CNN Alum Canned for Partisan Coverage Declares That Journalists Need to ‘Better Convey’ Biden’s Success
Former CNN White House correspondent John Harwood reacted to bad news for President Joe Biden on Monday by arguing that the press has a responsibility to do a better job of touting his successes and capabilities.
“Biden needs expert political guidance. voters are unhappy. Trump could win despite his flagrant criminality and deranged mental state,” submitting Harwood on X before insisting that “journalists need to better convey” that “the US economy is doing well” and “Biden at 80 is handling the job effectively.”
Biden needs expert political guidance. voters are unhappy. Trump could win despite his flagrant criminality and deranged mental state
journalists need to better convey 2 realities:
–the US economy is doing well, not poorly
–Biden at 80 is handling the job effectively right now— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 13, 2023
Harwood’s plea for more favorable coverage comes on a tough morning for the president.
A Financial Times poll released on Monday morning indicated that just 24% of Democrats believe they’re better off financially than they were when Biden was sworn into office in January 2021. And in a widely-circulated column, Politico‘s Jonathan Martin remarked that Biden “will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents,” because “he simply does not have the capacity to do it, and his staff doesn’t trust him to even try.”
Notably, Harwood was let go by CNN last fall by then-CEO Chris Licht, who also fired Brian Stelter and Chris Cillizza in an effort to rebrand the network as less overtly partisan.
Harwood worked at CNBC and the Wall Street Journal prior to landing at CNN in early 2020. His critics have long accused him of partisan coverage, earning rebukes for his performance as a moderator at a Republican primary debate in 2015 and raising eyebrows with his private communications with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president.
A Washington Post report on Harwood’s departure noted that it was seen as “the latest evidence of a shift to a less politically charged tone” emblematic of a “new, more ideologically neutral CNN.”
