BREAKING: Lawsuit Could Force Sale of CNN

We got breaking news. A new lawsuit could force the sale. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.

We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. Let's get right into it.

You may have seen the headline. That is: Is CNN? Up for sale and a brand new lawsuit that's currently dealing with the fact that Paramount has been trying to acquire and has agreed to really buy Warner Brothers Discovery, but there has been issues with the You know, essentially, can you monopolize media if you have both CBS News and something as powerful as CNN? And there are options where Paramount has said, you know, we're going to create a board, a discussion board, where make sure that they're operated completely independently. The CNN has its own group of people, own board, and CBS News.

And then. As of late yesterday, Paramount floated out at least the idea of, you know what? Maybe it's just time to offload CNN. CNN essentially becomes a bargaining chip up for sale in many ways. We know this has been discussed before, but here we are once again.

And look, it just shows you where legacy media stands. MSNBC, now MSNOW. NBC decided not worth it. Not worth the struggle, not worth the controversy, not worth the hosts who are annoying them. They could say, you know what, we're done here.

Same thing now. Is happening potentially for CNN, which again has been a part of some form of the Turner Corporation, whether again, the Warner Brothers Discovery version, HBO, CNN, you know, they're all together for a very, very long time. Really, one of the flagship brands controlled here. But you know what? When you also own DC Comics, you own the Warner Brothers catalog, you own all this, is it once again like NBC going, you know what, we got a lot of great properties that bring in 100% of not only America, but the world.

But MSNBC was the one thing that was keeping us tied into some sort of extreme partisanship. Maybe CNN is that for Paramount. We're going to take your calls on this on the current change, the current moves that are happening in modern media right now. I want to hear from you: 1-800-684-3110. It's really no surprise to me, Will, that they would do this.

Maybe we can break down what the actual case is and what the lawsuit is. That's right.

So, surprise, surprise, California led a lawsuit with 11 other states, an antitrust lawsuit.

So, they're going after this merger. Right. It's 12 states in total that are going after the potential purchase of Paramount Skydance purchasing Warner Brothers Discovery. And part of the hang-up there is, as you mentioned, that CBS News is already owned by Paramount, much to the chagrin of many in the liberal media. We've seen all that with Scott Pelly, all the issues at 60 Minutes with Barry Weiss being the editor-in-chief of.

CBS News, but now they would also, if they were to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, they would own CNN. This antitrust lawsuit that is led by California, by the Attorney General of the state, who we've talked a lot about on this broadcast, Rob Bonta, led this, and it's saying that it would create a media behemoth They are able to raise prices and reduce competition in film and television markets. Therefore, this merger must be blocked.

Now, What Paramount is saying is that, hey, You know what? Maybe we'll just sell off CNN if we do the, if you drop the lawsuit. Therefore, you can have your little pet liberal media project and we can continue on because it also goes to show how little value CNN may be to them in this entire deal. Grand scheme of things, you're talking about a brand that I think actually has a lot of worth, by the way. And I would hope whoever potentially becomes a new owner of CNN can take it back to what it once was.

Did it always have more of a liberal bias? Maybe you could say it did, even from the early days with Ted Turner, but at least it was breaking new ground. At least they still have, I think, the best international coverage in terms of footprint around the world. I still think there's legacy value there. But compared to what else is in that Warner Brothers Discovery catalog for Paramount?

And this is a time where Paramount is trying to get out potentially of Hollywood and make their way where? Right here to Tennessee. We all knew it 20 years ago. Hollywood's waking up right now. 1-800-684-3110.

1-800-684-3110. We are also celebrating New Year Rights Week right now. We want you to be a part of the family. Go to aclj.org, make a donation today, and have it doubled. Welcome back to Sekulow.

We are going to take your calls and comments about just the current state of media right now. Look, we do this show very differently than we did for 30 years. You know, the fact that the show is produced, I mean, for decades, it was a. A radio show that was on terrestrial radio exclusively. Then the bubble up of television happened, and we were able to go and do a weekly show on TV.

Then the weekly TV show, you had all of a sudden the creation of live streaming, and you had something like Facebook Live and Periscope, which eventually got absorbed by X. And then now you've had YouTube really become one of the strongest places for our broadcast as well as Rumble. And at this point, We have seen media shift. You've seen podcasts grow. You have seen broadcasts change and move and things shift.

What you haven't seen, though they've attempted to do it many times, is CNN really be able to. Keep there. Stranglehold, if you will, on American coverage, news coverage, and politics. You have seen breakouts. You have seen Fox News.

You obviously seen MSNBC that took more extreme points of view. MSNBC becomes MS now because NBC decides we no longer want the stain of MSNBC with us anymore because we've all this other great family property now that appeals to everyone, but we still have this one really strange. left-wing propaganda machine. Why do we want it? They get rid of it.

You have now same moment, Paramount is trying to buy essentially Warner Brothers Discovery, which is the parent company of so many different brands, one of which is CNN. For a by the way, a large sum, $81 billion. But they're saying, you know what's probably not worth it, the few billion dollars. That would be considered the brand of CNN, which is sad in some ways because it's a legacy brand that meant a lot to a lot of people. It meant a lot to me, even as someone who grew up in Atlanta, someone that watched the rise of cable news.

It was brilliant. It was genius. Did it help us long term? Who knows? Maybe not to our mental state, but you know what?

It did change the world.

Now We see a moment where it is so insignificant that you have a group saying, you know what? Because Paramount originally was going to have a board to ensure the CNN was independent. They still may, by the way. CNN would remain independent. From CBS News, because CBS News, we know, has taken a lot of heat recently when they have gone through sort of their complete reshift and rebrand.

Now you have a moment where CNN would be under the same umbrella. And they're saying, you know what? It may not even be worth our time anymore.

Well, and here's the reality of this: in this negotiation that is going on because of a lawsuit filed by 12 states. This is Paramount trying to ensure that this, this is a large deal. This is a $110 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery. And so it's a big deal that these states are trying to block the business deal from going forward. I'm sure these negotiations would be described by CNN as fiery, but mostly peaceful.

But when you get down to it, you're looking at whether or not Paramount is going to even think that, and one, if the states will budge on this. Yeah, but this is all theoretical. This is an antitrust suit, which means that the states, like California and the 11 others, are saying, hey, you're creating a monopoly. Because what are they afraid of? That the real monopoly in the media will be broken up.

And that is the liberal monopoly that has had. A stranglehold on the media for decades. And it's actually pretty interesting because terrestrial radio. Has been, and even satellite radio, by the way, has been largely controlled by the conservative audience. They're the audience who listens.

Uh Even the podcasts, if you got to think about who's really in the top podcast world, I mean, there's a few outliers there. And then you have news media television and CNN Though not the best in ratings. Has actually had typically better ad sales options because you have more liberal groups willing to put money behind that than they would have a Fox News, especially when Fox maybe had the Tucker Carlsons a little bit more of the hard-edged people at the time.

So you've had this sort of split, as Will said, where you've had a control over that cable news option, and CNN is the name brand. Fox has overtaken it significantly in numbers. I mean, just not even close. But you still have that name brand. See a lot of people saying, y'all need to buy it.

Look, if I felt there was something to buy and I could get enough people together, it'd be something to consider because I do believe in that brand. But number one, I don't have billions of dollars. And number two, I don't know if that's really the reason they're selling it is not because it's worth a bunch of money to them, it is because it is a failing. A part of the business. It's a part of the business that's always been incredibly expensive to run.

And over the last 15 years, incredibly divisive.

Well, and once again, this is a sale that one they're saying it maybe would really turn into. Is CNN a property that is really desirable to be spun off at this point because of that? I was looking through at some of even just the. Bad reporting that CNN has done over the last decade. Remember, we know how hard they push the Russia collusion narrative, but you forget of how many of those stories they end up having to retract.

That they were always trying to get out first and get the scoop, and they were having to retract them, whether it be. Getting dates wrong and so creating a false narrative. You think of those students at Covington Catholic that they ended up having to pay an undisclosed sum of money because they were trying to make them into these villains on TV when they were there with their school trip to DC. And CNN had to settle a lawsuit with them because of how their treatment was. As recently, as we think about the international coverage, and you had that made-for-TV moment of rescuing that Syrian hostage that ended up being one of Assad's intelligence officers, that they have lost all of their integrity when it comes to being a journalistic outlet, even if they had that bias, even if they had that liberal slant, which we've all just become so accustomed to in the media.

CVS has been a fresh breath of fresh air, not because it's conservative per se. Barry Weiss isn't a conservative. She got ousted from the New York Times.

Now, she may be more favorable to conservatives now because of what happened to her, but. But she was ousted from the New York Times because she was willing to print in the opinion section. the voices of conservatives.

So if you want to talk about a monopoly, It is the ideological monopoly that the left has on our media. And that is one thing that we fight back here by trying to tell the truth, by going through facts, even when it's uncomfortable sometimes to our audience that may not like some of the truth and the facts. But yeah, we may be conservatives. But we aren't so ideologically captured like the mainstream media has been for so long that we're not willing to admit when things are as they appear. That is not what CNN has done.

That's not what MS Now has done. And that is why their ratings continue to plummet, and also why it's probably not that valuable. Compared to the larger deal to someone like Paramount to have that as a trophy? Because really, are you just buying a brand that is so tarnished at this point that it's not even really worth it? Is it going in the garage sale bin of Paramount at this point?

That's the question that it raises for me. Yeah, I would hope that historically you could reboot.

Something like CNN and have a real valid player. I would honestly kind of say that News Nation is sort of what CNN once was.

Now, again, they are playing on a much smaller scale. Let's just be honest. They have hosts that are conservative, they have hosts that are liberal, they have hosts that are somewhere in between. And the ones that are more liberal are certainly not to the extreme nature of a lot of the hosts and a lot of the talent that came out.

Now, look, remember, they went through a lot of stuff, though, too. You know, they went through all of the Don Lemon situations where they had all of the controversy that's been surrounded.

So, you know, going through Warner Brothers, you got to think about how big these organizations truly are. Not only their back catalog, but you're talking about HBO, you're talking about TNT, TBS, the sports, all the sports deals that they have.

So much of this isn't reliant on having CNN as part of the portfolio.

Now, look, again, what I hope, just based on historical, that you'd be able to build something bigger. And look, they've gone through a lot of changes themselves. Warner Brothers has had to end a A lot of their existing, there's a reason they're up for sale to begin with. But yeah, I see a lot of people in the chat.

Some people are saying they need to just disappear 100% and go away. I don't see that happening. I think it's too big of a legacy brand to just completely disappear. But what I think you'll see is a big reshift in what it is. Let's go.

We got a minute and a half. Let's go take Jeff real quick in North Carolina. Go ahead, Jeff. Hey guys, just curious if this were to be allowed to go through and W would they allow the sell to someone like, say, Elon Musk? There.

Well, here's what would be interesting, Jeff: is would they allow? I could see someone like the Attorney General of California trying to file an antitrust suit there or find some other way to block that sale. And here's the problem: it's not really that they want to break up what they see as a monopoly. They're using the legal structure of the United States antitrust laws to try and stop what they are calling a business monopoly. But in reality, they're trying to maintain the ideological monopoly that they benefit from, that the Attorney General of California himself benefits from, that his governor, Gavin Newsom, benefits from and is about to benefit from in the coming years.

Yeah, hey, when we get back, I'm going to shift gears here.

Okay.

So, if you've been watching for this, we'll get back to it. You can call me if you want, 1-800-684-30-110. But you got to hear about some of the important work going on at the ACLJ. This is all good, fun. We can chat about it.

Does where CNN ends up really matter in the grand scheme of things to you? Probably not. I understand that. It's a fun conversation piece to have. Let's talk it out.

But there's important work happening all over the world. that the ACLJ is a part of. And I don't ever want to make you miss out. I'm letting you know. And give me the big updates.

Some of these coming inside America, some outside of America. We're gonna bring Cece Hil in here for the big update in the next segment. Don't go anywhere. Look, if you thought this was a fun conversation, next segment is an important one. We'll be back in just a minute.

Support the work of ACLJ at aclj.org. Do it today. Have your gift doubled. We'll be back with Cece. Don't go anywhere.

Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I told you we'd be talking about some of the important work of the ACLJ in this segment. We'll get back to the other topics.

We'll have some more fun here, but I think it's important. And the ACLJ has launched a new petition. You may remember the case about Pastor Saul. That was happening in China many, many years ago at this point. A pastor who's a Uh who who really got in some hot water was and now After many, many years, we have a pretty big update, but we still need your help.

We really do need the help.

So I'll just remind you of Pastor Saw's case.

So back in 2017, Pastor Saw had been doing missionary. He's actually a green card holder for the United States. Legal resident. That's right.

Permanent lawful resident of the United States. Married to his wife's from North Carolina, both of his sons North Carolina, and did work in the United States, pastored some churches, but also did continue to do missionary work in China and actually was commended by the Chinese government for his work there with children and humanitarian work. And so in 2017, he was working in Burma, which is right on the Chinese-Burma border. And because of the kind of the crackdown of what was going on with religious work, he was targeted as he was coming across the border back into China.

So he was arrested and served seven years. He served seven years of a sentence the whole entire time.

So he was released in 2024 after serving the seven years. And then China enforced an administrative law. And this administrative law says that if you were in prison for a border crossing crime, they can withhold issuing you a Chinese passport from up to six months to up to three years.

So actually he was released March 5th, 2024. Six months into it in September, he China could have given him his passport at that time, September 2024, but they've continued to withhold it.

Well, just this year, Pastor Sa was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And so he is desperate to get back to his family. He has a brand new grandson that he has never met. While he was in prison, his youngest son got married.

So he's missed out on so much of his family's life. And now he is struggling with stage four cancer, and he needs to get back to the United States to get the treatment that he needs and to be reunited with his family. And China can absolutely do that. Under Article 14 of the passport law, which is the administrative law where they're withholding his passport, they can actually give him his passport and he can come home immediately. And we saw when Pastor Trump talked to Pastor Trump.

Well, there we go. When President Trump talked to President Xi for Pastor Jin. Who was not an LPR? He was not a green card holder. But Pastor Shee has indicated that he does have some compassion in this and that he is willing to see the humanitarian efforts and situations.

And he let Pastor Jin come home. And Pastor Jin had not even served his sentence.

So we are hopeful that we can push for Pastor Saw to now come home. And we are going to ask President Trump, we are going to ask Secretary Rubio to help us in this endeavor to get Pastor Saw home. And we're hopeful that it will happen. And there's a way for the ACLJ members and supporters to get involved in that. Because look, we do feel like these are important times.

And now it's a life or death scenario. This is somebody who is suffering, who is sick, who just wants to be able to meet his grandchildren. And look, the ACLJ team has been working hard on this for nearly a decade. Yes. But now is a way you can engage.

So I encourage you, we do have a petition right now. This is something we can present to President Trump. We can present to the administration and say, look, all these Americans are behind this. Help us out.

Now, of course, it's not the President's decision, but we do know. When they put pressure, it can happen. We've seen it happen. We've seen it happen in real time. Look, we even saw it in the Obama administration when they would help out with cases like this.

It's not like it's specifically only a Republican or a Democrat issue. This is a bipartisan, where people could come together and say, We need to help our Americans and really American families at this point. Because you have this family that has been here their whole life who just want this to happen. Again, someone who's been dedicated to his faith. Of course, there's a situation like this that would happen, served seven years in prison, now can't leave.

We know China could do this, and they really probably just need someone to push them a little bit. That's right.

And if you go to aclj.org right now, you'll see that this petition is on the homepage. It's right to the right of your screen. It says free Christian pastor John Saw. There's an image on the screen of what it looks like when you click through to that. We're at 325,000 signatures on this.

Actually, 325,531. And we're trying to at least get to 350.

So if you could join that today, that would mean so much for the ACLJ team who's been working on this for almost a decade, but to the Saw family and to Pastor Saw himself. And we know that much of this work has been, even when he was in prison, because it is dealing with China. It's keeping him alive. It is making sure that he is not forgotten about in those prison systems, making sure the government at levels can still bring this up. But we know also that the prayer of the members of the ACLJ meant a lot and did a lot to sustain this pastor while he.

He's in prison. And there's, we always talk about how you can support, sign the petitions, how you can give to the ACLJ during these matching months. But also, CC prayer is so important. We saw that in this case. And there's also some things that we have that people can get involved with to use the power of prayer to uphold our country.

Yeah, absolutely. Prayer is. The foundational weapon, I think, that we have at the ACLJ, and I know our supporters know that as well. And we are also working with, you're talking about prayer, we are also working with the Nehemiah Alliance, which is a 52-prayer, a 52-day prayer initiative where We're asking every Christian in the United States to join up, na52.org, to join up. And you're saying, I commit to praying for 52 days for my family, for my community, for my state, for my nation.

Literally following Nehemiah's plan of rebuilding our walls in 52 days. I think we would all agree that the walls, the spiritual walls of the United States have fallen, and we need to rebuild those. And so it's just na52.org. You sign up and it's a commitment to pray for 52 days. It starts September sundown, September 10th.

It ends November 1st, right before the midterm elections, which are so, so, so critical. And every one of those days, 52 days, the ACLJ's teams put together prayers where you can pray along and there will be one prayer that everybody will be praying as well. And so it's just asking for a commitment to pray and fast for our nation. It's been a great group that we have been happy to be associated with. If you look at other people who are involved as well.

And again, you can get involved. It's pretty easy to remember the dates, too. You know, September 10th, obviously, September 11th is the 25th anniversary of September 11th this year. And then you're talking about heading up to the midterm.

So you can kind of put that in your head as when you're going to start and when it would go through. I think it's a pretty. Pretty remarkable thing they're trying to get going, and we're happy to be partnering with them.

So, again, as Cece said, na52.org, we appreciate anyone who wants to get involved in that or the work of the ACLJ in general. You've heard what we're dealing with on the individual level, and you know what we deal with worldwide. And we have Cece's team, an incredible legal team that is out there working. Of course, we have the media operation here. All of it happens because you support.

We only got 55 seconds in this first half hour.

Some of you lose us here. And look, we talk about the current state of media. Where's the current state of terrestrial radio? We're trying to all figure that out each and every day. We still get a lot of calls.

A lot of you're calling from terrestrial radio. Is that still how you get your media? I'd like to know from you. 1-800-684-30110, do you ever turn on CNN? Do you ever turn on any of these outs?

Maybe you do. Maybe you've moved to podcasts. Maybe you're watching on YouTube. What's your primary source? Give me a call: 1-800-684-3110.

That being said, sign that petition to aclj.org. And while you're there, support the work. Because we are in Know Your Rights Week. Donations are doubled. You need to join us right now.

Again, we can't do it without you. We're here because you are here with us as well. Go to aclj.org/slash act or have or scan the QR code. Have your gift doubled. We'll be right back in less than a minute.

Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to the second half hour of Sekulow. Join us today, 1-800-684-3110.

There's a lot of conversations happening also. And beyond what we've been talking about already, with the recent announcement that Caroline Levitt will be stepping down, we're going to discuss that coming up, who a replacement should be for the press secretary. It's obviously been a very important job. I'd say a very important job really over the last, I mean, obviously in general, but I'd say in the last 20 years, where really that voice is the voice that you hear almost every day.

Now, President Trump has definitely been more active than President Biden was in terms of making speeches, making statements. Of course, he's out there a lot more. But you got to remember during the Biden administration, all we really heard from. Was the press secretaries.

So, this job is not unimportant. This job is very, very important. And I think she's done a good job, but wants to spend more time with her family. Obviously, just having another child, I think that this is a commendable move. I think this is something that a lot of people make this decision, and I understand it.

I appreciate it. Also, I think it needs to be understood that these jobs are typically around this length. You know, half of an administration, two years. That is not uncommon.

So, this isn't like feeling like something being pushed out or whatever. We could probably call up our friend Sean Spicer. Other people have done this. That's a kind of your run. And it's an exhausting job.

Well, one thing I think is pretty funny is that in the statement that was put out, said that she's going to spend more time with her family, that may be the first time in the history of politics that someone is resigning from a job saying, I need to spend more time with my family. And it's actually true. That's normally the catch-all of like, you got in some hot water, you had a scandal, you really messed up. I'm going to resign to spend more time with my family. She has an infant.

And was able, went right back to work. You know, like the fact of the matter is, is that she did an incredible job. That is a very demanding job, no matter who the President is. I feel like sometimes with the, you'd think, oh, maybe the press secretary under Trump, because he's so available to the press, is. A little bit easier, not the case.

It's just as demanding, if not more so, because the presidency under the President Trump administrations has been so made for TV because he understands that as a medium. He understands the entertainment factor of American politics like no other President in the history has really ever. Maybe Ronald Reagan, because of his time in Hollywood, understood the presentation of being a made-for-TV President. But this is such a fantastic time if you are a watcher of media, a watcher of Presidential politics, to be around because it's he has picked so many great press secretaries. I think Kaylee McEnany, who made a name for herself, now does a great job on Fox.

I doubt she'll leave that contract to go back. Interesting. Opportunities open up also, which are a little bit more stable and a little bit less hostile if you go work for Fox News compared to having to deal. With that press corps every day, but yeah, you had Sean Spicer, you had Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you had Kaylee McInanney, and then obviously, even for imagine how much I always felt, you know, I didn't agree with them ever, but I always felt for the Biden press secretaries, right? Because you had, you know, who was he had Kareem Jean-Pierre before that, you had Jin Saki, people who had to put up both of them, they were like the President, they were the ones that were really were the face of the entire two was when they had to go out with the Biden administration and they'd say, like, here is the statement we've prepared, how much work they put in.

And then like another agency would be like, eh, it's wrong. Or immediately felt right immediately afterwards. He was always just like, I don't know what they're talking about. No one briefed me on that. I feel like that happens so many times.

Look, so I always feel for the press secretaries on either side because they're dealing with a lot. And of course, we're friends with quite a few of them over the years. They put up with a lot. It's a stressful job. Our best to Caroline Levitt, and we'll see where she goes from here.

But I also am curious what that position will look like now heading into the back half. And what could be, by the way, after the midterms, a much more... Stressful. from both sides of the aisle. If you don't have The full control by Republicans.

What does that look like? We're going to talk about that coming up. Who do you think? Should be the next press secretary. I see some people throwing out some suggestions in the chat.

Let me know. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. Before we wrap up this segment, go to aclj.org. We are in the middle of Know Your Rights Week.

The impact match? Be a part of it today. We'll talk about that a little bit more when we get back. Let's talk it out. Get on hold.

1-800-684-3110. We're talking a little about CNN, talking about the new press secretary, potentials, who it looks like. We've got some fun suggestions being thrown out there in the chat, Will. That's right.

We got Spencer Pratt for press secretary, which I would why not, man? I think that makes sense. I don't know if it pays enough. I don't know what the job is. I mean, the man's pretty successful.

He has a good entertainment career, but I do think if you're talking about keeping your name in the press for a couple of years, old Pratt would be a good option. We see a lot of others. Will, you got someone suggested to you, but then you have to leave. And then, like, I don't know. Not interested.

Not interested? I mean, if they call. If they call, I'd entertain you. Take the call. I'll answer.

Yeah, if the President calls, you pick up the phone. I don't know. I have a lot of like spam blocking, so I may not even get it. It may get blocked. You have that, like, it's screening your call.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the President.

Well, that's what happened to JD. And then he clicked the call when he was calling to say, you're going to be my VP. It's my problem. I'd say it's the President. I'd click it.

It'd be like, I have a deal for your no interest mortgage. I'm like, oh, he got me. He got me at times. All right. There are some calls coming in about this CNN potential sale, what it looks like, and also just the current state of mainstream media.

Let's go to Demetro, who's calling in Washington. Go ahead. Hi, gentlemen. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'd like to say thank you, a huge thank you for shining the light and everything that's happening in the country.

Unfortunately, You guys are the people I get old and use, pretty much. Because you know, starting even from twenty sixteen, from the first Presidential election of Trump. There's been so much uh live negativism perpetrated on American people. It's it's horrible. I mean, I'm from Ukraine, right?

twenty one years ago I immigrated and I've seen the same tactics playing in Ukraine and Russia where the media is corrupt and they're supporting one side but not the other side. where they're pushing all the agenda, all the nonsense. All the opposition against one party, and that's what CNN, ABC, MSNBC, MSN, and all those. mainstream media, that's what they're doing. And it's scary.

Honestly, it's really scary.

So I'm very thankful to some who still stick to the truth, such as you guys, such as Fox News, because honestly, it's scary.

Something needs to be done. They need to be sued and they need to be sold so we can trust the media again.

Well, and I think that point you raise, even your history, seeing how state media and pushing state propaganda through the media, how destructive it's been where you immigrated from. And what we have here in the United States, the organizations like CNN, especially over the last 10 years, have gotten to be so close to what that state media style is. Where what did we see throughout the Russia collusion hoax? It was the intelligence community creating a narrative. then leaking it to their friends at CNN, The Washington Post, New York Times, and then that getting spun up as truth.

And then what did the intelligence agencies do? They used the story they leaked that got reported on by these media companies. as the basis for them to get warrants.

So they created a self fulfilling prophecy. They weaponized the media against the American people. They weaponized the media against the sitting President of the United States. And what did we even see yesterday? We talked with Secretary Mike Pompeo about.

The FBI, while he was the Secretary of State, imagine that. While he was a cabinet member, People in the FBI were just trying to discredit him, saying he was a vector, a conduit for Russian propaganda. That sounds a lot more. Like Soviet Union style deep state than it does the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America. That's what's scary.

And it's all of these companies. It's not just CNN. That's when I was talking about the media monopoly that exists in our world today. The ideological monopoly is that they joke around and call it Trump derangement syndrome, et cetera, et cetera. But in reality, it was that they are so clinging to the integration between the bureaucracies and the media.

That they are so afraid that that relationship is going to be broken that they would do anything they could. to try and stop it, including all of the lies and slander against people, even like Secretary Pompeo, that they have perpetrated. Why? To hang on to their power. And that's exactly what we're seeing here.

So, yeah, I think breaking up CNN. I don't know that Paramount would have been putting in all these things that trying to say independent board. I think CNN, like you said, needs to be revived. It needs to be the ones to do it, but maybe this is the point where you just go, all right, it's not worth it anymore. And you throw it out and say it's not part of the really in the overall package, a very big portion of it.

Or maybe that's just a threat putting in there. Look, I assume the brand is incredibly valuable. I still believe that the brand has a lot of stake. But again, you don't want to end up being the blockbuster video. Of the news world, which is like, oh, we're all nostalgic for it.

But, you know, Netflix obviously beat them to the punch a little bit. And look where we stand now. That is where you could easily see CNN kind of ending up, which is the legacy brand that could never find its footing in the modern society. And people who have said, you know, there's obviously other options that have popped up. There's been your News Nations, there's been, you know, OAN, and there's been the more conservative sides, Newsmax, that exist and they thrive and they're doing very well within their very narrow window.

And let's just be honest, I don't think they would say that News Nation may be a little bit broader, but when you have those that are really catered to a far-right audience, or you have one that's even further right than you'd say of Fox News. One of the big issues I think a lot of these organizations have had, and I'd put Fox News in there because remember Fox News was part of 20th Century Fox, then that split up. They've also gone through that as well, where Fox Media is not the same blanket Disney owns. 20th century Fox at this point now. They just say 20th century.

They removed the Fox brand because Fox. ended up meaning Fox News. Really?

So remember that they had to do the same thing. Disney had to almost disassociate themselves from a news media outlet.

So they have ABC. Obviously, they have ABC news. And then you had a similar situation where you had MSNBC saying, yo, we're done here. And then they just kept NBC News. I'm sure there's still NBC nightly news and all of that that runs locally and nationally.

But let's get rid of this, at least the openness of how partisan the politics are. There should play a clip and let's remember where MSNBC stands right now as MS Now. They approached on the red carpet Tom Hanks. This was just a few weeks ago that this happened. Remember, this is how you got to think of what the global standing and the concept is.

This, I believe, was circling around the Toy Story release of Toy Story 5. I forget exactly what event it was, but this was a reporter from MS Now. A very well-known reporter. Making an approach to exactly not, you know, not a political figure to Tom Hanks. Let's see what happens.

Your family for so long storytelling with you. Oh, yeah, baby. Doris Cairns-Goodwins is here. It's great to see you. What can I do for the 800 people?

Shake up Sobra off. We're live on this. All right, add a zero to it if you need it. I would say millions now that you're on Earth. All right, all right.

How'd you feel to be here today? I mean, again, already admitting that the audience has dropped to what Tom Hanks jokes around and says 800.

Okay, fine. You want to add a zero to it? 8,000. Remember, if you're talking about national news, you're talking about mainstream cable news. If that's the narrative and that's the joke and it's the joke that you can't even really chuckle at too much, you know that that is honestly where they're at right now, where it used to be millions of people watch and then hundreds of thousands and then thousands, probably tens of thousands at this point, to the point where he makes a joke to honestly make it feel like it's not even worth their time.

You don't want that as a brand. That is not where you want to be standing, especially if you are a legacy brand. I would say MSNBC was that legacy brand, but it became associated toxically. Yeah. Even to those in Hollywood.

It became toxic. Even to those that that would have been their ideological home. Yeah. Like that would be the channel that he would have been watching. He was talking about Tom Hanks's politics.

Well, I assume from our chat.

Okay, he's not going to be watching Fox News. No, I don't know. I wouldn't say he's been one of those characters that's kind of just floated in the mainstream media. I don't really feel like he's that super political, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.

He loves typewriters.

Well, who does it?

Well, I mean, like, actively, collects them, repairs them. There's a little typewriter shop in Nashville. He flies to Nashville to go visit this guy. Yeah. Okay.

That's what that's what a real man does. I like his hobbies. Yeah. And you like that he'll throw a little shade. At an MSNS Now reporter without even thinking about it.

Hey, we get back. We're going to take your calls and comments on this. We're also going to take your calls and comments on who could be a good replacement for Caroline Levitt. Phone lines are open. Again, she'll be stepping down.

When is she stepping down? It's the end of the month.

So a couple weeks heading into a holiday. You know, she's going to be like, you know what? It's a good way. Who do you think would be a good replacement? There are some probably some betting odds right now of who could be in the lead.

We see some good comments coming in. I want to hear from you who you think would be good.

Some of the names on the betting odds. I mean, if that's who gets picked. I don't know. 1-800-684-3110. I don't want to throw any shade against anybody.

but she was great in the position. I think she she did a terrific job. I think President Trump has picked some really strong ones before. Whether that was the intensity and the heat, Sean Spicer, whether it was the seriousness of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, of course, you had Kaylee McInane, and then Caroline Levitt. These are all very strong.

Independent people. I like a lot of them female. I think that'd be a good idea once again. What do you think? 1-800-684-3110.

1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard on the air as we head into the last segment of the show. This is the time to get on hold. And if you want to support the work that we do here, go to ACLJ.org. Sign that petition too right now in support of Pastor Saul.

We'll be right back. All right, last segment of the day. I want you to be on the air. You can call in. This is kind of the last chance to call in.

1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. Help us finish this show strong. Who do you think should be the new press secretary? What do you think about the current state of CNN?

And we support the work of the ACLJ. We support the efforts that we have internationally to support our Christian brothers and sisters all over the world. I encourage you to do that by signing that new petition at aclj.org. We're trying to get up 350,000 people signed to take to President Trump and to take his administration. It's time for Pastor Saul to come home after serving his seven-year prison sentence and now with a cancer diagnosis.

It is time for him to get back to his family and have China allow him to return. Home. That being said, let's go ahead and pop on some of these calls. Bobby. It's a caller from New York.

Go ahead. Hi, this is your fellow rascal speaking. First of all, I think it would be great to have Laura Ingram as press secretary because not only would she be his press secretary, but I think she'd take him to the woodshed a few times. The other thing I want to mention is I would like to see maybe Sinclair broadcasting by CNN, and that's all I have to say. Thanks, guys.

Hey, Bobby, I'm sure that those conversations are happening by a lot of these big media companies, conglomerates, right now.

Now, Sinclair themselves have had some national news. They have national news that runs throughout. And obviously, they have say on a lot of the local news coverage because they own a significant amount of that. But they've had issues themselves. And look, I've worked with them directly.

They've had issues where they've had to divest of certain things where they've run into some of these same issues that Paramount is running into.

Well, and once again, a lot of these antitrust laws, a lot of times where they are more conservative, where they're used these days is against Google when they're monopolizing too much. When you think back of what the purpose of them were for, and obviously Teddy Roosevelt was the big trust buster. That was a big portion of his platform of trying to break up monopolies and robber barons. It was from a different era. With the media, it is used very often.

With these types of mergers of not wanting to own the airwaves, or if it's talking about even cable in this case versus CBS. The difference is, though, I think a lot of times these antitrust laws that are utilized by states that have an ideological difference, they're weaponizing it for political purposes. It also. Is putting so much emphasis on such a dated form of information getting like the fact that. That the CNN is kind of could be the fulcrum that really decides whether or not this merger goes forward or not.

is is almost laughable. Yeah. And how much their influence has degraded over the last 10 years, not just because of their ideological bent, but really because of how people consume new media. New media. And what's interesting, Will, is that you brought up Teddy Roosevelt and said that he was the guy who was trying to break up the monopolies.

And when I think of the monopoly man, I think of Teddy Roosevelt going to a wedding. Like, I think, I feel like that's. Like it's formal Teddy Roosevelt. No, but he did that like out in the streets, too. He wore the top hat.

He did, I guess, wear it top hat. He was monocle top hat fancy. Yeah, I guess I think of Teddy Roosevelt. My initial thoughts is like. The wilderness man, sure, right.

Yeah, like rough riders. Yeah, so I was more thinking of Fancy Teddy, yeah, Monopoly Man. Was he the inspiration for the Nop? Did he wear a monocle? I feel like he did.

He didn't have monocle. Neither does the Monopoly Man. That's a Mandela effect. Is it really? Yeah, let's go.

He had two glasses, but no, no, ear. Things. What do you recall those? And just sat on his nose. He had the reverse, Ben Franklin.

Let's go to Kurt in California. Go ahead, Kurt. Hello. Hello, you're on the air. Yeah, hi.

Um yeah, regarding the uh The White House Press Secretary, I'd go for Natalie Winters.

Okay.

She's been a contributor on War Room. She's a White House. currently a correspondent since twenty twenty five. And she's she's probably the most impressive person I've seen as far as a contributor because she is full of facts. She backs up what she says with facts.

It's just not hearsay or her opinion.

So, yeah, she's very expressive and just a good personality. We see a lot of names being thrown out. I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with Natalie Winters very much, so other than maybe a name only, but we're seeing a lot of those suggestions coming in to people like that, who you are familiar with. And look, you're familiar with them, Kurt. I think this is interesting because you're watching on Pluto TV.

Maybe you're watching us on the Salem News channel. What's interesting is that you probably are watching other content on fast channels, on different ways people are getting media, not your traditional media. You're getting it from sort of a streaming platform, a free platform, like a free live platform, like you're probably watching on Pluto.

So maybe you're flipping over and watching one of those shows on one of those other networks. And we have seen the rise in that, by the way, where a lot of new or a lot of the old traditional media is going away. Things like the Salem News Channel, we can say confidently, because we hear your calls, we see them come in. People do watch this kind of new way to get media. And I know you do also have some of the odds.

Well, in that, once again, when. When Kurt brings up someone like that, that would be very, very Trump, right? To bring new voices in that are from new media, new ways, not just the establishment, the old guard, but you know, Calci, the prediction markets that everyone likes to look at. They have Scott Jennings currently as the lead for the next secretary. There's only three that have markets.

No, take that back. There's a lot more than three. But the top three are Scott Jennings, Anna Kelly, and Alina Haba, which Alina was obviously one of his private attorneys, was in the Justice Department briefly. Anna Kelly is the principal deputy press secretary. A lot of you have probably seen her on interviews, Fox News, or even in press briefings as a fill-in.

But she is very impressive in her own right and has knows the apparatus within the press office. Scott Jennings obviously knows having to deal with hostility at CNN himself. Right. The hilarity, if he. He leaves CNN if he jumps ship before the sale.

Well, he's on the Salem News. He is as well. I'm CNN, you know, that's where he is real. Is he still on CNN? Rise, he's still on that panel, still having fun with the folks over at CNN.

I'm going to see some open air time on the Salem News channel if he leaves.

So, you know what? Two hours. Yeah. Mornings and evenings. Right.

You never know where we're going to end up. All right, so I'm just saying Salem execs that are watching right now, if there's some open-air time. Will I got some wild ideas? Real wild. Yeah.

We've been waiting for this moment.

Okay.

You have no idea what's going to be in that 11 o'clock hour. Because we've tried that before. Yeah, BM. That goes. All right.

Listen, we only got a minute and 47 seconds left on the show today. I appreciate everyone who called in, who engaged with us. I think there is some really important things we got to chat about before we wrap up. I know we're having some fun here in the last segment. It's Know Your Rights Week.

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