CNN gave KUSI News in San Diego the cold shoulder this week when the local news affiliate didn't quite fit their narrative about border walls. You see, CNN called KUSI with the hope that they would provide a reporter who could tell their audience that walls don't work. It was amazing how, when the KUSI offered reporter Dan Plante, who had previously reported on how effective the wall actually was, CNN was suddenly disinterested.
KUSI called CNN out live on air for their obvious ploy.
"They didn’t like what they heard from us,” the anchors explained.
Plante appeared on Fox News's "The Ingraham Angle" Friday night to tell viewers more about his unfortunate experience with CNN. He explained how CNN called the affiliate asking for a reporter to "fill in the gaps" on a story the network was preparing "about how the border wall really doesn’t work and they’re not that effective."
The station had some unfortunate news for them.
KUSI reporter Dan Plante on CNN allegedly turning down his network for a tv segment because of their coverage on how border walls work: "We were saying things that they didn’t want to hear, we were telling them the truth...that is not the narrative that they wanted to hear" pic.twitter.com/jkdDQDGwvz
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 12, 2019
"Well, we got back to them and we said, ‘Hey, we’d love to do a little talkback with you, because I’m the reporter on the border,’" Plante recalled. "I’ve been there for many, many years, as you know, and made friends with a lot of border patrol agents – personal friends at this point. But when we called back and said, ‘Look, we’d be more than happy to provide Dan Plante for you, but he’s going to tell you what the border patrol agents tell him, and that is that the border walls work, whether you call it a wall, a fence or a barrier. It doesn’t matter. They work.’"
KUSI provided sources and proof that the wall was effective, but CNN clearly did not want to hear the evidence.
"The quick summary is that we were saying things that they didn’t want to hear; we were telling them the truth," Plante said. "What we were going to tell them was, 'Hey, these things work. And from our experience here, from being 20 years here in San Diego as a news reporter covering many, many border stories down there and talking to the people who work on the border, that the border fences work.'"
My suggestion for CNN, should they want to try and fix their image: invite Plante on the network and offer him a segment where he delivers an unfiltered, truthful presentation like one he would give on KUSI News. I know, I'm holding my breath.
Of course, border wall advocates may not even need Plante's help. CNN reporter Jim Acosta seems to be doing a fine job of proving the wall's effectiveness himself.