CNN panel blows up after conservative commentator argues X is balanced platform: ‘You cannot say that’
CNN senior political commentator sparked outrage on the network Monday night for arguing that X under Elon Musk has become more "ideologically balanced."
CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings caused an uproar on CNN Monday night after telling a network panel that X is the most "ideologically balanced" social media platform.
One panelist in particular, Prime Video talk show host Cari Champion, objected to the statement, cutting Jennings off mid-sentence and demanding he stop.
"Oh, come on. Scott, stop, stop! It’s too early, I just sat down. I’ve only been here for two minutes. You cannot continue to say – You cannot say that!"
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The exchange happened during a discussion on X owner Elon Musk’s recent social media posts in which he toyed with the idea of buying MSNBC after news that Comcast was looking to sell it off to another company.
For liberal panelists on CNN NewsNight, Musk’s post appeared to be more evidence of encroaching right-wing authoritarianism in America.
"We are in for some tough years ahead," Champion said, referring to the media.
"I do not believe that we are not going to be as safe or say what we want to. I don’t think free speech is going to be as free."
Jennings was then asked to address fears over our government buying media outlets to spread propaganda, though the commentator insinuated that has already happened in the U.S.
"Is the concern that certain media outlets would become propaganda arms of political ideologies? I mean, don’t we already have that in this country at large scale?"
He then insisted that Musk’s platform is much more balanced than liberal critics claim.
"I mean also, I heard what you‘re saying about X. I saw a survey this week – it‘s now the most ideologically balanced user platform of any platform."
Champion could not abide by the statement, telling him to stop. Scott jabbed at her in response, saying, "You’re going to be embarrassed when I tweet it out after the show."
The Prime Video pundit demanded to know who Jennings’ source for that survey was, to which he replied, "We’ve reported it on this network."
"It’s not accurate, and you know it," Champion declared.
However, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten recently broke down Pew Research numbers revealing that X has become much more ideologically balanced, even in terms of who uses the platform.
He revealed how in 2024, 48 percent of identified Democratic voters use X, while 47 percent of Republicans use it, which he claimed is much more representative of the voting split in the U.S. In 2022, 65 percent of regular users were Democratic voters and only 31 percent were GOP voters.
As the panel continued discussing whether the impact of Musk’s ownership of X should be concerning to Americans, Jennings pointed out that the left simply can’t handle that one social media platform is out of its control.
He asked, "But isn‘t the issue that the left has gotten so used to controlling almost all institutional information distribution arms in this country that when one little piece of it, – whether it‘s X or MSNBC or anything else gets taken away – the panic is so outrageous? I mean, that‘s how used to the left is having control of all of it."
Former Biden-Harris campaign official and CNN political commentator Ashley Allison disputed the point.
"I don‘t think that that‘s an accurate assessment when you look at something like Sinclair Broadcasting Group that has purchased most of the local newspapers and local television stations and sends out distributed information that their anchors are supposed to follow for the correspondence. That is a conservative-leaning group."
