By Aaron Kesel

CNN isn’t having a good week. First, three of their top reporters were fired for poor journalism covering a story where a Trump ally, Anthony Scaramucci, was accused of being under congressional investigation which was retracted. Then, Project Veritas leaked two conversations proving CNN’s accusations of President Donald Trump colluding with Russia were baseless and for ratings.

With this one-two punch on CNN’s admitted Russian hoax they are almost certainly feeling the blowback from this latest scandal; and, according to James O’Keefe, it’s just the start of more to come. Which could include more tapes from CNN or other networks/newspapers like the New York Times.

For months Trump has accused CNN of being fake news, even singling out their reporter Jim Acosta. Monday, Project Veritas released a video of CNN’s Supervising Producer James Bonnifield who proved it beyond a shadow of doubt.

Then followed up with a second leaked video of Van Jones calling the Russia story a “big nothing burger.”

The leaked tapes offer an inside glimpse into how CNN operates behind closed doors caring more about their ratings than the information they provide to their viewers.

In the words of Bonnifield, CNN’s Supervising Producer, “It’s a business.”

“All that nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school, you’re just like, aww that’s adorable. That’s adorable it’s a business,” Bonniefield said.

Bonnifield also exposed that the stories about Russia were mostly “bullsh*t” and that they didn’t have anything concrete on allegations against Russia colluding with Trump. Which begs the question: Has CNN been making up “anonymous sources” to bring in ratings, betraying the American public?

The story earlier this month where CNN cited anonymous sources which stated that former FBI Director James Comey was going to “deny Trump’s claim that he assured him he was not the target of any investigation” seems to suggest just that. CNN was forced to retract that story after the opposite happened and Comey confirmed Trump’s story.

As journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept points out, the media’s recklessness on Russia is an apparent consistent problem; CNN isn’t alone in that regard. Greenwald noted that a former story by the Washington Post which stated that “Russian hackers had penetrated the electric grid” was indeed false in every aspect.

“Literally every facet of that story turned out to be false. First, the utility company — which the Post had not bothered to contact — issued a denial, pointing out that malware was found on one laptop that was not connected either to the Vermont grid or the broader U.S. electricity grid,” Greenwald wrote.

In another example which has been thoroughly debunked, Greenwald highlights that Slate published a story about Trump and Russia, claiming that a secret server connected the Trump Organization with a Russian bank Alfa.

CNN urged their reporters – Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Harris to resign after the network was threatened with a $100 million libel suit.

Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Follow us at Twitter and Steemit. This article is Creative Commons and can be republished in full with attribution.