What is going on with the CNN shift to spectacle?

[C C]

UNDERCURRENTS
https://youtu.be/w3S7pfTg5_o

VIDEO EXCERPTS: It feels like a 2025 version of Crossfire, the famous, retro CNN show [...] It seems to me that CNN is very intentionally going back to that, because Abby Phillip's show is now basically the only one that makes significant waves. Because obviously CNN's ratings are struggling, like much of cable, but CNN is particularly struggling.

The Abby Phillip show is basically the one that makes a dent in the political discourse on a fairly regular basis. [...] CNN is making a conscious choice to stir the culture war pot with these panels. It's replacing substance with theatrics.

But as ugly and unconstructive as these heated debates in public forums can sometimes be, they are at least providing discussion instead of shutting down one side or the other.

I would prefer to watch a version of The McLaughlin Group to this CNN drama, but it's just not how you get people to really care about the news. If you provide some entertainment, you are bringing people into the conversation. And to do that, you are going to have to introduce a measure of theatrics.

I'm not saying that this is great, but I'm saying it's better than the alternative that came before it, which was shutting out one side of the debate. And it's also unrealistic to expect every program to be like The McLaughlin Group.

I guess what it seems to me like what CNN is doing is realizing that with all of the budget cuts and the dwindling audience on cable, they have to adjust to making money increasingly on internet platforms.

What is going on at CNN? ... https://youtu.be/w3S7pfTg5_o

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/w3S7pfTg5_o

[Magical Realist]

I LOVED McLaughlin Group back in the day. Right along with Buckley's Firing Line. This strategy of firey debate among panelists though is nothing new on CNN. I used to watch Don Lemon at night because he would get his guests so riled up. Maybe this influencer needs to watch other channels for a change. NBC's Meet The Press and CBS's Face The Nation do it as well as ABC's This Week With George Stephanopolis. There's nothing wrong with passionate debate as long as everybody shakes hands at the end.