Comedic actor Tim Allen has some professional advice for CNN as a means of bolstering the legacy network’s sagging viewership numbers.
Allen’s remarks came on the heels of comments from CNN CEO Chris Licht, who said during a recent interview that “so much of what passes for news is name-calling, half-truths, and desperation.”
“The uninformed vitriol, especially from the left, has been stunning,” Licht told The New York Times this month. “Which proves my point: so much of what passes for news is name-calling, half-truths, and desperation.”
“This is not vanilla, centrist, or boring,” he added. “The change is we will not do Trump 24/7 or let him dictate our agenda.”
“One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla, that I want to be centrist. That is bulls***,” Licht told The Financial Times in an earlier interview. He said his vision for the network is to make sure viewers have an informative and interesting experience instead of focusing purely on right- or left-wing opinions.
“You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases, you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions. But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right,” he added.
“If everything is a crisis, if everything is 11, if everything is breaking news, then no one listens when there actually is a crisis,” he said. “When you say, ‘No, no — really — the house is on fire now.’”
All of this led Allen to advise: “Hmmm…well said quote from the CNN new boss. Maybe a re-focus on accuracy not bs.”
Hmmm…well said quote from the CNN new boss. Maybe a re-focus on accuracy not bs.
CNN’s Chris Licht: “So Much Of What Passes For News Is Name-Calling, Half-Truths And Desperation”
— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) December 19, 2022