Back when Donald Trump was a washed-up businessman, tarnished by a decade of bankruptcies, it was Jeff Zucker, then the president of NBC Entertainment, who decided to resurrect him from the ash heap of history and reinvent him. He became the brilliant billionaire host of The Apprentice.
Then, a decade later, it was Zucker, then the head of CNN, who did more than any other network to turn his celebrity creation into a president.
Naturally, CNN “sources” still seem to fashion their former boss a champion of the resistance.
CNN’s Brian Stelter, the network’s chief media correspondent, reports that the majority of CNN staffers remain loyal to (now) former CNN boss Zucker. Stelter’s CNN newsletter, the first since Zucker was forced to resign (supposedly) for failing to disclose a relationship with a subordinate, EVP and CMO Allison Gollust, also reported on the real story: “giddy reactions in right wing media.”
“During the DC meeting, one of the chief concerns was about who will protect the integrity of CNN as it continues to face sustained attacks from Trump and his allies,” Stelter wrote. “One anchor said that without Zucker, CNN could have caved to political pressure and become something like ‘Fox News lite.’ That type of unease is very much alive in the organization now that Zucker is gone — especially with a new owner looming.”
Oh, really?
Time for a little walk down memory lane. Recall, it was CNN under Zucker, not Fox News, that replaced qualified conservative commentators on air, not just with Trump sycophants, but with Trump sycophants whom Trump himself had suggested the network hire.
Zucker hired not only Trump’s nominee, Jeffrey Lord, but also his future press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, from total obscurity. And Zucker’s CNN hired Corey Lewandowski the moment he was forced to quit the Trump campaign for manhandling a female reporter and then a protester.
It was CNN under Zucker that followed its unprecedented ratings boom to air empty podiums awaiting Trump’s arrival. And it was CNN under Zucker that was, for lack of a better term, downright giddy in cheering on Trump’s attacks on Fox News in 2016.
If only the Brian Stelter of 2022 could remember how the Brian Stelter of 2016 blamed Fox News when Trump refused to join the network for a second primary debate. Stelter charged the network with “mocking” Trump after he threw a monthslong temper tantrum over Megyn Kelly’s serious lines of questioning in the first debate.
CNN may still be trying to protect Zucker, but Zucker dynamited the integrity of CNN long ago. Perhaps its next boss could be someone who actually stands up to Trump, or at least to some person in power, not the guy that made Trump a 21st-century celebrity and probably a president, too.
