To help ring in the first day of CNN+ on Tuesday, Reliable Sources Daily host Brian Stelter brought on CNN’s first two anchors Dave Walker and Lois Hart (a married couple) with the idea that they would tell some stories about the early days at the network and give advice to the hosts on their new streaming service. They did get some of that, but oh man, was it also embarrassing as Walker griped about CNN’s leanings with opinion content and Hart touted her influence in that direction.
“So, 42 years later, do the two of you – now happily retired – do you still watch CNN,” Stelter asked. But little did he know what he just invited.
After announcing that they both still watch “all the time” like “everybody,” Walker disclosed that major difference: “I used to anchor at CNN, now I just yell at CNN.” “Everybody does that too, right,” Hart said as she laughed.
Stelter laughed too and said Walker could just e-mail him his feedback instead and it would be welcomed. He then wanted to know how cable news has “evolved” and what their “impressions now versus when you were on the air?”
Again, Walker gave an answer Stelter probably didn’t like, that opinion has taken over and drowned out the news:
Well, I think originally, it was pretty much 99 percent news content. There were a few evening programs we had, talk shows. But mainly it was the news. And that was the major concern at the time: is whether or not we could feel 24/7. As it turns out, we could. We had more than enough news.
And I think, as cable news evolved and more completion came into the fray, you had more opinion, particularly in the evening hours. And I would say that’s the major difference now.
“But maybe with the new ownership that may revert to more just basic news coverage,” Walker hoped, likely citing reports that incoming network boss Chris Licht has said he wants CNN to return to “hard news” with less “red-hot liberal opining.”
Hart immediately jumped in with her own tale that she wanted to use to slime Fox News but inadvertently seemed to hint that she was a voice calling for CNN to be involved with taking sides politically.
According to her story, in the early days of the network, they asked everyone for “their ideas for how they would model CNN for the future.” And live with Stelter, Hart admitted she told them they needed to adopt a “point of view” with which to frame the news:
And I wrote a note and I said CNN lacks a point of view. And I didn’t necessarily mean that it had to have a political point of view, but I thought it needed some sort of point of view.
So, it’s the 20th anniversary, one of the executives comes running up to me waving this piece of paper that I had written, you know, 20 years ago.
“So, I don’t know, it’s kind of interesting that in the years after CNN was founded, that the subsequent networks – we won’t mention which one – went way over the line with that one,” she huffed as if that said something about Fox.
“Sometimes. Sometimes, that’s true,” Stelter simply responded, perhaps shocked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN+’s Reliable Sources Daily
March 29, 2022(…)
BRIAN STELTER: So, 42 years later, do the two of you – now happily retired – do you still watch CNN?
DAVE WALKER: All the time.
LOIS HART: Of course! Everybody watches CNN.
WALKER: Here’s the difference though. Here’s the difference though. I used to anchor at CNN, now I just yell at CNN.
[Laughter]
HART: Everybody does that too, right?
STELTER: You can just e-mail me, Dave. It’ll be great feedback. We’ll take your feedback anytime.
[Laughter]
WALKER: Okay.
STELTER: How do you view how cable news, and now streaming news has evolved or devolved. What are your impressions now versus when you were on the air?
WALKER: Well, I think originally, it was pretty much 99 percent news content. There were a few evening programs we had, talk shows. But mainly it was the news. And that was the major concern at the time: is whether or not we could feel 24/7. As it turns out, we could. We had more than enough news.
And I think, as cable news evolved and more completion came into the fray, you had more opinion, particularly in the evening hours. And I would say that’s the major difference now. But maybe with the new ownership that may revert to more just basic news coverage. I don’t know.
HART: I’ll tell you a true story. At the 20th reunion, one of the executives had – many years ago – asked everybody’s ideas about where CNN could change or what they would – how they would alter it. And this was every early on, maybe in the first couple of years. And everybody had to submit their ideas for how they would model CNN for the future.
And I wrote a note and I said CNN lacks a point of view. And I didn’t necessarily mean that it had to have a political point of view, but I thought it needed some sort of point of view.
So, it’s the 20th anniversary, one of the executive comes running up to me waving this piece of paper that I had written, you know, 20 years ago. So, I don’t know, it’s kind of interesting that in the years after CNN founded, that the subsequent networks – we won’t mention which one – went way over the line with that one.
It is what it is.
STELTER: Sometimes. Sometimes, that’s true.
(…)
