Most people would agree with the statement that the news has been extremely heavy over the last year. Growing up, I always had a fascination with the news. I wanted to know what was going on at all times, be it sports, entertainment or anything in between.
As I have grown up, that love has not faded much. In fact, I sometimes try to beat family members at sharing the latest story first. Lately, however, this has not been the case. I decided I was going to give up social media for Lent, but I did not know if I was going to be able to handle it considering I get a lot of my news on social media platforms.
I will be honest, it did not start off easy, but as the Lenten season progressed, I did not have much of a longing for the news anymore. I still kept up with everything going on, and in doing this I was able to broaden my horizons from where I get my news from.
My point in telling you this is that the news is important, but where you are getting it from is too. I try not to limit myself to one source. I like to read or watch all perspectives in the news and draw my own conclusions.
This week, CNN showed why it is important to have a variety of news outlets — because you never know just how hard one outlet might be pushing a certain narrative on you. In case you have no idea what I mean by this, let me fill you in.
Earlier in the week, Project Veritas, a group that works to expose misconduct through secretly recorded videos, released mindboggling footage from a CNN staffer as part of the group’s #ExposeCNN campaign.
Charles Chester, a technical director for CNN, was caught on camera explaining the coverage the network pushes in order to fit their liberal agenda.
In the video, Chester says their focus was to “get Trump out of office, right? Without saying it.” When I first saw this, I was beyond disappointed, but not surprised.
Keep in mind he is speaking for CNN as a whole. It’s not like Chester is speaking for himself and has his own commentary show like Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow. No, this is a major news network working to get the former president out of office.
Oh, it isn’t just about pushing their agenda — it’s also about ratings! If you were ever wondering why CNN keeps the COVID-19 death toll on the side of your screen, it isn’t to keep you informed; it’s because it is a “gangbuster with ratings.”
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like manipulation to me. This nonsense deserves to be called out, whether it comes from CNN or any other news outlet. You may not believe this, but when CNN was called out all over social media and began trending on Twitter, the founder of Project Veritas, James O’Keefe, had his account suspended. I cannot forget to mention that the Project Veritas account was already banned previously.
Players in big tech and the media work together to protect each other and their shared narrative. If anyone gets in their way, another company finds a way to take them down. Luckily, James O’Keefe and Project Veritas are not stopping. O’Keefe is suing both YouTube and Twitter for defamation.
Look, this is not a right or left issue. People should be able to get the facts from the news outlets they trust most. They can get opinions from the opinion hosts on the networks. It’s wrong for an entire network to work to get a president out of office or push an agenda for the sake of ratings.
This is not news, but propaganda. CNN should be ashamed of themselves.
Elizabeth Crochet is a 19-year-old political communication sophomore from New Orleans.
