CNN won't change

So let's see, the network lost its head man to a sex scandal, fired its most popular prime-time host and had two other prime-time hosts depart voluntarily.

But Fox did not miss a beat in 2016 and 2017. Tucker Carlson, the lame conservative on CNN's old Crossfire show, came in to replace Greta Van Susteren at 7 PM. He turned out to be new and improved, When Megyn Kelly left, he moved to 9 PM. When Fox fired Bill O'Reilly, Carlson moved to 8 PM where he has stayed since. Hannity moved from 10 PM to 9 PM. They brought in Laura Ingraham at 10 PM.

It worked. The 7 PM slot has been difficult to fill, and The Five was on at 9 PM for a while.

But cable channel remained the same, bifurcated into conservative hosts in prime-time who made the money and real journalists (also known as lefties) during the day. 

In some ways, Fox is a little more conservative. Five years later, Bret Baier and Neal Cavuto remain. Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace left, as have most of the Never Trumper part-timers who serve as panelists and interview subjects. 

Now it is CNN's turn to deal with turmoil. Its head is out. It top prime-time host is out. Some speculate new ownership will change the network and return this Deep State PR shop to its glory days when it was an unbiased and unblinking news channel.

The problem is, CNN dropped its objectivity when Bernard Shaw and Peter Arnett holed up in a hotel in Baghdad as the Gulf War began on January 17, 1991. They served as human shields for Saddam Hussein and anyone else in that hotel.

Edward R. Murrow did not broadcast from Berlin as allies bombed it. He was in London when the Germans bombed it because he was on the side of truth, justice and the American way.

CNN?

Well, for the next 12 years, CNN's Baghdad Bureau served as Hussein's PR team. Only in 2003, as the Iraq War began, did CNN 'fess up to lying and covering for Hussein.

Speculation is that when Discovery takes over CNN from AT&T, the new owner will bring back the network from its original Ted Turner days back, pre-1991.

Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, who worked with Ted back in the day, wrote, "Over the next decades, CNN left its roots, stopped being the news agency with international reach it set out to be, and morphed into an increasingly maniacal, 24/7 left-wing diatribe with a one-track ideology, a failed business plan, and total jerks for leaders. It couldn’t help itself and it was sold, repackaged, mortgaged and lapsed into its present state of utter demise. 

"Without Donald Trump to kick around today, its audience has simply disappeared as the network was exposed as a shrill, leftist, political organ, predictably boring and essentially the pinnacle of “fake news.”

"Now, it has no future. Ted Turner, who soon turns 84, is unwell and struggling with Lewy body dementia. But he couldn’t possibly be happy with the turn the network has taken. Lou Dobbs is laughing out loud. Is it too much to hope that CNN’s death could perhaps cause a resurgence in real journalism? Probably. 

"Another alternative is possible. What if CNN were to sell to Donald Trump and rename itself TNN? 'All Trump, All the Time' could be the slogan. The ratings would soar, you have to admit. He could run his rallies 24/7 and hire his former appointees.

"And it would be real, not fake news! We can dream, anyway."

***

The London Daily Mail also dreams of journalism rising from the ashes of Zucker and Cuomo like a phoenix.

Or the Great Pumpkin.

The Mail reported, "CNN's left-wing bias may become a thing of the past when it is spun off to Discovery later this year, with the largest shareholder of the network's new owners eager to restore it to impartiality. 

"John Malone, a billionaire Trump donor, is the CEO of Liberty Media, Discovery's largest shareholder. He retains a 25% voting share in Discovery, which will take control of WarnerMedia and its assets --  including CNN -- later this year.  

"With Jeff Zucker gone, that seems more likely than ever."

Really?

The odds have merely changed from when hell freezes over to when Washington calls its football team the Redskins again.

The story said, "It's unclear which political direction Discovery CEO David Zaslav wants to take the network in. On Friday morning, he shocked CNBC hosts by calling the network 'the leader of news to the left.'

"Mediaite interpreted his remark as a reference to the political left however he has since clarified that he was talking about the 'left' side of the company portfolio, with sports being on the 'right.'"

Lying right off the bat is no way to regain credibility.

Maybe they don't want it.

After all, the network has been a cash cow for 30-plus years without credibility. It's not as if CNN's eventual new owner cares about quality TV. The Discovery Channel ran a Naked and Afraid marathon today.