By Daniel Bobinski
Last year I shared a news story with a friend who considers himself an Independent voter. My news source was an independent media outlet, and even though the facts were verifiable, the person said, “That news source isn’t trustworthy. I’m not going to believe it unless I see it on a real news source, like CNN.”
I was kind of shocked. This guy is an otherwise intelligent person, but somehow he still believes that CNN is trustworthy?
Really? With obvious Leftists like Jim Acosta, Don Lemon, and Chris Cuomo, CNN is considered a trusted news source?
Evidence is pretty clear that these CNN guys are JINOs – Journalists in Name Only (see my previous column on JINOs being the Public Relations department of the Democratic Party). Unfortunately, a large percentage of our population still thinks that CNN provides real news.
To help understand why the Veritas CNN story is important, let’s look at some facts about voter demographics.
Those firmly on the Left
Perhaps you’ve heard some say, “Trump obviously stole the election. Nobody I know voted for him, so how could he possibly have gotten that many votes?”
Generally speaking, people who say such things firmly believe you should be taxed at a higher percentage if you earn more, they want abortion on demand, more government regulations, open borders, and everyone sharing the cost of each other’s healthcare. They’re working toward equal outcome for all, and it’s safe to say these folks are firmly entrenched in the Democratic base. In other words, they will never vote Republican.
Those firmly on the Right
The other side of the Right/Left paradigm is the Republican base. These people want moral clarity, pro-business environments, and usually prefer everyone paying taxes at the same percentage (flat tax). Most on this side believe that abortion means the taking of a human life, that government regulations inhibit economic growth, that our national borders should be strong, and that everyone should be responsible to manage their own healthcare insurance. Rather than equal outcome, they want equal opportunity for all. Commonly, people like this are firmly entrenched in the Republican base, and they will never vote Democratic.
Those in the middle
In between these two durable bases we have Moderate / Independent voters. Moderates have strong beliefs about different issues, but most refer to themselves as “apolitical.” Yes, they usually lean one way or the other politically, but they rarely pay much attention to politics. When they want to know “who is saying what” about an issue, they often turn on stations such as CNN. Why? Because branding works. For decades, CNN told us they were, “The most trusted name in news,” and the Moderates, many of whom want everyone to get along, believed them.
But CNN’s “trust factor” comes from more than a slogan. What most people don’t know is CNN pays airports to play only their news. This way, when people see CNN on the monitors at every airport, there’s a subliminal imprint that airport authorities must also believe that CNN is the most reliable and trustworthy news source.
CNN’s influence on the political middle
Over the years, I’ve noticed that roughly 25 - 30% of the population is firmly on the political left, with about 25 - 30% firmly on the political right, and everyone – politicians included – know these folks will vote their party line, no matter what. The Moderates in the middle are the swing voters. According to an NBC/Esquire poll a few years back, fully 51% of the American population considers themselves Moderate / Independent. These are the voters CNN wants to target.
With their base being only 25 – 30% of the electorate, Democrats and Republicans both must appeal to Moderate / Independent voters to win elections. Therefore, Leftists know it’s very important for Moderate voters to think CNN is trustworthy. If Moderates start thinking CNN is no longer objective, they might not trust what they see and hear from them.
Why am I pointing all this out? I’ve recently heard a few people on both sides of the political aisle saying the recent Project Veritas exposé is a nothingburger. Naturally, many on the left say the videos are just a bunch of hype. “Nothing to see here – move along. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
But some on the Right are also saying the videos aren’t a big deal. “We already knew all this stuff,” they say, “This is nothing new.”
I agree that the CNN videos expose nothing new to those of us who pay attention to such things. We have known for a long time that CNN leans heavily to the left. Like I said in my column last week, they’re pretty much the Public Relations arm of the Democratic party. So yes, the Veritas videos simply confirmed what I already knew.
What makes this story important is many Moderates in America don’t know (or don’t want to believe) CNN is heavily biased to the Left.
This isn’t for lack of trying. In his book, “Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind,” author Tim Groseclose tells us that more than 90 percent of journalists in Washington, DC vote Democratic, and an even higher percentage donate cash to either Democratic campaigns or Left-leaning political action committees.
Groseclose also told us that only 7 percent of journalists say they are Republicans.
But not everyone has read Groseclose’s book, and it’s fair to say he didn’t get many invitations to promote his book on Legacy media outlets.
Bottom line, the overwhelmingly Leftwing / Legacy / Socialist Propaganda / Talking Snake media doesn’t want Moderates / Independents knowing that “the most trusted name in news” is firmly in bed with the political Left. They’ve got many Moderates duped, and they don’t want to lose their trust.
According to a Gallup poll released last month, Democrats’ and Independents’ trust in the Legacy media has gone up over the past few years. Today, more than 69 percent of Democrats trust the Legacy media to report the news ‘fully, accurately, and fairly.’” And 36 percent of Independents do, too, up from 30 percent three years ago.
Let me repeat that because this is key: Fully 36 percent of swing voters trust outlets like CNN.
As a side note, only 15 percent of Republicans do, but CNN doesn’t care about them. For the Left to do well in elections, CNN must maintain the trust of swing voters. So long as outlets like CNN maintain their façade with the 36 percent of Moderates / Independents, they have an ability to swing those votes to the Left.
Groseclose said it in his book: The Left-wing media seeks to influence American voters to vote for Leftists. And, when elections can be won with a 50.01% to 49.99% vote count, it’s those Moderate votes that matter most.
Social media is afraid
You can always tell the Left is afraid of something when social media outlets start suppressing it. With that in mind, consider the following:
Twitter suppressed “#ExposeCNN” from its trending topics (video)
YouTube is actively suppressing videos talking about the Veritas CNN exposé.
Of course, many other Leftist media outlets are downplaying or mocking the video, too.
Bottom line: The perspective of Moderate voters matters. Therefore, Leftist media outlets don’t want people like my Moderate friend realizing “the most trusted name in news” is actually operating from a strong Leftist bias. They might lose faith in what CNN has to say, and vote for a non-Leftist.
In closing, we’re not going to see information like what I’m presenting on CNN. But contrary to what my Moderate friend might believe, that doesn’t make it any less true.
Footnote: Adding more weight to the importance of the Veritas CNN videos, the legal team at the Trump Campaign has stated they intend to sue CNN. According to an article by Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner, While media is typically protected by the First Amendment, [Trump attorney Charles J.] Harder said the bias he cited at CNN was a violation of the Lanham Act “by constituting misrepresentations to the public, to your advertisers, and to others” to distribute “truly fair and balanced” news. In other words, the videos show CNN to be in violation of federal trademark statute that prohibits false advertising.
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Daniel Bobinski, M.Ed. is a certified behavioral analyst, best-selling author, columnist, corporate trainer, and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. In addition to working with teams and individuals to help them achieve workplace excellence through improving their emotional intelligence and improving the way they do training, he’s also a veteran and a Christian Libertarian who believes in the principles of free market capitalism while standing firmly against crony capitalism. Daniel writes on both workplace issues and political issues for multiple publications. Reach Daniel through his website, MyWorkplaceExcellence.com.
