Appearing on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. on Thursday, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell hammered CNN for abandoning any pretense of objective journalism and devoting all of its air time to attacking President Trump on issue after issue. Host Stuart Varney, a CNN alum, lamented that it was “sad to see” the cable channel had fallen so far.
The segment began with Varney voicing support for CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins, whom the White House barred from a Rose Garden press event on Wednesday after she shouted several questions at the president during his Oval Office meeting with European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker. While Bozell agreed “that a reporter should be allowed to ask a question,” he pointed out that “what’s going on with CNN is that it is no longer a news network.”
He cited CNN’s daily deluge of anti-Trump headlines as evidence: “And I don’t say this facetiously, you just have to watch this network. From dawn til dusk and beyond, all it does is attack Donald Trump. No matter what happens, and they find a reason to attack him.”
Varney agreed with the assessment and wished that his former employer had stuck to news reporting:
I agree with you in principle that a reporter should not be stopped from asking valid questions to the President of the United States....But I do also agree with you that CNN – look, it’s a network which I myself and Lou Dobbs, my colleague on Fox Business, we helped found that network. I was the first person to broadcast on CNN on day one of the network from New York. So it’s sad to see CNN develop into, I’m not going to call it a propaganda organization, but it is so over-the-top in its contempt for our president that I’ve got to walk away from it. I just can’t handle it.
Bozell added: “I do believe they are propaganda....I think Rush Limbaugh is right. These reporters, these journalists now lead the left. You just have to watch CNN and the stories that they are running day and night have nothing to do with the news.”
Later in the exchange, Bozell informed viewers on the latest MRC study that found that 92% of network evening news coverage of the Trump administration’s immigration policy has been negative since the president was sworn into office 18 months ago.
Here is a full transcript of the July 26 segment:
11:52 AM ET
STUART VARNEY: I do want to get this in. CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins told she could not attend the Rose Garden event at the White House yesterday by White House Communications Deputy and former Fox News executive Bill Shine. This after she asked President Trump about Putin’s proposed visit to Washington. Now, Fox News has come out in support of the CNN reporter. I support her as well, I support CNN. I think you have the right to ask questions that you want to ask. I don’t know what tone or what specific questions were asked, but you’ve got a right to ask them, and I think it’s wrong to exclude her. You join me in this?
LIZ MACDONALD: Yes, yes. We have – this is about free – First Amendment, right?
VARNEY: Okay, I want to bring in Brent Bozell, Media Research Center President. Brent, are you with us on this, supporting CNN, the right to ask the question?
BRENT BOZELL: Stop the presses, I’m not. I think it’s the first time ever that I’ve disagreed with Stuart Varney. Let me show you where I do, where I do agree. Look, first let’s – there’s always been a cat and mouse game between administration and the press. And there are different ways that this has played out. Who gets credentialed in the White House? Who gets to go on Air Force One? Who does the president sit down with? These are all subjective calls that are made. So there is that tension.
In the case of CNN, while I agree with you forcefully that a reporter should be allowed to ask a question, what’s going on with CNN is that it is no longer a news network. And I don’t say this facetiously, you just have to watch this network. From dawn til dusk and beyond, all it does is attack Donald Trump. No matter what happens, and they find a reason to attack him.
VARNEY: I agree with you, Brent –
BOZELL: I think that this White House is finally sick and tired of it.
VARNEY: Can we summarize it like this? I agree with you in principle that a reporter should not be stopped from asking valid questions to the President of the United States.
BOZELL: One hundred percent.
VARNEY: But I do also agree with you that CNN – look, it’s a network which I myself and Lou Dobbs, my colleague on Fox Business, we helped found that network. I was the first person to broadcast on CNN on day one of the network from New York. So it’s sad to see CNN develop into, I’m not going to call it a propaganda organization, but it is so over-the-top in its contempt for our president that I’ve got to walk away from it. I just can’t handle it.
BOZELL: You know –
VARNEY: Let me move on – go on, go on.
BOZELL: Well, let me just say, it must be painful for you. But by the same token, I do think, I do believe they are propaganda. I think they are – I think Rush Limbaugh is right. These reporters, these journalists now lead the left. You just have to watch CNN and the stories that they are running day and night have nothing to do with the news. The public, all of the opinion polls show that people could care less about [Michael] Cohen, they care about trade. So what does CNN talk about? Cohen, not trade.
VARNEY: Your organization found that coverage of President Trump, since the day he took office until June 30, 2018, has been hopelessly negative. Give me the number, please.
BOZELL: Well, it’s been around 90%, 89-92%. But the new study that we came out with was on immigration in the last 18 months. 92% negative coverage of this administration on immigration. Here’s some quick – a couple quick numbers. If you look at the number of soundbites that have been given to people who support illegal immigration, 485. If you – these are victims of Trump’s policies, 485. Victims of illegal immigration, five. If look at people who support illegal immigration, they’ve been on their 85 times. If you look at people who oppose illegal immigration, four times. There is no semblance whatsoever –
VARNEY: Unbelievable. It’s extraordinary. Brent, I’m sorry, I’m out of time.
BOZELL: I know, I know.
VARNEY: But that’s a fine report, very interesting. Brent Bozell, good man.
BOZELL: Thanks, Stuart.
VARNEY: See you soon. Thank you, sir.
