CNN recruits GOP group with no journalism experience to cover 2020 coverage

CNN announced Tuesday that it has hired Sarah Isgur, a long-time member of the Republic, as a political editor to prepare the coverage for his 2020 campaign.

According to a CNN spokesperson, Isgur, who recently served as the Ministry of Justice's chief spokesperson under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will coordinate the network's political coverage for the 2020 election cycle on television. and on the CNN website. Isgur will start working next month and will not participate in the GM's coverage. She will appear on television sometimes.

Isgur's LinkedIn page indicates she has no journalism experience. She has, however, worked for various right-wing organizations and campaigns, including nominations for the presidency of Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney, the Republican National Committee and a US Senate campaign by Ted Cruz.

After a presidential cycle in which the setting of mainstream media on Hillary Clinton's emails (among other issues) has been widely criticized, the news of the hiring of Isgur has raised concerns about the direction taken by CNN in 2020.

According to the Washington Post, at a meeting of the Oval Office in early 2017 with President Donald Trump, Isgur – who had criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign – promised to stay true to his agenda in order to get the door post -Sessions.

According to Politico, Isgur's first recruitment was announced: "Although it is common for outgoing administration managers to join cable news networks as analysts or contributors, it is less common for them to do so. to supervise the coverage of information ".

Trump's favorite target for abuse hands over keys to a former administration staff member

Isgur's new employer is a prime target for President Trump's abuses, including last Friday when, at a press conference, he called Jim Acosta of CNN "false news".

Although the network did not comment on why he invited Isgur aboard, CNN considers hiring a curator as a way to counter the perception that he is biased against Trump. Unsurprisingly, news of his hiring has been applauded by at least one eminent voice on the right.

Hiring a conservative journalist for a political editor's role would be one thing. However, diving into Isgur's social media presence suggests that his inability to assume his new role goes beyond politics.

Isgur pushed false statements and plots aimed at lowering Democrats

Isgur's personal Twitter account provides clues as to how it could shape CNN's coverage. Back in 2013, she lost interest in the network characterizing a group as "anti-gay" and "anti-abortion".

The following year, she derisively described her future employer as the "Clinton Information Network."

Isgur was not a fan of Obama, whom she compared to Richard Nixon, and blamed him for problems that he had nothing to do with.

In 2015 and 2016, Isgur posted tweets comparison of abortion to the gun violence epidemic in America, and pushed the Planned Parenthood conspiracy theories that were based on misleadingly edited videos.

During the 2016 campaign, Isgur criticized Trump. In October 2016 she tweeted Trump's call to sue Hillary Clinton "is a frightening and dangerous threat." But she was even more frank in her criticisms of Clinton.

Isgur also claimed that "self-righteous liberals" who criticize Republicans are "no different from Trump".

When she was working for Carly Fiorina in October 2015, Isgur made a false statement about the job losses suffered by Obama's first term to attack Clinton.

Isgur also said that she thought the concerns about climate change were exaggerated.

According to her, Isgur started working as director of public affairs at the Justice Ministry in February 2017. In the same month, she published a tweet attacking "progressives" to be fake feminists.

At the same time, Isgur pushed a false equivalence defend the first iteration of the Muslim ban by Trump, criticized journalists to cover Trump's tweets, attacked journalists for pointing out that Trump had spent years advocating a theory of racist conspiracy about Obama's birthplace, and even congratulated Kellyanne Conway for "showing America what true feminism looked like" .

This is the person CNN entrusts to the cover of the 2020 campaign. What is wrong?

---

The news goes fast. To stay up to date, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more Political and political coverage of Vox.