Jessica Yellin, former White House correspondent for CNN, said the network has become too focused on punditry and “substance-free” programming.
In an op-ed published Thursday in the New York Times, Yellin said CNN should rededicate itself to more in-depth news by being sold off and separating itself from Time Warner, which is attempting to merge with AT&T.
“[I]n the past 20 months CNN’s management has let down its viewers and its journalists by sidelining the issues and real reporting in favor of pundits, prognostication and substance-free but entertaining TV ‘moments,’ ” she wrote.
She said CNN’s parent company has chased profits rather than investing in more journalism and that the 2016 campaign demonstrated that.
“Consider how far CNN departed from this model in the last election,” she wrote. “Even though CNN has many able journalists prepared to report stories and talk to voters in communities across the country, its programs were dominated by pundits in Washington and New York squabbling over tweets and polls.”
Yellin and CNN separated ways in late 2013 when her contract wasn’t renewed, a source at CNN told the Washington Examiner.
Yellin’s comments on CNN come as President Trump has escalated attacks on the network, calling the network “fake news” after it reported on allegations that the Russian government has compromising personal and financial information about him.
Also this week, Trump on Twitter praised Fox News for getting higher ratings than CNN on Inauguration Day.
