CNN boss Mark Thompson told more than 100 journalists and top on-air talent including Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper that they ought to avoid “pre-judging” President-elect Donald Trump while cautioning them “against expressing any outrage of their own” during the inauguration, according to a report.
Thompson convened a virtual editorial meeting Sunday that included Tapper, Cooper and scores of other senior news personalities to discuss CNN’s coverage of the inaugural ceremonies that took place the next day in Washington, DC, according to the Status newsletter.
During the meeting, Thompson “made it clear that he did not want the coverage to relitigate the past,” according to Status reporter Oliver Darcy — an allusion to CNN’s historically hostile relationship with Trump.