Tuesday, March 15, 2022

No Info

Last Sunday (March 6), CNN planned to air a documentary on right-wing "InfoWars" radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.  I tuned in at the appointed time, only to find continuing news about the situation in Ukraine.  I looked on CNN's Facebook page to see when it would be rescheduled and failed to find even an acknowledgement of it.

I found out later what happened.  CNN decided not to air the documentary - but not because of the war in Ukraine.  It turned out that CNN did not postpone but canceled the Jones documentary at almost literally the last minute due to pressure from Jones' detractors.  It  seems that they had a problem - a big problem - with CNN giving Jones even more attention than he was already getting from the mainstream press.    

Personally, I think this was the wrong decision.  Jones is one of those obnoxious, toxic celebrities (like the previous White House occupant) who always find a way to get attention no matter how much you try to ignore them.  Take it from someone who tired to treat obnoxious, toxic people - celebrities or otherwise - like a bad headache by not thinking about them and hoping against hope that they would go away.  But Jones is also dangerous, thanks to his spewing of falsehoods and misinformation (again, like the previous White House occupant).  It would have behooved CNN to air the Jones documentary so those of us who are his detractors could see exactly what and whom we're up against.

You can expect to see far fewer CNN documentaries as the war in Europe drags on.  The second season of Stanley Tucci's Italy travelogue series has already been delayed until spring because of Ukraine, and, I'm not sure, but I think CNN pre-emptied a documentary about Anthony Bourdain for more war coverage.  CNN just realized it's the Cable News Network, not the Cable Documentary Network. 

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