Warner Brothers Further Commits To Being Terrible

We've chronicled the weird spiral that Warner Brothers has been in as they transition from a respected media outlet to a bizarre amalgamation of right-wing media cliches and the latest decision just continues this odd trend. Starting in the near future CNN's website will be behind a metered paywall according to reporting from The New York Times.

I've been on the record several times on Thirty Minute Reviews about how part of the reason we see a sort of mainstream conservative slant as more and more people get their information from online news sources is that the more left-leaning and even centrist American news sources have gone behind a paywall while the more right-leaning ones remain free and ad supported. If someone is purely looking for information about something that is happening somewhere in the world, this will inherently harm their ability to get fair and balanced coverage. Putting CNN behind a paywall is just an attempt to bilk the people who read out of additional money while turning off people who may just be looking for quick information about say the criminal indictments into New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the ongoing presidential election, the impending hurricane that is about to slam Florida, or the crisis in the Middle East. That's not to say that other sources don't also have an agenda in the way that Newsmax and Fox News do but at least CNN casts the illusion of centrism by having voices from across the political spectrum appear.

This also coming on the heels of some of the other dubious decisions from Warner Brothers since their merger with Discovery can create the illusion that Warner Brothers is trying to position itself as a less controversial studio than say Disney or even Universal as they attempt to move into a more inoffensive role in Hollywood. Say what you will about the Discovery shows but there is a reason that I can walk into a doctor's office and almost always watch either HGTV or Food Network and that is because the shows are great for ambient noise. Admittedly when I am writing, I will use shows like House Hunters or How It's Made as ambient noise in the room. The problem is you cannot apply this to every facet of your business model when you're dealing outside the world of reality television. If you're making inoffensive art, you're not actually creating art because to make art you need to make a statement. Similarly, there is no such thing as truly unbiased reporting because every story will have some side it is taking. Even if you are just straight regurgitating facts fed to you as a reporter, you are not truly unbiased because you are taking the word of whoever gave you the information.

The point is CNN has been the target of conservatives (Trump and his cronies) for over a decade now so obviously the best solution for the corporation behind the scenes is to hide the stories behind a paywall in an effort to limit the general public's exposure to them while trying to make money from the readers. In a world where people may not be willing to pay for the subscription, it is a dire situation for those who value the free and fair flow of information as more and more organizations attempt to clamp down on what is available to read. Hopefully a day is coming where some other source can rise in its place (or people can read sites like ProPublica). Until the day comes where non-profit news sources become the mainstream, we need to make sure we are vetting what we are reading for accuracy and bias.