CNN This Morning
Journalist Andrew Callaghan, formerly of All Gas, No Brakes, has a documentary coming out on HBO Max titled This Place Rules on December 30th.
This Place Rules will follow the “events and characters surrounding the January 6th, 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capital Building in the days preceding the attack.” And Andrew Callaghan was on CNN to promote the release of his documentary when things got contentious with CNN’s Don Lemon.
While explaining how the movie “isn’t just about the Capitol riot,” Andrew Callaghan implied that CNN’s business model of a 24-hour news cycle competing for views played a part in what happened by stoking fear and division. CNN’s Don Lemon immediately disagreed and seemed to not comprehend in the slightest bit the role that CNN and FOX News play in influencing the public.
Andrew Callaghan on CNN: "Even CNN competes for views by running constant 24hr news cycles based upon fear, division, outrage & panic, probably like to sell ads."
Don Lemon: "I don't agree with what you're saying." pic.twitter.com/JpZoxeeTD4
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) December 19, 2022
Callaghan said This Place Rules “is also about media echo chambers” and “the dangers of the 24 hour news cycle.” Adding that “mainstream media like Fox and CNN competes for views” by “running constant news cycles based upon fear, division, outrage, and panic… Probably to sell ads.”
Don Lemon responded with “first of all, I don’t agree with what you’re saying.” And went on to say he’s not sure how what Andrew Callaghan was saying played into the January 6 Capitol Riots. Lemon added “there’s nothing fake about CNN” which seemed to be a stock response he has used over the years as ‘fake news’ became a ubiquitous insult for any news that someone doesn’t agree with.
Callaghan clarified that he wasn’t talking about ‘fake news’ but was referring to ‘ramping people up and increasing division during that period of time.’ According to Mediaite, Callaghan and Lemon found middle ground after this clip. They write “the two did find a point in the middle to meet on when Lemon declared the former president and others deserve more blame for dividing people ahead of the Capitol riot, to which Callaghan said agreed.”
The top reply to that tweet above seems to perfectly capture at least one aspect of what Andrew Callaghan was talking about. CNN and Fox News’ 24-hour news cycle puts them in constant competition for views and ad dollars. It leads to segments like this… Did ‘black holes’ cause the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? Don Lemon thinks it’s worth talking about on-air:
I agree with what he's saying pic.twitter.com/wwZeJ1lIPL
— Dorsey Shaw 🍥® (@dorseyshaw) December 20, 2022
This quote is also apropos to the segment above:
This quote is probably cliché at this point, but still apropos:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
-Upton Sinclair— His name was Aaron Bushnell (@precogdissonant) December 20, 2022
Here is the trailer for Callaghan’s This Place Rules which premieres on HBO Max on December 30th:
If you aren’t familiar with Andrew Callaghan’s Channel 5 News, here he is a few months ago on Hot Ones. This isn’t a look at his on-the-ground journalism but it’s Andrew discussing that type of work which is helpful in understanding the medium:
Don Lemon has yet to acknowledge the contentious back and forth on his own Twitter account.