By Alex Christy
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins probably expected a friendly and sympathetic audience when she traveled over to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday, but, for a brief moment, Collins and Colbert were caught off guard when the studio audience laughed at the idea CNN is an objective news source.
Collins observed Donald Trump’s campaign ever since President Biden announced he would not seek re-elect, “He really has struggled with how to go after someone who’s 20 years younger than him, who is a different gender, a different race. It’s kind of been this moment where he has not been able to coalesce around a single attack line.”
Colbert then tried to switch topics to the reaction inside CNN HQ when Biden made his announcement, “I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is.”
As the audience started laughing, Colbert tried to defend the network, “No, CNN makes a—” At the same time, a somewhat surprised Collins asked, “Is that supposed to be a laugh line?”
Colbert claimed, “It wasn’t supposed to be, but I guess it is.”
While the duo would go on to discuss whether CNN was surprised Biden stepped down and how reporters should not make bets about the future, Colbert’s defense of CNN is a bit odd. Even Colbert himself was surprised when Don Lemon told him that CNN isn’t liberal nearly two years ago.
The audience reaction, however, does prove that CNN’s insistence that it is a straightforward news channel isn’t fooling anyone, and simply insisting it is will not change that perception.
Editor’s note. This appeared at Newsbusters and reposted with permission.