CNN is reportedly experiencing major leadership changes as part of its apparent effort to modify coverage of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Former Washington Post senior editor Philip Rucker has reportedly replaced senior vice president Adam Levine to lead the outlet’s coverage of Washington, DC, according to a Daily Mail article published on Friday.
The newspaper said the change has left Levine “fuming.” The article continued:
Levine previously oversaw CNN’s sprawling Washington bureau, but has now seen his role shrink to running just the network’s investigative team and a new ‘hub desk’, according to Status’ Friday newsletter from Oliver Darcy.
…
Insiders noted Levine appeared ‘caught off guard by the sudden power shift’ and was ‘uncomfortable’ as executive editor Virginia Moseley announced the changes at a Thursday night meeting.
‘There’s no question: He was demoted,’ a CNN staffer said.
Rucker left the Jeff Bezos-owned Post in January, following in the footsteps of several other staffers who exited the newspaper after it chose not to endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris for president, according to the New York Post.
In CNN’s press release about Rucker joining the outlet, the network said, “As CNN moves to cover President Donald Trump’s second administration, Rucker, who has deep expertise from years reporting on and overseeing coverage of President Trump, is perfectly positioned to aid in leading our best-in-class coverage.”
During a recent speech at the Department of Justice, Trump leveled heavy criticisms against CNN and MSNBC, Breitbart News reported.
“And I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And, in my opinion, they’re really corrupt. And they’re illegal — what they do is illegal,” he stated.
The president added that it made no difference how big his victory in the November election was, they were still going to come after him.
“But these networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative, and it has to stop. It has to be illegal. It’s influencing judges. It’s really changing law, and it just cannot be legal. I don’t believe it’s legal, and they do it in total coordination with each other,” Trump said.
