CNN’s Brian Stelter interviewed a former Facebook “security officer” on his show Reliable Sources last week, continuing CNN’s downward slide into being Pravda, Jr.

On CNN this morning:

"We have to turn down the capability of these Conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences."

"There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger audience than daytime CNN"

Then calls for @OANN and @Newsmax to be deplatformed. pic.twitter.com/X34oewb1oU

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 17, 2021

Because we can’t risk any free speech or freedom of the press running around out there can we?
———
CNN Pushes to Close Down Newsmax TV https://t.co/WSafLDK1r1 #Newsmax via @Newsmax

— Julie Franks Murray (@JulierMurray) January 18, 2021

My colleagues Nick Arama and Sister Toldjah covered the high points:

From Nick Arama:

“Listen to this, the fact that people have choice is bad, Alex Stamos, a former chief security officer at Facebook, tells Brian Stelter. He suggests the “leeway” they’ve “given” people with “broad range of political views” is not good. Then he suggests that Big Tech needs to deal with Newsmax and OAN the way they deal with ISIS. They need to “turn down” the capability of conservatives to influence people. Oh, my.”

Sister Toldjah parsed this conversation further, and spoke truth to power about CNN’s true motivations:

“ ‘And, so, it is up to the Facebooks and YouTubes in particular to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation. And then we have to figure out the OANN and Newsmax problem, you know, these companies have freedom of speech but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes.’

“The irony of a former Facebook senior official pretending to champion free speech while at the same time advocating for ways to effectively shut down alternative news sources should not be lost on anyone.

[…]

“If these supposedly “reliable” news networks were truly concerned about truth and honesty in reporting, they wouldn’t have spent the last four years touting “bombshells” about the Trump administration that never panned out, like the Russia/Trump collusion hoax. They also perpetuated the lie that Trump called the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people”, and they also spent a considerable amount of time “reporting” other quotes from Trump that were taken out of context to mean something he didn’t even say.”

CNN carved out its “free speech for me, but not for thee” platform when they became the network of “The Resistance” back in 2017. So, that self-righteous perch they think they’re looking down from is the top of the basement steps. And trust me, lots of media has their foot out ready to kick them down those stairs.

I cannot wait.

As Sister Toldjah so ably penned, CNN will never come back from over 5 years of gaslighting the American people on the Trump administration, Russia, Russia, Russia!, and the George Floyd “mostly peaceful” protests that destroyed American cities. But they also helped feed the COVID fear porn, refused to cover President Trump’s COVID briefings, and gave a platform to phony actors who hid the truth and furthered lies as my colleagues have documented here, and here.

CNN is afraid because no one is paying attention to them anymore. They are the poster child of echo chambers, as they slap each other on the back and circle jerk. Like Fox and MSNBC, they will always have their faithful minions, or people who don’t pay enough attention, and still assume they are straight news — something they have never been.

It is CNN’s clunky corporate model, still stuck in the 1980s, that will continue to ensure their downfall. The network recently ceased their former gravy train of blaring into airports, whether you liked it or not, because people are not flying much anymore. Go figure. Therefore, ad revenue has gone down. Way down. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face; CNN’s fake news coverage helped to kill its own revenue stream.

Their model is dying, and they are pissed. Don’t be bitter, CNN, be better — if you can.

Newsmax’s and OANN’s opinion hosts are also cut from a different cloth and take no prisoners. They don’t pretend at fair and balanced, and they have not been afraid to call CNN out on their smelly crap.

Hosts like OANN’s Dan Ball:

Dan Ball Calls Out CNN's Brian Stelter https://t.co/xsWKVC2mbE #OANN @DanNewsManBall

— One America News (@OANN) January 15, 2021

And Newsmax’s Grant Stinchfield:

.@Stinchfield1776 slams the lunacy from the Liberal media plus he calls out CNN's Tapper. https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/o38Nh3FDT4

— Newsmax (@newsmax) January 15, 2021

Much of Newsmax and OANN’s viewership is not even reflected in those ratings shares that both CNN and Fox hold so dear. While they are looking at ratings shares, Newsmax, OANN, and NTD News are doing the work to get their programming in as many hands and platforms as possible. As CNN did in the ‘80s, Newsmax, OANN, and NTD News, are pioneering a model that works for the new millennium. While CNN bloviated and allowed President Trump to live rent-free on their airwaves, the other networks built the demand for their straight news and right-of-center coverage and people are now tuning in. The last leg of the model has been moving into traditional outlets, while still maintaining a strong online and streaming presence. This will only make these networks stronger, while CNN continues to grow weaker.

NTD is now on #cable!
Find out how you can watch @news_ntd on your favorite provider
👉https://t.co/T5yg1oXx5L pic.twitter.com/KpiL12swnr

— NTD News (@news_ntd) January 8, 2021

All CNN and other outlets like Fox can truly gauge is whether they are bleeding viewers, and they are. Because of the flexibility of the alternative platforms and the fact that these platforms offer a multitude of ways for you to view their networks (and are giving it away for free in some cases), they are nimble, and not subject to what happened to Parler.

Newsmax’s business model, in particular, is not dependent on cable access or ratings shares, but viewer access. Many viewers, like myself, cut the cord a long time ago; so we are getting our news from a number of sources: Roku, Pluto TV, Klowd TV, smartphone apps, podcasts, YouTube, Rumble, if there’s a platform out there, Newsmax, OANN, and probably even NTD News are on it. The online universe still has plenty of bandwidth, and plenty of platforms that still believe in free speech and do not kowtow to the Jeffs, Jacks, and Marks.

So, Newsmax, and other alternative media are on the rise, and I believe will surpass legacy media, even in this age of corporate censorship. We will ultimately see CNN dumped on the ash heap of history.

As is my favorite thing, I am here with the popcorn.