CNN embarrasses itself (yet again) with Bernie Sanders Smear

Earlier Today CNN ran an outrageous piece, later picked up by other outlets, that claims Bernie Sanders told Elizabeth Warren a woman couldn’t win the Presidency when the two met in 2018 before announcing their candidacies. Now as the basis for this wild accusation CNN relied on 4 anonymous sources who were not in the meeting. Hey CNN, this is not news, this is not journalism. If people want to make these claims they should have to attach their name to it and CNN should absolutely not have run this smear weeks before voting starts. Unfortunately they seem to only care about clicks and reality TV style storylines (“coincidentally” CNN hosts the debate tomorrow night and I’m sure this won’t come up at all).

If CNN actually cared about journalistic integrity they would have not only chosen not to run this clear smear by a rival campaign but also provided some context. Sanders & Warren are self-described close friends. If Sanders actually said that, why would Warren publicly support and defend Sanders for this whole campaign? This such a clear hit-job and I truly don’t know how to frame it any other way. Not only is the entire story based on hearsay from anonymous sources but it just seems completely out of character for Sanders to say. Two clips resurfaced as a result of this of Sanders in the 80s talking about how a woman could win the Presidency and telling a class of 3rd graders that the girls in the class had the same right to pursue politics as the boys.

“In my view a woman could be elected president of the United States.” — Bernie Sanders, 1988 pic.twitter.com/WJd847DdmA

— Meagan Day (@meaganmday) January 13, 2020

Bernie Sanders telling a class of 3rd graders in 1987 that women have as much right as men do to run for office. "It's changing, but it's not changing fast enough." pic.twitter.com/XM1KNPJT0S

— pj evans (@pjayevans) January 13, 2020

Now while I understand the need to use anonymous sources sometimes, the media has gotten out of control publishing literal gossip based on anonymous sources, a practice which should be left to TMZ or the magazines at grocery store registers. The problem is instead of actually covering something of substance (which would require effort and some level of understanding) or making the sources put their name to stories like these, CNN (and others) would rather just take this low-hanging fruit that they hope will drive clicks and views so they can keep cashing their paychecks. The current state of political media is an utter embarrassment evidenced by the fact that the people who are supposed to deliver news and inform people are less favorable and less trusted than the President who lies constantly. Any self-respecting person or news agency that is considered less trustworthy than Trump would take a moment to reflect and adjust their behavior but I guess even though these people get paid immaculate salaries, self-respect appears to be a luxury they cannot afford.