To CNN Worldwide CEO Jeff Zucker:

CNN has a responsibility to provide honest and accurate reporting and information. That means it shouldn’t amplify dangerous hate movements — or their sympathizers.

Unfortunately, you have abdicated that responsibility with your recent airing of interviews with neo-Nazi and white nationalist Richard Spencer as well as the Trumpettes political group, who were presented as though they were randomly selected voters. In both cases, these guests normalized and even supported a recent racist tirade by Donald Trump.

Enough is enough: We demand that CNN anchors, reporters and producers stop normalizing white supremacy in a ploy for ratings. Trump already has Fox News and the Sinclair Broadcast Group; he doesn’t need propaganda from CNN.

Help us trust your network and the platform you are privileged to maintain.

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    Tell CNN to stop selling hate for ratings.

    Tell CNN to Stop Selling Hate for Profit

    CNN Worldwide CEO Jeff Zucker once said that the 2016 election cycle was the “greatest year ever” for cable news. Now CNN’s hate-for-profit machine is getting sloppy: Last week the network invited “eight Republican women” on air to voice support for Trump’s latest racist Twitter rant, but didn’t mention that the women are actually part of the Trumpettes political group.1

    If that’s not enough, CNN also invited an on-air “expert” to discuss those same tweets: neo-Nazi white nationalist Richard Spencer, who spoke at Charlottesville’s deadly Unite the Right rally.2 (You might remember him as the Nazi who got punched in the head in a viral video last year.)

    This is dangerous. Giving a platform to white nationalists like Richard Spencer not only normalizes their genocidal views, it helps them recruit new followers.

    CNN is on a slippery slope. If this keeps up, it could become another Trump TV, joining the ranks of Fox News and Sinclair. And that would be Trump’s dream come true.

    “45” knows that his dictatorship dreams depend on a steady stream of propaganda going into our homes and communities, normalizing hate and demonizing immigrants, people of color and others who are most in danger.

    According to the FBI, hate-crime reports have risen each year since 2016 — and white-supremacist violence is responsible for the spike in domestic-terror arrests.3 And it will only get worse if networks like CNN don’t stop amplifying Trumpian white nationalism in an attempt to ramp up ratings.

    This isn’t about free speech, which is protected from government interference. This is about a private news organization’s ethical responsibility to deliver honest and accurate information.

    Take action: Demand that CNN clean up its news coverage and stop peddling white-nationalist propaganda for profit.

    1. “Just a Random Group of ‘Republicans’? CNN Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story About a Trump-Loving Panel,” The Washington Post, July 17, 2019: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/just-a-random-group-of-republicans-cnn-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story-about-a-trump-loving-panel/2019/07/17/6977617c-a8d5-11e9-86dd-d7f0e60391e9_story.html

    2. “CNN Invites White Supremacist Richard Spencer to Talk About Trump’s Racist Tweets,” Daily Beast, July 16, 2019: https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-invites-white-supremacist-richard-spencer-to-talk-about-trumps-racist-tweets

    3. “White Supremacist Violence Responsible for Spike in U.S. Terror Arrests,” The Independent, July 23, 2019: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/white-supremacy-attacks-racism-fbi-arrests-domestic-terrorism-trump-a9017986.html