Soledad O’Brien, who used to host a prime-time CNN show, hit the cable channel’s political analyst Chris Cillizza for what she called “terrible analysis” of the White House.
O’Brien, who now hosts her own independent current affairs program online, linked to a piece by Cillizza on CNN’s website Tuesday, tweeting, “This terrible analysis by @CillizzaCNN is in part why people hate the media.”
“Hey Soledad! Thanks as always for reading,” Cillizza replied.
O’Brien told Cillizza to “be thoughtful about the stories you tell and how you tell them.”
Cillizza said that he didn’t “get” O’Brien’s criticism.
This terrible analysis by @CillizzaCNN is in part why people hate the media. https://t.co/xxRcAspyC1
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) March 7, 2018
“It’s not accurate. It’s not funny. It’s not clever. It’s not analysis,” she replied. “It’s facile. It shows an actual lack of understanding of reality tv (can’t believe I’m typing that). It’s mediocre. It’s a time when viewers need to understand what’s going on at the highest levels of [government].”
Cillizza said he appreciated O’Brien’s “candor” but that he was “sorry” she felt that way.
Cillizza’s piece was headlined, “Donald Trump is producing the greatest reality show ever.” It cast Trump’s White House as if it were the center of a reality TV with villains, drama and conflict, drawing on President Trump as the longtime star of NBC’s “The Apprentice.”
Did you actually read the piece? Or just make assumptions on the headline?
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) March 7, 2018
“Is there anything more reality TV than rapidly rising and then collapsing fortunes?” the piece said. “The man or woman who you think is for sure going to win ‘Survivor’ or get the final rose (do they still do that?) on ‘The Bachelor’ suddenly falls into disfavor and is out before you blink. You never see it coming!”
O’Brien did not immediately return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
