CNN is no longer in the business of reporting the news. It’s in the business of advocacy.
The cable news network this year falsely accused talk show host Joe Rogan of injecting himself with horse dewormer after he contracted the coronavirus. It was a lie, invented from thin air. Rogan even got CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta to admit as much in an on-the-record interview. Rogan took the human version of ivermectin, as prescribed by his doctor, and CNN lied about it.
However, rather than do the bare minimum required of a functioning newsroom and correct the record, CNN is digging in, claiming its earlier falsehoods are not, in fact, really falsehoods.
The following is a statement the cable network provided this week to the Washington Post:
What a load of bollocks.
CNN lied, plain and simple. Its hosts clearly and intentionally misled viewers into believing Rogan had swallowed livestock paste, as opposed to the human version of ivermectin, which is a perfectly normal and safe drug taken by literally billions of people.
Now, the network simply denies its hosts said what they said and is instead playing a cute semantic game about larger truths or whatever. CNN is claiming the supposed high road, arguing it’s just trying to keep its viewers safe from Rogan’s dangerous conspiracy theories. Never mind that CNN’s lies came in service of the Democratic-approved hyperpartisan pro-vaccine narrative, one where you’re either full Fauci or a deranged, “anti-science” lunatic. Never mind that CNN aired no pro-vaccine “public service announcements” in 2020 in response to then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris’s anti-vaxxer rhetoric. Never mind that Rogan’s show pulls insane audience numbers, numbers far greater than anything CNN’s prime-time hosts enjoy, which may be a clue as to why the network is so keen to portray him and other popular and independent hosts as unreliable and, frankly, dangerous sources of information.
It’s not an exaggeration to say CNN lied about Rogan or that its anchors clearly misled viewers into believing he is a new-age quack.
“Controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, who’s railed against vaccine requirements, says he has COVID and took a drug intended for livestock,” said host Erin Burnett.
Added CNN’s Don Lemon, “The United States is now averaging 160,455 new COVID-19 cases every day, including controversial podcast host Joe Rogan saying that he tested positive for COVID and that he says he is taking several medications including a drug meant for deworming livestock.”
Joe Rogan, said host Anderson Cooper, “acknowledged taking controversial treatment designed for animals.”
Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter added elsewhere, “But when you have a horse deworming medication that’s discouraged by the government that actually causes some people in this crazy environment we’re in to actually want to try it. That’s the upside-down where we’re in with figures like Joe Rogan.”
CNN’s Jim Acosta said, “And the podcast host Joe Rogan, he came down with COVID. He says he’s been taking the livestock dewormer ivermectin, as well as other treatments that people talk about on the internet and so on.”
And so on.
These are called lies. There is no better word for it.
CNN’s Gupta himself said in his interview with Rogan, “They shouldn’t have said that. Why did they do that? I don’t know.”
Days after he conceded his network had pushed a number of falsehoods regarding Rogan, I wrote (sarcastically), “We should expect apologies and retractions any moment now … right?”
With the statement CNN provided this week to the Washington Post, we have our answer.
