CNN has apparently gotten wise to the fact that their extreme bias (even, and maybe especially, after that silly banana/apple ad) hasn’t been doing them any favors in the ratings game, so they’ve recently added a new hire, Sarah Isgur, who will be overseeing the coordination of political coverage of the upcoming 2020 campaign.

There’s a problem though: she’s a former Jeff Sessions-era DOJ spokeswoman and has spent time working for big name Republicans such as Mitt Romney, Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz.

This has caused much anxiety among former Obama officials and current CNN staffers are reportedly “demoralized”.
From Fox:

Former Barack Obama staffer Tommy Vietor called the move “absolutely insane” in a tweet. “Why on earth would you hire a right-wing hack to oversee political coverage in 2020? You just gave every Democrat in the country a reason to doubt your objectivity,” Vietor wrote.

Meanwhile staffers, who have at least a reasonable complaint in the fact that Isgur has never worked in a newsroom before, seem to have a bigger problem with her political connections. They simply can’t condone a political operative having such a prominent position on staff, you see (you may roll your eyes accordingly).

The hiring was met with a negative internal reaction, especially because many CNN staffers have been largely left in the dark on the controversial decision. While other marquee hires are often announced internally, as of Tuesday afternoon the company has not circulated any guidance to staff about Isgur’s new role, leading employees to wonder how much of a role she will have in day-to-day political reporting.

“It’s extremely demoralizing for everyone here,” one network editorial staffer told The Daily Beast.

“People are generally confused,” another editorial employee said, adding that the decision to hire a partisan operative for an editorial position comes off as “very bizarre.”

Complicating things for the non-biased folks at CNN is that Isgur has apparently expressed some discomfort with the way the network has presented news in the past. (She even called network host Chris Cuomo “despicable.”)

Seriously? More balanced reporting today from CNN: chiron reads "anti-gay, anti-abortion group hosts value voters summit"

— Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) October 11, 2013

https://twitter.com/whignewtons/status/825421014423179264

It’s a hard pill for staffers at CNN to swallow I’m sure, but ultimately bad ratings and loss of viewership trumps partisan loyalty every time.