lurch of the Republican Party. Last week, CNN abruptly canceled the show and effectively fired Stelter and his staff. Why? The show was commercially successful. Its ratings have suffered somewhat lately, but it was doing better than several of CNN’s prime-time shows.”</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/cnn-is-seeking-a-cease-fire-with-fox-news-under-its-new-president-report/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CNN is seeking a 'cease-fire with Fox News' under its new president: report</a></strong></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Reich adds that “there appears to be more to” the cancelation of “Reliable Sources” than Licht’s view of Stelter’s “opinionated style.”</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Licht has told CNN staff they should stop referring to Donald Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ because the phrase sounds like a Democratic Party talking point,” Reich notes. “Licht also wants more ‘straight news reporting,’ along with more conservative guests. What’s motivating Licht? Follow the money. CNN’s new corporate overseer is Warner <b>Brothers Discovery Inc., which now owns what used to be Time Warner, including CNN. The CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery is David Zaslav. Zaslav has been prodding Licht to reposition CNN to the center,</b> and be a network preferred by ‘everybody.… Republicans, Democrats.’ But CNN is never going to be the network preferred by Republicans. Fox News has that sewn up.”</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Reich continues, “As Republicans move further rightward into the netherworld of authoritarianism, there’s even less possibility that CNN’s news coverage will be able to satisfy them. Nor should CNN even try. If we’ve learned anything from Trump and his lapdogs at Fox News, it’s that facts, data and logic are no longer relevant to the Republican base. Even ‘straight news reporting’ depends on what stories are featured, which facts are highlighted and the context surrounding the news. This necessitates judgment and values.”</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Liberal Washington Post opinion columnist <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/pennsylvanias-next-governor-may-be-a-full-blown-insurrectionist-journalist/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Greg Sargent</a> has stressed that when mainstream news outlets are reporting on someone as far to the right as Doug Mastriano, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania, they shouldn’t normalize extremism in the name of “balance.” And Reich, similarly, argues that “straight news reporting” becomes problematic if it downplays attacks on democracy.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/cnn-republican-strategist-both-sides/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>CNN cuts off Republican strategist for blaming 'both sides' for January 6th</strong></a></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The anti-democracy movement in America, as elsewhere, is among the biggest issues confronting us today,” Reich warns. “Is reporting on it considered ‘straight news’ or ‘opinion?’ Wouldn’t failing to report on it in a way that sounded alarms be a gross dereliction of duty? Besides, how is it possible to report on (former President Donald) Trump or Rudy Giuliani or any number of today’s Republican leaders and not speak of the Big Lie, or say they’ve broken norms, if not laws? So, what’s motivating Zaslav? Keep following the money.”</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Reich adds, “The leading shareholder in Warner Brothers Discovery is John Malone, a multibillionaire cable magnate. Malone was a chief architect in the merger of Discovery and CNN. Malone describes himself as a ‘libertarian,’ although he travels in right-wing Republican circles.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <b>In 2005, he held 32 percent of the shares of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute. In 2017, he donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration. Malone has said he wants CNN to be <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/discovery-media-board-chair-john-malone-lauds-fox-news-before-saying-he-wants-cnn-to-evolve-back-to-actual-journalism/?utm_source=CJR+Daily+News&utm_campaign=357a3c7e89-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_11_11_06_33_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c93f57676-357a3c7e89-174376817&mc_cid=357a3c7e89&mc_eid=fef816934d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">more like Fox News</a> because, in his view, Fox News has ‘actual journalism.’ Malone also wants the ‘news’ portion of CNN to be ‘more centrist.’”</b></span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On the final broadcast of “Reliable Sources,” Stelter stressed that it’s “not partisan” to defend “democracy” or “stand up to demagogues” and that “we must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces” — and Reich applauds that statement.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Sadly, there are still many in America — and not just billionaires like Malone — who believe that holding Trump accountable for what he has done, and continues to do, to this country is a form of partisanship, and that such partisanship has no place in so-called ‘balanced journalism,’” Reich writes. “This view is itself dangerous.”</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/bannon-cnn/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Steve Bannon lawyer squirms as CNN host backs him into corner over damning leaked recording of his client</strong></a></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/john-malone-land-map/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> February 19, 2022</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Malone told CNBC  https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/john-malone-says-warnermedia-discovery-getting-rid-of-cnn-would-be-the-cowards-way-out.html...

John Malone?</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” the media billionaire Malone told CNBC (<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/john-malone-says-warnermedia-discovery-getting-rid-of-cnn-would-be-the-cowards-way-out.html?_source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.Mail" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">11/18/21</a>) in November.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I do believe good journalism could have a role in the future portfolio that Discovery/TimeWarner’s going to represent,” he went on.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the interview with CNBC‘s David Faber, Malone also said:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have news news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.</span>
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brian Flood of right-wing Fox News (<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/discovery-board-member-fox-cnn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">11/19/21</a>) said of Malone’s CNBC declaration:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);">Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who sits on the Discovery, Inc. board of directors, wants to se</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">e left-wing CNN revert back to nonpartisan journalism following the completion of a merger that would put the liberal network under the Discovery channel.</span>
</font></blockquote><h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than a board member</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Malone, in fact, is more than a Discovery board member; he’s its chair and largest shareholder.</span> CNN, started by Ted Turner and now owned by AT&T, is part of an $85 billion acquisition by Discovery, expected to be finalized this year.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Malone’s links to politics include being an active supporter—he’s currently a board member—of the <a href="https://fair.org/extra/media-moguls-on-board/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Cato Institute</a>, the Washington-based libertarian think tank that espouses the privatization of numerous US government agencies and programs, including <a href="https://www.cato.org/social-security-choice-paper/privatizing-social-security-big-boost-poor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Social Security</a> and the Postal Service.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">His Liberty Media empire was <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/04/19/john-malone-greg-maffeiliberty-media-among-big.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">among</a> the big contributors to Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration festivities in Washington, DC, with personal and corporate contributions adding up to $1 million.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, in 2019, in another interview with Faber on CNBC (<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/21/media-mogul-john-malone-says-trump-causes-chaos-likes-bloomberg.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">11/21/19</a>), Malone said:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Look, I think a lot of things Trump has tried to do—identifying problems and trying to solve them—has been great…. I just don’t think he’s the right guy to do it. Half the people that he’s hired and thrown under the bus are now trying to kill him. I mean, what kind of thing is that?
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Malone then said he would vote for former New York Mayor <a href="https://fair.org/home/pundits-look-to-bloomberg-as-their-anti-sanders-savior/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Michael Bloomberg</a> for president in 2020.</font></p><h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No ‘coward’s way out’</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Newsmax</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brian Freeman of right-wing Newsmax (<a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/johnmalone-cnn-warnerbros-discovery/2021/11/21/id/1045596/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">11/21/21</a>) said:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN will be the key news property in the merged company, one that will be dominated by entertainment programming. There had been rumors that CNN might be spun off or sold, but Malone indicated [in the CNBC interview] that’s not likely.
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Malone, Freeman said, described such a move as a “coward’s way out.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freeman asserted that “Malone has cause to worry about the left-wing network,” because</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CNN’s ratings have collapsed over 50% in the past year and may be suffering from a credibility gap with viewers…. Last March, a Hill/HarrisX poll found that 47% of registered voters believe CNN holds a liberal bias in reporting.</span>
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>(In the same <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/544766-poll-roughly-half-say-cnn-fox-have-partisan-media-bias" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">poll</a>, 48% of respondents said they believed Fox had a conservative bias—but who’s counting?)</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Straub of the right-wing website the Federalist Papers (<a href="https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/new-billnew-billionaire-owner-cnn-stuns-media-startling-admission-network-no-actual-journalists" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">11/22/21</a>) said of Malone’s CNBC comments:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN’s soon-to-be new owner just made a startling admission, one that has been obviously apparent to us and many others for some time, that the so-called news network has no actual journalists.
</font></blockquote><h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘The most powerful man you’ve never heard of’</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Gentleman’s Journal</strong> <a href="https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/john-malone-everything-need-know-americas-single-largest-land-owner/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">called</a> Malone “one of the most powerful, yet unknown, individuals in America.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“John Malone… Meet the Most Powerful Man That You’ve Never Heard Of,” was a heading of a 2018 <a href="https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/john-malone-everything-need-know-americas-single-largest-land-owner/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">piece</a> on the website of the British-based Gentleman’s Journal. Malone owns</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">services and TV channels you’ve most likely used or watched…yet the name John Malone still draws a sea of blank faces…. One of the most powerful, yet unknown, individuals in America…as <b>Liberty Media’s chairman and largest stakeholder, John Malone is one of the world’s most influential media magnates.
</b></font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In addition to being part-owner of the Atlanta Braves</b>, the website noted,</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he currently owns more land in America than anyone else: <b>2.2 million acres </b>to be precise…. Malone has a net worth of around $9.22 billion, and thanks to his buccaneering role in media deals and land ownership, he’s been nicknamed the “Cable Cowboy.”</span>
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The article related how Malone, born in Connecticut, has a Ph.D. in operations research from Johns Hopkins University, and</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">joined the worldwide management consulting firm <b>McKinsey</b> & Company in 1968. However, fatigued from the constant traveling his job required, he left after five years to join General Instrument; while at GI, he ran Jerrold—a subsidiary which produces minicomputers for the cable TV industry—and was eventually offered the role of CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc… [which] only had 400,000 subscribers and owed creditors $132 million…. Malone was only 29 at the time.
Within 17 years of snapping up smaller operators and acquiring minority stakes in other channels,<b> TCI, under the management of Malone, had accumulated 8.5 million subscribers and grew into the second largest cable company after Time Warner</b>. Because of his business deals in the byzantine world of cable TV, Malone was compared to “Darth Vader” by former US Vice President Al Gore….
At the helm of Liberty Media, the young American changed the organization from just providing cable services to actually owning the networks broadcast on its infrastructure, including the<b> Discovery Channel, QVC and Virgin Media.</b>
</font></blockquote><h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘CNN could face a reset’</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Variety</strong> (<a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/cnn-discovery-jeff-zucker-david-zaslav-1235174890/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">2/8/22</a>) says former <strong>CNN</strong> president Jeff Zucker (left) “pushed <strong>CNN</strong> to be blunt and unstinting in its efforts to hold feet to the fire,” while <strong>Discovery</strong>‘s David Zaslav (right) is “behind the scenes a relentless operator.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The headline last week in Variety (<a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/cnn-discovery-jeff-zucker-david-zaslav-1235174890/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">2/8/22</a>): “CNN Could Face a Reset Under Discovery Control.” The article by Brian Steinberg spoke of how under its recently resigned president, Jeff Zucker, “CNN became more swashbuckling, more colorful…”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Discovery is “a media company that tries to maintain a quieter corporate demeanor.” Zucker</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">changed the culture of the news outlet, shoving it into more direct competition with Fox News Channel and MSNBC…. Will Discovery change the recipe? There are signs that executives at the company see Zucker’s departure as an opportunity for a reset at CNN.
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The piece spoke of those who “argue Zucker’s strategies have been good for CNN—and for people who have been helped by its aggressive accountability journalism in Washington.” The article concluded:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.546px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Executives charged with leading CNN in the wake of Zucker’s exit have vowed to staffers in internal meetings that his vision for the network will remain intact, but chances are Discovery will dim Zucker’s flash.
</font></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That would not be good news.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://fair.org/home/lack-of-media-urgency-over-gop-efforts-to-steal-2024-elections/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">future of democracy in the United States</a> is at stake amid the polarization and deadlock of the political process in Washington. Media are increasingly under the control of right-wing zealots like Rupert Murdoch and those behind Newsmax, etc., who are poisoning communications.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critically needed now is an independent, honest, credible press providing, yes, aggressive accountability journalism—a light to enable people to find their way out of this mess. Instead, the nation’s oldest cable news channel will soon be under the control of someone who appears to want it to follow the “interesting trajectory” of Fox News.</font></p><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div><h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></h2><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Biographical_Information"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Biographical Information</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Mr. John C. Malone is Chairman of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Liberty_Media_Corporation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Liberty Media Corporation (page does not exist)">Liberty Media Corporation</a>, a position he has held since 1990. Mr. Malone is also the Chairman of the Board of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Liberty_Global&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Liberty Global (page does not exist)">Liberty Global</a>, Inc. (LGI), a position he has held since June, 2005. From 1996 to March, 1999 when Tele-Communications, Inc., (TCI) merged with AT&T Corp., he was also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TCI. Previous to that, from 1973 to 1996, Mr. Malone served as President and CEO of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=TCI&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="TCI (page does not exist)">TCI</a>. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CATO_Institute" title="CATO Institute" class="mw-redirect">CATO Institute</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Expedia" title="Expedia">Expedia</a>, Inc., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Discovery_Communications" title="Discovery Communications">Discovery Communications</a>, Inc., and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SiriusXM&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SiriusXM (page does not exist)">SiriusXM</a>. Additionally, Mr. Malone is Chairman Emeritus of the Board for Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. as well as Director or similar capacity for various family businesses, Trusts or Foundations...</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"He served as Director of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Cable_Television_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Cable Television Association (page does not exist)">National Cable Television Association</a> (NCTA) from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1993. During the 1977-1978 term, Mr. Malone was the NCTA's Treasurer.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"In 1983, Mr. Malone received the NCTA Vanguard Award, one of the highest honors in the cable television industry. He has received many other awards and honors which include: TVC Magazine Man of the Year Award - 1981; Wall Street Transcript's Gold Award for the cable industry's best Chief Executive Officer - 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1987; Wall Street Transcript's Silver Award in 1984 and 1989; Women In Cable's Betsy Magness Fellowship Honoree; University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center Award of Merit for Distinguished Entrepreneurship; American Jewish Committee Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award; Denver University Honorary Degree for Doctorate of Human Letters - 1992; Communications Technology Magazine Service and Technology Award; Bronze Award - 1993 Financial World CEO of the Year Competition; and 1994 Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award." <sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_C._Malone#cite_note-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Resources and articles</font></span></h2>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_Sourcewatch"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related Sourcewatch</font></span></h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_H._Padden" title="David H. Padden"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">David H. Padden</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Herbert_Allen" title="Herbert Allen"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Herbert Allen</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/K._Rupert_Murdoch/Detailed_history_of_media_acquisitions" title="K. Rupert Murdoch/Detailed history of media acquisitions"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">K. Rupert Murdoch/Detailed history of media acquisitions</font></a></li>

</ul>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="References"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></span></h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_C._Malone#cite_ref-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ir.libertymedia.com/directors.cfm">Board</a>, Liberty Media, accessed December 12, 2011.</span></font></li>

</ol>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>:

</font><ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Stubs" title="Category:Stubs"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Stubs</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:United_States" title="Category:United States"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">United States</font></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Media" title="Category:Media"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Media</font></a></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></li>

</ul><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 4: Joe Ricketts, $618,500</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: Former CEO and Chairman of TD Ameritrade, an online investment firm headquartered in Omaha, Neb.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Little Jackson Hole, Wyoming.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Ricketts does not currently live in Colorado. However, his personal holdings company, Hugo Enterprises, is headquartered in Denver. He listed this address when reporting more than $600,000 of donations in 2011 and 2012, launching him to a top spot among Colorado’s Power Players.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Ricketts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Ricketts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: No contributions made from Colorado this year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: In 2011 and 2012, none of the $600,000 in donations he listed as originating in Colorado went to a Colorado candidate. He donated $2,500 each to five of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates, including Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and another $2,500 to Gary Johnson, a Libertarian presidential hopeful and former governor of New Mexico.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: Joe Ricketts is listed as one of the Forbes Top 400 richest people in the United States. He is a conservative donor and founder of conservative “Ending Spending Super PAC,” though one of his daughters, Laura Ricketts, is a Democrat and operates her own liberal-leaning super PAC. Together, the family owns the Chicago Cubs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 5: Larry Mizel, $613,800</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: Chairman and CEO of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., a homebuilding and financial services business.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Denver, Colo.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Larry Mizel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Larry Mizel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: This year, Mizel donated $100,000 to a Super PAC focused on the reelection of GOP U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He also contributed $1,000 directly to Sen. Graham. His next largest contributions included two donations of $32,400 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: Since 2011, Mizel has been particularly active in high-profile Republican campaigns, supporting such candidates as Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, U.S. Rep. and former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: Businessweek estimates that Mizel’s total compensation from M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. in 2013 topped $12 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 6: Ben Walton, $500,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: Philanthropist and Board member of the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropic organization of the founders of Wal-Mart.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Denver, Colo.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ben Walton</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ben Walton</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: None.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: Walton was one of the top donors to Colorado Commits to Kids with a $500,000 donation. The group organized in favor of Amendment 66, a measure which would have changed the state's tax structure to fund K-12 education.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: Walton is the only donor in the top ten list with a single large donation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 7: Gregory B. Maffei, $482,899</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: President and CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, which owns the Atlanta Braves and holds stakes in major media companies, such as SiriusXM and Barnes & Noble.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Englewood, Colo.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gregory B. Maffei</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gregory B. Maffei</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: This year he spent $148,999, with donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Republican candidates for senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John McCain, Arizona, and Mike Rounds, South Dakota. The largest donation was $100,000 to conservative Arizona Grassroots Action PAC, based in Alexandria, Va.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: Maffei has largely donated to Republican candidates and causes, spending $482,899 since 2011. In past campaigns, he has backed national Republican leaders and their PACs, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. In 2012 he contributed to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, with $2,500 to the candidate directly and $150,000 to the pro-Romney PACs Restore our Future and American Crossroads.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: In 2011 Maffei donated $1,100 to Gov. John Hickenlooper, but has not donated to the governor since. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 8: Merle Chambers, $430,260</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: Former oil and gas executive turned philanthropist. Founder of the Chambers Family Fund, which focuses on women and family issues.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Denver, Colo.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Merle Chambers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Merle Chambers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: This year Chambers has contributed $5,650. For the second year in a row she has maxed out her contribution limit of $2,600 on Colorado Sen. Mark Udall's campaign. Chambers has also backed Joseph Neguse for Colorado secretary of state.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: Chambers has largely contributed to Democratic causes and candidates. Last year she contributed $25,000 to a gun control group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, and in 2012 she sent $200,000 to liberal super PAC Fair Share Action. Last year Chambers also maxed out her contribution to Democratic congressional candidate Andrew Romanoff by spending $2,600 on his campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: Many of Chambers’ contributions focus on Democratic female leadership across the United States, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Number 9: John C. Malone, $415,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation: Chairman of Liberty Media Corporation, Chairman and CEO of Steele Street Bank & Trust.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence: Elizabeth, Colo.</font></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John C. Malone</font></b></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John C. Malone</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2014 contributions: This year Malone contributed $25,200 so far, with $5,200 going to Sen. John McCain , $10,000 to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and $10,000 to the Republican Party of Maine.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall contributions: Republicans, including Boehner and Romney, have benefited the most from Malone’s contributions. In Colorado elections, last year Malone backed Senate candidate Cory Gardner with $5,000, GOP Rep. Mike Coffman with $5,200 to and candidate for attorney general, Cynthia Coffman, with $1,100.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did you know: A large chunk of Malone’s contributions have gone to Maine. Last year he contributed $5,200 to Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins. In 2012 he donated $90,000 to the Republican Party of Maine and $100,000 to Maine Freedom PAC.</font></div></div>

</div>

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