Why billionaire John Malone's shadow looms over CNN

[Uncle Joe]

by Peter Kafka

Aug 26, 2022, 8:30 AM CDT

(snip)

“I would like to see CNN evolve”

“I 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,” he said. Then he suggested a model: “Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have ‘news’ news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.”

Malone’s comments didn’t resonate much beyond a couple of places: At Fox News, which responded with glee, and inside CNN, where they sounded alarm bells.

Those bells started ringing again last week when the company pushed CNN media reporter Brian Stelter out of his job. As I’ve reported, some people in and outside CNN believed there was a direct through line between Malone’s perspective on CNN and Stelter’s departure. The theory: Stelter, a frequent critic of Fox News, was let go either at Malone’s direct urging or by managers who wanted to please the investor.

(snip)

Malone is well-known in the pay TV world, where during the 1980s and 1990s he held more power than arguably any other executive or investor. And for a while, some TV watchers knew who he was as well, when he became a stand-in for everything people hated about cable TV at the time. Al Gore memorably called him “Darth Vader” on the Senate floor.

(snip)

https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column




(snip)

Malone is ranked as the second largest private landowner in the United States, possessing 2.2 million acres (3,437 square miles), which is more than twice the size of Rhode Island. According to The Land Report's annual rankings, Malone ranked as the largest landowner in America from 2011 to 2021.[5]

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Malone



FOX's brand became shit after *rump's term and January 6th so oligarch Malone is trying to change CNN into the new FOX "News."

One would think that anyone caring about democracy, journalism or the public good would be repulsed by that idea, however Malone is a libertarian oligarch with no real concern for such things.

He definitely makes more than $400,000 a year.

[Lonestarblue]

1. People like Malone know that their billions will protect them.

They have loyalty only to money, not to county. If this one gies down the tubes, they’ll just move to another country where their billions will buy them special privileges.

[Uncle Joe]

2. I agree Lonestarblue, it's just a change of address.

That's why I'm all for a global wealth tax.

World’s billionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministers

Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver £250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis

The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise £250bn a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.

In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say a 2% tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/apr/25/billionaires-should-pay-minimum-two-per-cent-wealth-tax-say-g20-ministers

That's the only solution I see in saving our democracy from completely descending into oligarchic authoritarianism.