CNN boss Mark Thompson was pressed by staff about why the network has not reined in MAGA mouthpiece Scott Jennings’ on-air rhetoric.
Thompson hosted an all-hands meeting with CNN employees, giving them the opportunity to raise questions and concerns about the network’s current state and future.
During the meeting, staff questioned the behavior of Jennings, who frequently gets into verbal spats with other CNN guests as a firebrand Trump loyalist.
One area of concern was Jennings being allowed to describe undocumented immigrants as “illegal aliens,” a term that violates the network’s editorial standards, according to Status.
In a typically fiery appearance on CNN’s NewsNight on Jan. 19, Jennings went on a furious tirade against fellow panelist Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, after Kasky chastised him for saying ICE should be allowed to “chase down illegals” in Minnesota.
“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t say? I’ve never met you, brother. I can say whatever I want,” Jennings said. “They’re illegal aliens. And that’s what the law calls them. Illegal aliens. That’s what I’m going to call them.”
Responding to concerns raised during the all-hands meeting Wednesday, Thompson said the network does not “police contributors” to “the same extent” as its journalists.
Thompson, a former top executive at The New York Times Company and the BBC, also praised the viral arguments that take place on Abby Phillip’s NewsNight show, which often involve Jennings clashing with other guests.
Thompson said such squabbles act as a “public service” that captures “the actual debate and the anger and passion that’s part of the story.” As noted by Status, not everyone at CNN agreed with that sentiment.
Earlier this month, Democratic political operative Julie Roginsky published a critique of CNN for repeatedly inviting Jennings to appear on its shows.
Writing in her Salty Politics Substack, Roginsky questioned why Jennings is allowed back on the network when he is “rude, dismissive, and antagonistic in ways that feel personal rather than substantive,” especially toward female guests.
“CNN should ask itself a simple question: what is Scott Jennings adding that could not be accomplished by any number of conservative analysts who are capable of making arguments without bad-faith theatrics?” Roginsky wrote.
“The answer, uncomfortably, appears to be conflict for conflict’s sake. Jennings reliably generates clips and provokes reactions. And in an era when cable news executives are chasing engagement metrics, that reliability seems to matter more than integrity.”
The Daily Beast has contacted CNN for comment.
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