Free Republic

Following the revelation that CNN published fake news about the Trump administration and its alleged ties to Russia after an investigation by Breitbart News, the next head to roll at the embattled media company may be President Jeff Zucker. “AT&T will look to ‘neutralize’ CNN President Jeff Zucker after it buys Time Warner,” the New York Post reported on Wednesday. “The buzz from the telecommunications giant comes as CNN is being slammed for highly publicized missteps, according to three sources familiar with the thinking of AT&T brass,” the Post reported. In the wake of Breitbart’s investigation, CNN issued the following...

President Trump's ongoing feud with CNN could impact the news network's parent company Time Warner Inc's (TWX) $85 billion merger with AT&T Inc (T) , the New York Times reported. The Department of Justice is deliberating the merger, but Trump's public disdain for CNN is regarded as a "wild card" in the White House, an unnamed senior official said. It's unclear if Trump will attempt to influence the DOJ's review of the deal, but White House advisers have reportedly called it a "potential point of leverage." CNN President Jeff Zucker said the merger isn't something he considers journalistically or in...

There is an interesting deep story to the internet war on CNN. TimeWarner is the parent of CNN. But TimeWarner is much, much more than CNN. The corporate giant also owns HBO, TNT, the film studio Warner Bros, DC Comics, (10% of Hulu), Time Inc., AOL, Time Warner Cable, Warner Books and Warner Music Group--among various other media entities. The theme that ties them all together is that they are all businesses oriented toward the consumer. That is, the types of businesses that are vulnerable from many directions to the type of internet attack that has been launched against CNN....

But now the Post reports, with a front page calling CNN “The Most Busted Name in News” that it was the threat of an eye-watering $100 million lawsuit from Anthony Scaramucci — a Trump ally named in the CNN hit job — that forced the network’s hand into pulling the report. The paper reported that CNN top-dogs feared that a major lawsuit could put a pending media merger with AT&T, currently being examined by the Justice Department, in doubt. advertisement “The cable network’s coverage of Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci came amid federal scrutiny of corporate parent Time Warner’s...