On Sunday, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell agreed that CNN no longer qualifies as a news network. Appearing for the full hour with conservative host and talk radio legend Mark Levin on Life, Liberty and Levin, the MRC founder responded to this question: “Is CNN really a news network?” Bozell declared, “No. They once were.”
He added, “CNN is to do nothing but anti-Trump-ism.” Bozell also stated: “It’s so over-the-top. It’s so obvious. They don’t report news. How many news programs do they even have on CNN? They’re all talk shows.”
Levin quipped, “And you wouldn't know the difference anyway between their news programs and their opinion programs.”
Describing the media hatred for Donald Trump, Bozell contrasted the respect shown to both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan when they died. The MRC President predicted, “When Donald Trump dies, the media's reaction is going to be 'Why couldn't he have died in 2015?' This is to the degree they despise this man.”
As to the 2016 campaign, Bozell explained, “Trump was the first one who declared war on them and it worked.”
Bozell also talked about the free speech threats facing conservatives from Twitter, Facebook and other outlets. Speaking of the scope of the danger, he warned:
This is not just censorship in the United States. Think about this. This is the greatest censorship of free speech worldwide in the history of man, because they are declaring what can and can't be said on any given issue. I'm frightened when an entire culture worldwide is being affected by these handful of companies that have that power. No institution in the history of man has had the power that they have.
Partial transcripts are below:
Life, Liberty and Levin
1/6/1910:02
BRENT BOZELL: Trump, he was born in the media. His claim to fame is the media is The Apprentice on NBC. So, they created him in a sense, but the way they look at it is they created a monster in Donald Trump. It's not that they disagree with his policies, which they do. They are consumed with the hatred for this man. They despise him, personally. And I'll put this in its correct perspective, when Reagan died suddenly the media loved him all along and they treated him like they were his oldest friends. But they did do a very good job on the funeral. When Bush died recently. They were so classy in the way they covered his funeral.
When Donald Trump dies, the media's reaction is gonna be why couldn't he have died in 2015? This is to the degree they despise this man. And I think a final point is one of the reasons they despise him is because he declared war on them. There is an arrogance about the press in that they believe in the people’s right to know about everything except for them. That no one should ever, ever question them. And Trump was the first one who declared war on them and it worked.
10:12MARK LEVIN: Is CNN really a news network?
BOZELL: No. No. They once were. When Tom Johnson was running it, now Tom Johnson was a liberal Democrat who had run the Dallas Morning News, the L.A. Herald or Times, one of the other, a liberal journalist. Tom Johnson was committed to now there could be problems and they did a lot of wrong things, but that was not the norm. It was the exception. CNN is to do nothing but anti-Trump-ism. I was doing a Fox show on this a few months ago, just for grins, right before the show I looked on my phone and I looked at CNN, at the app. They had 15 stories on their app. Thirteen stories attacked Trump over something he had said the day before. The 14th story attacked Trump on something else, the 15th story, there was a war or something. But 14 out of 15 stories were just attacks on Donald Trump. And variations of the same attack on Donald Trump.
It’s so over-the-top. It’s so obvious. They don’t report news. How many news programs do they even have on CNN? They’re all talk shows.
LEVIN: And you wouldn't know the difference anyway between their news programs and their opinion programs.
10:35pm
LEVIN: What about the new media? Are we seeing something similar on social media, on the internet? These big, big companies.
BOZELL: Worse. Worse. And it’s something that concerns me even more. Look, Chuck Todd might have two or three million, whatever it is. Facebook and Twitter you combine them and they've got to billion worldwide every single day. What you now have is these absolute radicals in all of these — Do you know on Twitter, you can't use dead names. Let me tell you what a dead name is. A dead name is — this was something that was created by some professor, a whack job professor in Canada. Dead name is the original name you had before you transgendered into something else. If you say Bruce Jenner you'll be knocked off Twitter. You're not allowed to say Bruce Jenner It’s gotten to be that bad. This is not just censorship in the United States. Think about this. This is the greatest censorship of free speech worldwide in the history of man because they are declaring what can and can't be said on any given issue. I'm frightened when an entire culture worldwide is being affected by these handful of companies that have that power. No institution in the history of man has had the power that they have.
