Breaking CNN!

Axios —whose co-founders came from DV gossip rag Politico— has the hot gossip on CNN! As always the weird formatting an enigmatic bullet usage is theirs.

Scoop: CNN evaluating partisan talent

CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, is evaluating whether personalities and programming that grew polarizing during the Trump era can adapt to the network’s new priority to be less partisan.

Why it matters: If talent cannot adjust to a less partisan tone and strategy, they could be ousted, three sources familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Details: Licht wants to give personalities that may appear polarizing a chance to prove they’re willing to uphold the network’s values so that they don’t tarnish CNN’s journalism brand.

• For on-air talent, that includes engaging in respectful interviews that don’t feel like PR stunts. For producers and bookers, that includes making programming decisions that are focused on nuance, not noise.

For the love of Dawg, do something about those dreadful Powerhouse Panels!

Between the lines: CNN’s tone became more partisan and combative during the Trump era and under the leadership of former CNN president Jeff Zucker.

Wait. What? In what direction did they become partisan? They had a running stable from  the Island of Broken Toys, er, the 4th Reich, most notably including Hair Füror’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

• To conservative critics, some on-air personalities, like Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter, have become the face of the network’s liberal shift.

Jim Acosta made a career of reporting on himself or at least made himself the center of every story, usually about how badly he was being treated by the 4th Reich. And he was treated very bad (I’m not denying that), but it was not news.

Brian Stelter is not a raging Bolshevik, he’s just very pliable and easily influenced by whomever is his guest. Cringeworthy is probably the word that best describes the oleaginous Stelter.

Be smart: Licht doesn’t want to necessarily shy away from personality programming, especially in prime time, but he wants to ensure that partisan voices don’t dominate in a way that harms CNN, a source notes.

The fundamental problem at CNN is that it is neither fish nor fowl. The network tries to blend opinion and news programming and it only succeeds in making everyone question what is the actual news and who’s opinion is it anyway?