Mediaite’s Colby Hall Explains Why ‘MAGA Set Hates Chris Wallace,’ Ticks Through Comical List of CNN’s Pre-Wallace Failures
Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall explained why “the MAGA set hates Chris Wallace” and analyzed some of CNN’s past failures in the digital space it hopes to gain a foothold in by wooing Wallace.
On Monday night’s edition of NewsNation’s On Balance with Leland Vittert, anchor Leland Vittert asked Mr. Hall to analyze Wallace’s bombshell move to CNN+, the news network’s yet-to-launch streaming service.
Vittert made the point that CNN President Jeff Zucker killed several birds with one stone, including changing the subject from the calamitous Chris Cuomo saga, and asked Hall to weigh in.
Hall said Zucker “did a great job” making use of the move, and added that Wallace’s launch on CNN+ “papers over a series of bad decisions with digital video platforms that CNN has busted out.”
Hall then ticked through some of those failures, telling Vittert “They bought this thing called ‘Beme,’ Casey Neistat‘s operation for $25 million.”
He also referenced a failed platform called “Great Big Story,” and cautioned that “CNN still doesn’t have a streaming strategy, and even though they’ve hired Chris Wallace, which is a big, splashy, and it’s a great hire for them, CNN+ still doesn’t exist.”
He added, “I think this is a good story for them to get from behind the eight ball.”
Hall went on to explain the partisan divide over Wallace, telling Vitte that “I think Chris Wallace gets hated by the MAGA set because he asked tough questions of Trump and his surrogates,” but that progressive viewers view Wallace as “kind of a secret conservative.”
“I think that’s the best thing you can be as a journalist is to be the guy that angers everyone” and compared Wallace to broadcasting legend Walter Cronkite.
Hall summed up by telling Vittert “I think it’s a big loss for Fox News. Will their ratings suffer at all? Fox News Sunday didn’t really rate. So from a business perspective, it’s not a big loss for Fox News. From a cred perspective, it is significant.”
Watch above via NewsNation.
