CNN Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht told colleagues that he would prefer if CNN staff refrained from using the term âthe big lieâ to refer to former President Donald Trumpâs election fraud claims.
When Licht was asked during a Tuesday meeting with management and show executive producers about what he thought regarding âthe big lie,â Licht replied that he preferred CNN staffers eschew the term when discussing Trumpâs claims, Mediaite reported.
Licht said that using âthe big lieâ undermined the networkâs objectivity because CNN journalists were adopting Democratic Party phraseology. Licht suggested producers use phrases like âTrump election lieâ or âelection liesâ instead.
While Licht clarified during the meeting that his thoughts were a preference and not an order, CNN staffers have taken Chrisâ comments seriously, Mediaite reported.
âItâs worrisome that weâre being told how to talk about one of the worst things that ever happened to American democracy,â an anonymous CNN staffer told Mediaite.
âWe have to call lies, lies, whether theyâre small lies or big lies. Is there any lie bigger than that lie?â the insider said.
Trump supporters, in turn, believe the âbig lieâ was that the 2020 Election was the most secure in history. Recent investigations and documentary films providing evidence have been ignored or discounted by the left.
German dictator Adolf Hitler first coined âbig lie,â or groĂe LĂźge, in his autobiography âMein Kampf.â
In Mein Kampf, Hitler defined the term as a widespread and influential lie that no one would believe anyone âcould have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.â
While Hitler used the term in his anti-semitic characterization of Jews in Germany, Trumpâs critics repurposed Hitlerâs phrase to disparage the former Presidentâs election fraud claims.
Notable users of the Hitler-coined term include President Joe Biden, who called citizens who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion those âpart of the big lie, the big lie,â according to reporting from NPR.
CNN journalists and producers also used the term a lot, with the phrase appearing 168 times in June on the network, according to media monitoring service TVEyes, Mediaite reported.
Lichtâs discouragement of the termâs use comes weeks after an early June memo Licht sent out to CNN staff, asking them to regulate their use of the networkâs âBreaking Newsâ banners.
âIt certainly will need tweaks, so we are open to feedback, but this is a great starting point to try to make âBreaking Newsâ mean something BIG is happening,â Licht wrote, as previously reported by The Western Journal. âWe are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers.â
âAs I have said, we must be vital, relevant, and respected â and how we show up for our audiences, in every story, in every part of the country, and around the world, matters,â the memo stated.
CNN insiders believe the recent changes could be due to Warner Bros. Discovery board member John Malone. Malone has been critical of the outletâs reporting under former CNN Worldwide head Jeffrey Zucker.
CNN journalism under Zucker had been characterized by hot liberal opinionating that undermined the networkâs brand, giving it the appearance of being a partisan outlet rather than an objective and factual news network.
âI would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,â Malone said in a 2021 interview with CNBC, according to Mediaite.
âI do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarnerâs going to represent,â Malone added.
âIt seems to indicate where things are headed,â a CNN insider told Mediaite of the recent changes in the network. âWe didnât have this problem until John Malone was sitting on the board of this company.â
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.