CNN was the only Sunday show to dump interviews with Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in order to cover the breaking news surrounding the disappearance of an AirAsia plane.
According to The Hill,
CNN bumped its normal political coverage on Sunday morning to cover the missing AsiaAir (sic) flight.
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were both scheduled to appear on the channel’s flagship Sunday political talk show, “State of the Union,” but their interviews did not air to make room for coverage of the plane.
A CNN spokeswoman said that both interviews will be posted online.
CNN was supposed to host Graham’s latest tantrum about President Obama trying to close GITMO, while the Perry interview was another segment to push his 2016 presidential campaign. Jokes about CNN’s obsession with missing planes aside, this was a smart programming decision. Graham and Perry have absolutely nothing new to say that they haven’t already said on other Sunday morning shows. The disappearance of the AirAsia flight that had 162 passengers on board is actual breaking news.
Listening to two Republican presidential wannabes babble on about the dangers of Barack Obama’s presidency for the billionth time isn’t anything that everyone who pays attention to politics hasn’t already heard for the last six years.
It isn’t a coincidence that CNN’s ratings shot up once they stopped trying to be Fox News lite and started to focus on breaking news. Of course if the AirAsia story lingers, CNN will stick with it for way too long and overcover it until viewers are sick of seeing that red breaking news graphic, but for a corporate media that firmly believes that Republican guests equal ratings, CNN’s decision as the only Sunday morning show to dump their GOP interviews and focus on the news was a welcome change.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
