CNN Wokistas Panic over Chris Wallace

Network's paymaster at Discovery signaling big shift

Dec 13, 2021

In our latest episode of Simon & Whiton, we discussed today’s news that Chris Wallace is leaving Fox for CNN. Some points about that story and other news in media and business:

The woke politicos who have taken over CNN and driven it into the ground are terrified.
Chris Wallace is a lefty establishmentarian, but he does not do woke.
His move to CNN may reflect a forced transition back to the center and back to hard news.
Wallace has known John Malone, chairman of Discovery, which co-owns CNN along with AT&T.
Instead of flicking the CNN booger off of Discovery’s finger when it acquired WarnerMedia, Malone said at the time: “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.”
This could be the beginning of a major shift that will deprive woke politicos of a network that gave them a veneer of legitimacy, even as they demolished its credibility and wrecked its ratings.
CNN’s shift would signal MSNBC that it will have an even stronger corner on the woke market.
Current CNN boss Jeff Zucker is in trouble.
Wallace helmed Fox’s Sunday show through a time when they declined in importance. Long gone are the days when the Sunday shows set the political and news agenda for the week and were must-see for DC and media insiders. Remember David Brinkley and Barbara Walters? If you do, you’re old.
Wallace’s style was a poor man’s Tim Russert. He was confrontational for the sake of being confrontational, tried to make himself the story (and succeeded in the 2020 presidential debate), and actually caused guests to be more scripted and insular. At CNN, he’ll probably dabble like Christiane Amanpour, doing the interviews with gross muckety-mucks he couldn’t do at Fox.
It’s a long shot that CNN can regain its credibility and ability to report straight news.