Day: January 23, 2025

CNN Is Changing

I have noticed that a few of my visitors and commenters use CNN as one of their primary sources…..I use them occasionally but not a major contributor to my posts…

I saw a report that I thought might interests those that like CNN and their coverage of the news….

CNN is making some big changes as President Trump’s second term begins. In a memo to staffers Thursday morning, CEO Mark Thompson outlined the “next phase of change” at the news organization, which will include laying off around 200 people, 6% of its staff. Thompson described the layoffs as an “unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process.” He said the company’s headcount would remain around the same, with people involved in traditional TV operations laid off and new employees, including data scientists, hired with the $70 million it is investing in plans to grow its digital business. Thompson said the company is responding to “profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news.”

  • New streaming service. A new streaming service will be introduced as part of plans “to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose,” Thompson wrote, per the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America, but across much of the world.” CNN also plans to introduce its first “lifestyle-oriented digital product,” Thompson wrote.
  • Vertical videos. CNN has been focusing on vertical videos, which can be viewed easily on phones. The company plans to publish up to 100 of the videos per day, and it is working on a TikTok-style video news service that lets users swipe through the videos easily, reports the New York Times. “You can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter,” Thompson tells the Times. “That’s a really interesting experiment.”
  • Viewership is way down. The focus on digital comes as cable TV viewer numbers are sagging. CNN averaged “578,000 prime-time viewers in the three months through December, down by 74% from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2020,” according to the Wall Street Journal. During the same period, viewer numbers fell 62% at MSNBC and 27% at Fox News.
  • Jim Acosta. A CNN spokesperson said they are in “active discussions” about a new time slot for Acosta. Sources tell the Independent that Thompson spoke to Acosta, an outspoken Trump critic, last week about potentially moving his show to the midnight slot.

Okay do any of my viewers see this move as a good one?

Or is CNN caving to Trump pressure?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Now It’s Troops

Ukraine has been bleeding the US for all it can in cash and aid and now with a new president in place in DC Zelensky is wanting thousands of troops for his nation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that US troops must be included in a Western peacekeeping force that he wants deployed to Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal with Russia.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelensky called for 200,000 European troops to be sent to Ukraine to uphold a peace deal, an idea that’s a non-starter for talks with Moscow.

“We need contingents with a very strong number of soldiers,” Zelensky said. “From all the Europeans? Two hundred thousand. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing.”

In an interview with Bloomberg following the remarks, Zelensky said US troops needed to be involved, or the Europeans wouldn’t want to be involved. “It can’t be without the United States. Even if some European friends think it can be, no, it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in December that President Trump wanted European troops to deploy to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire, but the idea was quickly dismissed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said Moscow was “certainly not satisfied” with the proposal.

One of Russia’s primary motivations for launching its invasion of Ukraine was the country’s alignment with NATO, and Ukrainian neutrality is a key Russian demand for peace, meaning Moscow won’t settle for an agreement that involves a major Western troops presence in Ukraine.

The Trump administration has said its official policy is to end the war in Ukraine, and Trump has tasked his envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellog, to achieve that goal within 100 days. But it remains unclear what sort of deal the US may offer Russia.

(antiwar.com)

“MUST”?  How long will the US allow this self-important tool demand shit from the US?

I say he has gotten enough from the US and time for this a/hole to stand up and do his own thinking and/or fighting.

We were promised to have this crap done in 24 hours after being elected…..so far nothing has happened other than some demands from a minor player.

What will be the answer?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”