Republican strategist Scott Jennings called out CNN panelists who expressed fear after Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. joked about Musk buying MSNBC.
Musk apparently joked on X Friday about potentially purchasing the liberal-leaning 24-hour network, with the newly named Department of Government Efficiency co-chair asking “How much does it cost?” in response to President-elect Donald Trump posting he has “the funniest idea ever” while quote-sharing a post discussing reports that Comcast is spinning off MSNBC and other cable channels. “CNN Newsnight” guest host Audie Cornish questioned Jennings about networks being purchased for propaganda.
“I mean, is the concern that certain media outlets would become propaganda arms of political ideologies?” Jennings asked in response. “I mean, don’t we already have that in this country at a large scale? I mean, also, I hear what you’re saying about X. I saw a survey this week, it’s now the most ideologically balanced user platform of any platform.”
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“Oh, come on. Scott, stop. It’s too early. I just sat down. Can I —” former ESPN host Cari Champion interrupted, with Jennings responding, “You’re going to be embarrassed when I tweet that after the show, but it’s true.”
“Can I re-frame it a different way? Because the site changed radically, right? So whether you think the voices that are — it is somehow more balanced now, that’s fine,” Cornish responded after another back-and-forth between Jennings and Champion. “But no doubt, Musk’s influence is profound and that you open it up and now you’re there with his opinion, and he is now part of this administration. So does anyone else think that there should be this greater concern about billionaires purchasing media companies?”
CNN Data Reporter Harry Enten noted in a Nov. 19 segment on the network that roughly half of both Democrats and Republicans used X to follow news.
“Would you be worried if Bill Gates controlled MSNBC?” Geraghty asked Champion, who responded, “No, because he’s sane.”
“Because ‘MS’ in MSNBC comes from Microsoft,” Geraghty responded. “It was a partnership between Microsoft and NBC way back in the 1990s, back when Microsoft was under investigation by Bill Clinton’s [Department of Justice] for monopoly. I don’t remember anybody panicking over MSNBC back then.”
After Cornish pointed out the media landscape was shifting in the 1990s, Jennings responded that the real issue was liberals losing “control” of “institutional information distribution.”
“But isn’t the issue that the left has gotten so used to controlling almost all institutional information distribution arms in this country that when one little piece of it, whether it’s X or MSNBC or anything else gets taken away, the panic is so outrageous?” Jennings asked Cornish. “I mean, that’s how used to the left is, is having control of all of it.”
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