The biggest news story today is the fraud ring in Democrat-run Minnesota. The fraud was laid bare in a 40-minute video by Nick Shirley, a young YouTube journalist. This fraud is likely to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. If the U.S. Attorney’s office is correct, it may be the largest fraud case in American history.
The 23-year-old Shirley exposed the scheme while legacy media guard dogs were asleep on the job. Most of the elite news outlets (like CNN) ignored Shirley’s reporting until days after the story broke.
Even then, CNN’s coverage was framed more as who is this amateur Nick Shirley? Rather than digging deeper into the story. Note to CNN, attempting to discredit the messenger won’t alter the message. Perhaps they were just envious. Young Nick got over 120 million views, dwarfing their shrinking audience.
The Minnesota news blackout proves something that many have known for a long time: CNN has lost its way. Once, in the Gulf War-era, it was the gold standard for cable news journalism. Today, the channel has become a predictable megaphone for every left-wing cause.
Predictably, Leftists have their shorts in a bunch over President Donald Trump’s jump into a corporate ownership battle between CNN’s parent company and Warner Brothers/Discovery. “It’s imperative that CNN be sold,” Trump declared, citing the network’s long history of unvarnished bias.
He’s right. The lame coverage of the fraud in Minnesota is just the latest evidence of the need for sweeping reform at CNN—and it can only come from the corporate top. Some may argue the First Amendment and the fact that they are a cable network and therefore immune from FCC (or any) oversight. True. One of the reasons we have antitrust laws is to determine if corporations are operating “in the public interest.” And corporate mergers are subject to federal approval.
Warner Bros.’ board recently announced a sale to Netflix. Netflix has shown little interest in taking on CNN as part of the transaction. The President has said that he and his antitrust team will be getting involved. So, this matters. Netflix may be forced to revise its offer and demonstrate that it can run the network without the ideological bias (that has defined CNN’s recent history) or risk being overtaken by a new suitor. One willing to assume responsibility to see that the network actually operates in the public interest. Where opinion and news are once again separated.
Trump’s push for accountability should actually be welcomed. As long as the network remains untethered from real accountability at the top, its downward spiral will continue.
There are countless examples of CNN’s reckless style of “journalism.” Remember when high school student Nick Sandmann was recorded standing innocently on the National Mall wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat as a Native American activist got in his face. Sandmann did nothing wrong. In fact, he admirably kept his cool while he was confronted —yet CNN spent days giving voice to baseless accusations that Sandmann and his classmates were racists. He later sued for defamation. CNN settled the case for what was rumored to be a hefty sum.
You might think CNN would have learned its lesson after the Sandmann debacle. Wrong. Two years later came the network’s accusatory coverage of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three men in self-defense on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was later acquitted of murder. His attorney strongly criticized CNN directly for spreading misinformation about his client.
More recently, CNN was sued for defamation by attorney Alan Dershowitz after it completely bungled a statement he had made before Congress, making Dershowitz sound as if he supported unlimited executive power.
CNN has a well-oiled way of smearing those whose opinions they don’t like. During the first Trump administration, the network was instrumental in spreading false claims that Donald Trump was inappropriately linked to Russia. This culminated in a patently fake story linking former Trump staffer Anthony Scaramucci to a Russian investment fund.
And who can forget the infamous chyron during CNN’s coverage of a Black Lives Matter riot: “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING”? All while buildings burned in the background.
All journalists make mistakes. Those with credibility quickly correct them. The problem with CNN is that their mistakes long ago hardened into a pattern—those “errors” somehow always reinforce the Leftist narrative.
Critics of CNN were hopeful after the channel’s former president, Jeff Zucker, resigned in 2022. It was under Zucker that CNN stopped pretending to hide its leftward prejudices. Sadly, new management hasn’t proven to be much better. It’s a cultural problem, one that cannot be solved by swapping executives. The network needs fresh ownership that will implement the necessary overhaul.
That’s why the current moment is so consequential. With CNN’s parent company in flux and its future ownership unresolved, there is an opportunity to force real accountability through new ownership with a mandate to change course. President Trump recognizes this. If CNN is allowed to quietly pass from one indifferent corporate owner to another, the result will be the same network, the same bias, and the same erosion of public trust.
This moment may not come again. Americans should not be stuck with a broken network that doesn’t operate in the public interest. One that pretends it can fix itself—long after it has proven that it cannot.
The author served six terms in the U.S. House.