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You are here: Home / Media Buzz / ‘Clash Model’ Not Working for CNN

‘Clash Model’ Not Working for CNN

April 5, 2018 at 1:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Hollywood Reporter: “Despite its down-the-middle news brand, the network trails rivals Fox News and MSNBC in viewers and weathers daily attacks from the White House as critics bemoan a ‘clash model’ of staging partisan debates that’s now outmoded.”

“CNN’s ‘clash’ model is dependent on the pro-Trump contributors for whom the network has become famous. Jeffrey Lord, the first person the network cast in the role, was ousted last summer for using a Nazi salute — he says he did it mockingly — in a Twitter debate. CNN never said why it parted ways with former Missouri Republican Party Chairman Ed Martin, but he described some of his fellow CNN contributors as ‘black racists’ on his radio show. Other contributors and commentators have gone too far but kept their jobs.”

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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