Maybe CNN actually is making its way back to authentic journalism after all. In a recent report, the news outlet debunked a lie coming from Democrats regarding Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to transport illegal immigrants to New York City and Washington, D.C.
Previously, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams claimed that Abbott was bussing illegals to these cities against their will. She said many of these individuals had no idea where they were headed. Abbott’s office denied the allegations, noting that they obtain the written consent of those being transported out of the state.
On a Friday broadcast of “AC360”, CNN reported on the matter. Gary Tuchman, the network’s national correspondent, asked an advocate for migrants how the illegals felt about being bussed to New York City and D.C. “Some people say it’s cruel, but this story may not be what you expect,” he said.
He played a clip from a conversation with a migrant headed to D.C. who said she was happy she was being transported there.
Tuchman then said, “And listen to those who advocate for the migrants,” before playing a clip of an interview with Valeria Wheeler, executive director of Mission: Border Hope, who said “[the migrants] want to go on these buses.”
Tuchman asked, “And you’re saying no one is being forced to go on these buses?”
“No one has been forced,” Wheeler replied.
Tuchman asked again, “They’re going on because they want to?”
Wheeler said, “Yes.”
At the conclusion of Tuchman’s report, the reporter explained that, “each passenger we talked to [said] they appreciate getting the air-conditioned bus ride to what they hope is a much better road ahead.”
Last week, Abbott defended his decision to send migrants to New York City and D.C., much to the consternation of Mayor Adams, who has been publicly clashing with the governor ever since the first busload of illegals arrived in the Big Apple.
During a conversation with “Nightline” co-anchor, Byron Pitts, Abbott doubled down on the idea.
“We’ve got to secure our border because the Biden administration is not securing it,” he said. “And then the reason why we began putting people on buses in the first place is because the Biden administration, they were literally dumping migrants off in small little towns of 10 or 25,000 people, and they were completely overwhelmed.”
On the same program, Adams slammed the Texas governor for not coordinating with city officials to facilitate the arrival of the migrants.
“It’s the worst type of politics,” the mayor said. “It’s hateful politics to raise his national profile and, you know what, you should not be doing it by taking away the respect and dignity of people who are in need.”
But what is remarkable about this story is that it is one of the rare instances in which CNN actually bothered to find out the truth about a story, instead of immediately looking to skew it in favor of Democrats. It might make one ask who this news outlet is and what they have done with CNN, right?
This could be part of the network’s effort to abandon the hyperpartisanship that characterized its reportage during the Trump years. Chris Licht, CNN’s new CEO, promised to steer the company away from acting as an activist media outlet and return to old-fashioned objective reporting. The fact that both Jeffrey Toobin and Brian Stelter have been shown the door is seen as the beginning of the transformation.
I’m still skeptical about CNN’s new endeavor. It could easily be a ploy to make it appear as if the network plans to engage in actual journalism. However, more even-handed reports like this could signal that this change is real.
