Bloomberg, Fox News, CBS News, and other news outlets are now reporting that Susan Rice had asked intelligence officials to unmask names of people associated with the Trump team that were included in intelligence reports talking to foreign nationals. One source even alleges that Susan Rice asked for an intel spreadsheet on the Trump team.
Some CNN hosts, however, made it clear that they had no intention of looking further into the story or reporting on it more than saying that it is a distraction. CNN host Don Lemon suggested that it was just more false allegations from Trump and right-wing media, and that there was no evidence that Trump was illegally surveilled.
“On this program tonight, we will not insult your intelligence by suggesting otherwise, nor will we aid and abet people who are trying to misinform you, the American people,” Lemon said.
Instead, mainstream media outlets like CNN will spend the 24-hour news cycle discussing speculation and allegations of ties between Trump and Russia or Russia’s influence on the election with the same type of sources used for the Rice story, speculation, and unconfirmed allegations. Investigations are still ongoing.
If those stories deserve mainstream media attention, doesn’t the Susan Rice story deserve some time as well? It shows the extent of domestic surveillance in the US, and it also points to members of Trump’s team being included in surveillance of foreign nationals, whether it was intentional or not.
Does CNN really have the moral high ground to say it is not going to insult viewers’ intelligence by reporting on a story from multiple sources?