A CNN panel went sideways in a hurry when Republican commentator Scott Jennings pushed back on suggestions from a fellow panelist that X — now owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk — should be more strictly “regulated.”
The dustup began with complaints about the fact that Musk owns the social media platform and also has developed a close working relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, something that some on the panel found concerning.
“No one’s regulating the n-word, no one’s regulating the criticism, no one is regulating how people are treated,” former ESPN host Cari Champion said, arguing in favor of increased regulation of the platform.
“How much government regulation of the First Amendment are you for?” Jennings shot back.
Champion pushed back, arguing, “Let me tell you something, if I came on here and I just started calling you all kinds of names, do you think the bosses would continue to let me do that?”
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“I mean, it happens to me occasionally, I don’t know if you’ve watched,” Jennings dead-panned.
“But it doesn’t happen for me and I know that I wouldn’t be able to do that. There’s a level of professionalism in what we do here because we are journalists and we adhere to something, at least morally, and there is no moral compass on this thing called X,” Champion insisted.
The conversation got even testier when Jennings noted that he’d recently read a survey indicating that X was actually the most “ideologically balanced” social media platform.
WATCH:
When I said on @cnn last night that @X is the most ideologically balanced platform, folks weren’t happy. Survey says… pic.twitter.com/VXVEbvwd38
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 26, 2024
“There was a former member of the Hungarian Parliament who was writing in POLITICO, who kind of talked about this effort by that government and how specific it was in terms of purchasing media specifically for propaganda,” guest host Audie Cornish prompted. “Do you hear why they’re making that connection?”
“I mean, is the concern that certain media outlets would become propaganda arms of political ideologies? Don’t we already have that in this country at a large scale?” Jennings asked. “Also I hear what you’re saying about X, I saw a survey this week, it’s now the most ideologically balanced user platform.”
“Scott, Scott, stop, it’s too early. I just sat down. I’ve only been here for two minutes, you cannot say that. Who’s the source?!” Champion protested.
“We’ve reported on this network,” Jennings fired back, referencing a report from CNN data whiz Harry Enten that showed regular X users were evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
“It’s not accurate and you know it,” Champion insisted.
“Okay. I’ll let you make your statement, but my point is —” Jennings tried again.
“Let me frame it a different way. The site changed radically, right? So whether you think the voices are somehow more balanced now, that’s fine,” Cornish interrupted. “But no doubt Musk’s influence is profound and that you open it up and now you’re there with his opinion and he is now part of this administration.”