The Media Research Center’s Jorge Bonilla whined in a May 15 post:
Generally speaking, CNN’s coverage of the so-called Trump “hush money” trial has taken such an onanistic turn that reasonable people may question whether Jeffrey Toobin is now in charge of the once-revered Cable News Network. The most ridiculous iteration of this coverage? Dramatic readings of the trial transcripts.
Watch as yet another night of dramatic readings kicks off tonight’s episode of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, as aired on CNN on Tuesday, May 14th, 2024:
[…]I can’t imagine the trajectory that leads these guys to law school, build careers, serve respectively in the Obama administration and on the House January 6th Committee, only to be brought on CNN and be made to read “Dictator Douche Bag” as well as Michael Cohen’s hangdog responses, and then be berated by Laura Coates for insufficiently performing these dopey readings in a comedic Noo Yawk accent. Nor can I imagine the galaxy-brain calculations that result in performing this schtick now for a second night in a row, thinking this is good television. Or journalism.
But here we are.
Were it not for the fact that this trial is the fruit of an ongoing effort to weaponize state and federal government against the leading opposition presidential candidate, it would almost seem wholly appropriate to cover this joke of a trial and underlying charges in a comedic manner.
There are many words that come to mind with which to describe the nonsense running on CNN air (or MSNBC’s, for that matter), but journalism is not one such word. CNN’s creepy, cheerleady coverage of this trial is the furthest thing from journalism, and embodies the worst excesses of Regime Media.
Bonilla didn’t discuss whether this was more or less creepy or excessive than Fox News’ streaming division manufacturing a entire fake trial for Hunter Biden. The Fox Nation series created an imagined prosecution of Biden for violating bribery and foreign-agent laws — two charges he hasn’t faced in the real world — and prominently featured sexually explicit images of Hunter taken from his laptop without his permission, which likely violates revenge-porn laws. Fox News took down the series after Hunter sued the channel over it; Biden later dropped the lawsuit.
Bonilla, along with the rest of the MRC, have been completely silent about the fake Hunter trial series, so there have been no comments about its onanistic intent or how it furthers right-wing media weaponization against Hunter and his father, the president of the United States. It appears he will let the hypocrisy stand without comment.