CNN’s Reports About Donald Trump Have Made Its Ratings Skyrocket

Instead of addressing more important issues at a recent press conference at the White House, President Trump criticized CNN reporter Jim Acosta as well as the entire CNN network. Ever since CNN reported that Russia had information about President Trump, based on the US Intelligence account, the new president has started a campaign that attacks the CNN network as well as CNN reporters. Trump officials are not even allowed to go on CNN, but the ratings remain high. What journalists at CNN are doing is their job since real journalism is the story of the truth. Even though Trump continues to describe the reporting at CNN as fake news, CNN reporters continue to broadcast all the scandals of the Trump administration fearlessly.

“They wear those insults as a badge of honor, because it means they are doing their jobs,” Zucker said of his employees according to Politico.”I would say that morale is incredibly high… They are not being intimidated, they are not backing down, they know they have my full support and it is a very exciting time, frankly, to be a journalist at CNN.”

The great job that reporters are doing at CNN is not only making them feel proud of themselves, but it is also very profitable for the network. According to CNN President Jeff Zucker, profits will be $1.1 billion this year due to the reports about President Trump and his administration.

As for that badge of honor that CNN journalists symbolically wear as they report real news, it was a badge of honor that reporters proudly wore ever since the CNN network started on June 1, 1980. Ted Turner, who founded CNN with 25 other members, invested $20 million to bring real news, not only to the American people but to the world. There were even naysayers who doubted that Turner could ever create a viable, profitable and competitive news network, but he proved how wrong they were as CNN is one of the strongest cable news networks on television today.

When CNN began, there were some losses for Turner and his associates. In fact, CNN was called the Chicken Noodle Network, but Turner never gave up hope thus turning his dream into reality. At CNN, the very first broadcast was anchored by the husband and wife duo of David Walker and Lois Hart. The first piece was an interview with President Jimmy Carter by Daniel Schorr.

The public decided that CNN would become a success as they listened to the 24-hour television news coverage that CNN provided informing them about the crucial events that took place in the United States as well as worldwide. CNN was the first station that provided 24-hour news. As busy as many Americans are, they still prefer to watch a station like CNN today where they do not have to wait to listen to real news stories, especially when they have a tight schedule.

There were leading stories that were reported on CNN that will always remain unforgettable. Some of these stories were human interest ones such as the Jessica McClure story. On October 14, 1987, CNN reporters were there when 18-month-old toddler Jessica McClure fell down a well in Midland Texas, and they kept reporting until she was eventually rescued. The humanism that CNN reporters showed as they told the story of Jessica helped CNN establish the fine reputation that it still has today.

When the American bombing campaign began in Iraq, CNN had the distinction of being the only news station with the means to report the news from inside Iraq in real time. When CNN reporters covered the Gulf War, more than a billion viewers watched worldwide.

Who will ever forget the 9/11 attacks? Americans stood in shock, horror, and disbelief as the Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. The first prime network to break the news about the 9/11 attacks was CNN. As CNN reporters told the story of the September 11 attacks, they gave strength to Americans who needed all of the support and courage that they could muster.

That badge of honor that CNN reporters wear is a badge that all journalists should wear. After all, we live in a deceitful world that is often filled with lies. One of the beauties of journalism is that it is one of the most honorable professions as viable reporters work hard and make many sacrifices to find the truth. In a democracy, journalists have the constitutional right to report that truth even if it leads to negative stories about the leader of the free world. The day that the media is censored is the day that democracy ends.

[Featured Image by Ben Rose/Getty Images]