CNN rushed to scandalize new reporting on classified documents found at former Biden office [View all]

[LetMyPeopleVote]

CNN has become a clone of Fox News under the new management team

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https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnn-rushed-scandalize-new-reporting-classified-documents-found-former-biden-office

fter news broke that classified documents from his vice presidential days had been found in President Joe Biden’s former office, CNN rushed to sensationalize the story and drew inaccurate parallels to the FBI’s retrieval of documents held by former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

On Monday night between when the news broke and 11 p.m., CNN dedicated 1 hour and 47 minutes of coverage to the story, more than sevenfold MSNBC’s 14 minutes of coverage and over three and a half times Fox News’ 29 minutes.

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One particularly poor example in CNN’s programming came just before prime time, on Erin Burnett OutFront. As the story was breaking, anchor Erin Burnett emphasized that Biden was legally required to return the documents when his term as vice president ended in 2017. Burnett pointed out the differences between the FBI seizing documents at Mar-a-Lago following a court-approved search warrant and Biden’s legal team immediately turning over the documents to the National Archives when they found them. But CNN’s coverage implied hypocrisy on Biden's part by playing a September 2022 clip of the president rhetorically asking “how anyone could be that irresponsible” in regard to Trump withholding classified material at Mar-a-Lago. CNN also included an image of the classified documents found by the FBI at Trump’s residence during the segment without providing context, potentially misleading viewers.

From the January 9, 2023, edition of CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront

Burnett then brought out CNN correspondent Jamie Gangel, who while mentioning the differences between the Trump story and Biden’s, framed the news as “a political nightmare for the Biden administration” and “politically something that the Republicans and Donald Trump are going to make hay in.”

In response to a question from Burnett about “how much of a gift” and how “transformational” the new story is for Trump, Gangel stated that this is “a huge political gift for Trump." And despite the distinct differences between the documents found at Trump’s home and Biden’s office, Gangel posited that “it is going to be very important for Justice [Department], and as much as the National Archives plays a role here, to really let the public know what was in here. Is that nuance going to cut through? I don’t think so.”

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