CNN is Basically Declaring War on Fox News
Hang on. It’s not your Cable Gamer saying that. It’s Brian Flood, long-time Cable Gamer at TV Newser, now an ace reporter for The Wrap. You may have seen his incisive piece taking a closer look at Gretchen Carlson’s ratings woes:
“The Real Story” was the network’s lowest-rated program in both June and in the second quarter among the key demo. Carlson’s show has now lost to CNN more than any other FNC program since the network’s new lineup changes took effect back in October 2013.
What spurred Mr. Flood to make the headlined statement was the first half of today’s Reliable Sources, entirely devoted not to coverage of the Dallas ambush or police shootings or Hillary Clinton’s emails. Only one topic was discussed in the first 30 minutes: Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against Roger Ailes. Needless to say there was no one to represent the defense though there were multiple prosecutors, including a women’s activist, a gentleman from NPR, and the man of a thousand “sources,” Gabe Sherman. (The Cable Gamer cringed to hear David Zurawik say of Sherman “he does good work, he’s a good reporter”—readers of this site know better.) So Sherman was free to cite the allegations from his “incredibly credible” anonymous sources without challenge.
We have to wonder how heavily the hand of Jeff Zucker plays into this program. Some industry watchers have suggested host Brian Stelter carries water for his boss, and that might explain why, after a week of tumultuous, worldwide-headline news in America, Reliable Sources put all that on the back burner to spend time taking shots at a competitor.
Things weren’t much better when they did get around to more important stories. In discussing several high-profile police shootings with a black activist from Netroots Nation (no representative of an opposing point of view was present), Brian Stelter tossed in this gratuitous gem:
STELTER: I don’t know if FOX News viewers even knew about these police shootings in detail.
COBB: Right.
What a preposterous, utterly baseless thing for a “media reporter” to say…unless he still hadn’t made his quota of cheap shots against Fox News.
There was also a segment picking apart an interview Don Lemon did with Joe Walsh. Through the entire discussion Brian Stelter managed to make no mention whatsoever that both Lemon and CNN’s Charles Blow erroneously accused Walsh (after he had left) of something he clearly didn’t do. Reliable Sources would have been a good place to correct the record, but CNN doesn’t like to turn a critical lens on the media when it involves one of their own.
How much better to convert the first half of the show into a jeremiad against FNC so untiringly one-sided that one of the top media reporters in the country calls it “declaring war on Fox News.” If, as the saying goes, “all war is based on deception,” then Jeff Zucker has his general in Brian Stelter.
The Cable Game 
Hi Roger,
Do you remember what I wrote to a year ago? If not, I’ll repost it refresh your recollection.
———
JUNE 25, 2015 – 3:53 PM
liamofktn
Hi Roger.😉
I know you must be celebrating your renewed contract at Fox News this week, but as a psychic, I have to deliver some very bad news for you. Despite this renewal in your contract, your days as the director there are approaching their end. Untouchable Brian Williams renewed his contract with NBC late last year and look at what happened to him. He was thrown down several pegs and his career is basically on the way out. That’s what I see happening for you. My psychic prediction list has anticipated this since at least 2012 and I’ve been right about a number of predictions so far. I was right about your boss Rupert working to acquire more media outlets and that his sons would start to take the reigns of power from him. You’ve stepped over a lot of toes in your long career and the time to see them step on you in return is coming very soon.
Let’s take a look at this hypothetical scenario, shall we? Rupert Murdoch dies later this or next year. That means you are now directly answerable to his sons you loathe so much, James and Lachlan. Now that James and Lachlan are the accountable figures, this means that they have the direct control over you. They control your fate and trust me when I tell you they will be (and are) working to wreck your career. You have tried to throw them under the bus multiple times before. Did you really think messing with the boss’ son wouldn’t have any consequences for you at all? They are eager to exact their revenge on you to take you off your throne. All it would take is one outrage scandal at Fox News that your pal Rupert would normally turn the other cheek over for James and Lachlan to utilize the opportunity for the purpose of ending your career. By putting you on suspension and then slowly lowering your rank, your power becomes unsustainable and you will have no say over the content at your channel any longer. The demotion would force you to either bolt out to Comcast back to where you started in Philadelphia to suffer an inevitable demise or you’ll be fired at the end of this current, and final, contract.
Either way this plays out, Ailes, your days are at the top are numbered. Enjoy your last days with a relative sense of security. They won’t be lasting for very much longer. If you need proof of my prescience, just read our blog. You’ll be looking at it over and over again when you’re tumbling down to a point of no return.😉
——–
If what Gabriel Sherman is reporting is true, then this is about to be another prediction fulfilled from me. Perhaps you shouldn’t have been so eager to dismiss my psychic instincts as you did. 😛
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It’s now a day shy of a month since this Cable Game article. No new Cable Game article updating the readers about how what Gabriel Sherman reported has largely been proven to be true? Nothing about Ailes being out? Nothing about how other FNC executives and their behavior are being looked at by the Murdoch investigators? Nothing about all the women (20+) coming forth to describe their sexual harassment by Ailes (including Megyn Kelly and, most recently, Andrea Tantaros)? Just curious….is this blog part of Ailes’ Black Room operation that was just exposed? Who pays for this blog and who pays the people who work for it?
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Still nothing on Ailes, eh? Apparently The Cable Game isn’t covering the biggest story in cable news in the last 20 years…
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I tried to put this comment through yesterday but, for some reason, it never posted. Trying again…
It’s now a month since this Cable Game article. No new Cable Game article updating the readers about how what Gabriel Sherman reported has largely been proven to be true? Nothing about Ailes being out? Nothing about how other FNC executives and their behavior are being looked at by the Murdoch investigators? Nothing about all the women (20+) coming forth to describe their sexual harassment by Ailes (including Megyn Kelly and, most recently, Andrea Tantaros)? Just curious….is this blog part of Ailes’ Black Room operation that was just exposed? Who pays for this blog and who pays the people who work for it?
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It’s now a month since this Cable Game article. No new Cable Game article updating the readers about how what Gabriel Sherman reported has largely been proven to be true? Nothing about Ailes being out? Nothing about how other FNC executives and their behavior are being looked at by the Murdoch investigators? Nothing about all the women (20+) coming forth to describe their sexual harassment by Ailes (including Megyn Kelly and, most recently, Andrea Tantaros)? Just curious….is this blog part of Ailes’ Black Room operation that was just exposed? Who pays for this blog and who pays the people who work for it?
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Ailes is working for Trump. A cable news blog may want to get on this.
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Wow you seem to be all over them on this blog, notfoxy lol.
Yearly, monthly, weekly…vendetta much? I’ve never even heard of this site, but at the end of almost every post, there’s your name.
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Looks like Cable Game was an Ailes-shill all along. So goes Ailes, so goes Cable Game.
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