Years ago I had an editor who called me into her office and happily told me we had another one.
A week before, as the second Iraq War started, a former high school athlete from my coverage area was killed in action.
I wrote a couple of stories and expressed the grief one expects over a young man killed way too soon. My editor was happy that we had another one.
You see, rack sales went way up after the first kid died, why not do it again.
I felt sick to my stomach. We were taking advantage of a soldier’s death to make a profit. The overwhelming cynicism was just too much.
I felt that way again last night when CNN put Donald Trump on during Prime Time and allowed him to do what Trump does.
Less than 48 hours after Trump was found liable for sexual assault and defamation, he took the CNN stage and defamed E. Jean Carroll again.
And that is exactly what CNN wanted. They wanted the ratings that Trump warrants, they wanted the outrage from the left and the giddy joy from the right.
They got it.
And journalism took another hit. Almost every day I tell young journalists how important their credibility is, and then watch as media companies go out of their way to trash the credibility of the entire profession.
CNN brought in Chris Licht to move the company to the “center”. This was not the center. This was cynicism writ large.
This was journalism at its worst. It was trash.
So often, journalists get to avoid the mess that comes with turning a profit. But yesterday, like that day nearly two decades ago, was a reminder that cynicism is a killer.
Whether you are gleefully told to write about a fallen soldier or giving gravitas to the world’s largest clown, it’s this approach to journalism that hurts us all.
Lambert's Look 