If you ever felt like someone or something was deliberately trying to turn your holiday travel into a living hell, you are not alone.
According to the Daily Caller’s reporting, CNN is likely paying in the neighborhood of $6 million every year to display its programming in airports, making lengthy layovers and delays even more unbearable than before. The network reportedly has contracts with 58 airports — an investment that subjects travelers and airport employees alike to hours of relentless televised torture.
But CNN’s airport monopoly is also an evident cry for help. The network’s credibility has taken a beating in recent years, further accelerating the news channel’s decline in viewership and popularity. (RELATED: TAKALA: Despite Viewership Woes, CNN Retains Stranglehold On 58 Airports)
Indeed, CNN has botched numerous news stories about President Trump over the past three years, breaking nearly every rule of journalism in the book. The network has published countless false Russia collusion scoops, groomed reporters into combative opinion columnists, and even fact-checked President Trump’s hyperbole and figures of speech just to unfairly portray him as a liar.
Predictably, this careless behavior was harshly condemned by President Trump, who has repeatedly pushed back on CNN and its biased coverage. “Wow, @CNN ratings have crashed,” he tweeted in July, adding that the network has “lost all credibility.”
The president is right — and even CNN employees know it. Earlier this year, one CNN staffer went on the record to condemn the behavior of the network’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta, arguing that viewers often get tired of watching him attack Donald Trump.
“Jim Acosta is, a lot of times, asking the right questions but it doesn’t always need to be about him and his grandstanding,” the employee told Fox News. “People get tired of it. Acosta is supposed to be a correspondent reporting the facts but you can’t tell the difference between him and a paid pundit.” (RELATED: HUCKABEE: We Can All Be Thankful The Impeachment Effort Is Fading)
Another CNN staffer also expressed concern about the company’s long-term success and the future of employees who help keep the network on the air. “The people that are concerned — it’s certainly not the anchors who have lucrative contracts — it’s the people among the lower levels, such as producers and show bookers,” the staffer told Fox at the time.
Airports, it seems, are the only way that CNN can force the American people to consume their political propaganda on a daily basis — but this desperate marketing tactic comes at a cost. While other reputable news networks make product that businesses are proud to display for free, CNN has to flush millions of dollars down the drain in order to further annoy us during our hectic holiday travels.
The next time you see a frustrated TSA agent double-checking your carry-on baggage, don’t give them a hard time for doing their job — just imagine how you would feel if you were stuck watching CNN at work and forbidden from changing the channel.
Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He is currently the host of “Huckabee” on TBN.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.