Trump Bot Not Actually Going To Do Much Of Anything At CNN, Turns Out

In fact, maybe she'll just be in the mail room. Would that be okay?

Last week, CNN made more than a few people wonder whether the entire network had gone off its meds when news broke it had hired GOP political consultant Sarah Isgur as a political editor who would be involved with running the CNN's 2020 campaign coverage. Because why would you want a journalist running any of that when you could have a former spokesperson for Carly Fiorina and Jeff Sessions when he was Attorney General? Not surprisingly, the hire was widely mocked, and CNN soon started backing away from the initial reporting that Isgur would "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign." Now, according to the  Daily Beast,  CNN has bent over backwards to explain to the Democratic National Committee that Isgur -- political "editor" -- won't be shaping election coverage at all, and how would they even get such an idea?

On a press call last week, CNN President Jeff Zucker said Isgur wouldn't be involved in any of CNN's coverage of debates or candidate forums, although Zucker also insisted her hiring been enthusiastically endorsed by LOTS of the network's reporters who cover the Justice Department, and no it would be inappropriate to name them. TOP PEOPLE LOVE HER. According to someone who knew about the press call, Zucker also said that obviously people were simply confused about what "editors" at CNN do, is all:

He said he understood the concerns because "editor" has a different meaning in digital and print media than it does in TV, the person said. Mr. Zucker added that he wouldn't rule out that Ms. Isgur could be featured in TV segments or write articles for CNN, but noted that her primary duties would include coordinating coverage for the Washington bureau.

That clarification was clarified further this week, according to an unnamed Democratic source familiar with CNN's communications with the DNC:

The Democratic source said the assurance was made directly to Chairman Tom Perez from the top ranks of CNN. Prior to then, several presidential campaigns had reached out to the committee to express their concerns about the possibility that Isgur would play a lead editorial role in the network's coverage of the campaign [...]

After her hiring was made public last week, the network reassured staff that her primary duties will be scheduling the publication of stories, and making sure various stories are highlighted on shows. In a note sent to staff, top editors said she would  "play a coordinating role in our daily political coverage—helping to organize and communicate between newsgathering, digital, and television."

So by "coordinating" they meant she'll be looking at a clipboard and making sure the website includes stories that aired on TV? OK, sure, that sounds like an "editor" job, you bet.

In fact, it's entirely possible that despite her title, following the terrible publicity CNN received for hiring a partisan hack as a political editor, Isgur will be told to sit quietly on a chair in a studio control room and NOT TOUCH ANYTHING.

That, or she'll actually take over the whole shebang and be forced to resign after rewriting Chris Cuomo's copy to read "climate change is a Democratic ploy to kill good jobs." Haha, we are joking of course. No one at CNN would get fired for that.

[ WSJ / Daily Beast ]

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