CNN anchor Jake Tapper sparked fury on Twitter on Tuesday by sharing an article written by Salena Zito, a columnist for the New York Post and the Washington Examiner, about the race for the US Senate seat from Pennsylvania.
Tapper, the host of CNN’s daytime show “The Lead” and co-anchor of its Sunday political broadcast “State of the Union,” shared the link to a story by Zito that appeared in the Washington Examiner.
Zito has written extensively for both publications — critiquing the contest between Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democrat, and television celebrity Mehmet Oz, the GOP hopeful.
“Zito: Oz cannot out-meme Fetterman, but he can out-work and defeat him,” Tapper tweeted, quoting the headline of the story word for word.
Tapper’s tweet was a bridge too far for some of his more than 3.3 million Twitter followers.
Tapper posted a link to Zito’s story critiquing the race for the US Senate seat from Pennsylvania.
“Jake drank the kool-aid,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Why are you retweeting a Washington Examiner opinion piece?” another Twitter user demanded to know.
“This isn’t journalism; this is pandering to the new boss. I assumed you were one of the good ones.”
The naysayer added: “An honest journalist. What a joke. Chris Cuomo looks like he has more integrity than you at this point.”
Tapper’s tweet fueled suspicions among his followers that it was part of an effort by the cable news channel to pivot to the political center after it was taken over by a new corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.
This past weekend marked the final broadcast of the weekly show “Reliable Sources,” hosted by now-former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter.
Stelter, who was among the network personalities widely perceived to have flaunted an avowedly liberal bias particularly during Donald Trump’s presidency, was given the pink slip by CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, last week.
Salena Zito penned a column about the race between Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
CNN’s Jake Tapper drew the ire of his predominantly liberal followers on his Twitter by sharing a link to a story by right-leaning Washington Examiner columnist Salena Zito. WireImageLicht has been given a mandate by his corporate bosses at the newly merged entity Warner Bros. Discovery to cut down on opinionated commentary and deliver more straight news.
The former executive producer of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show on CBS is reportedly set to make more major changes at the network.
Licht is said to have his sights on “blowing up” the daily morning show “New Day,”according to the Daily Beast.
