Jack Houghton:
Well, joining me now to break down this coverage is the Institute of Public Affairs chief economist, and of course a former Washington correspondent for The Australian, Adam Creighton. Joining us for the first time on the desk in our new podcast studio. We got mics and everything. It’s a lot of fun.
Adam Creighton:
Indeed. Thank you very much for having me.
Jack Houghton:
Well, welcome.
Adam Creighton:
Great to be here for the first time in person. Thank you.
Jack Houghton:
Yes. Well, let’s talk CNN. And look, I’m sure you would’ve come across a whole bunch of CNN reporters in your time as a correspondent in Washington. This was one of the more egregious examples of bias. And the way I put it in the editorial was this almost romanticising of what the teens were doing in the lead up to the attack.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah, look, it was basically propaganda. It wasn’t really news reporting at all. I wasn’t really that surprised. I mean, this was particularly egregious, as you say. They had to take down the tweet. There’ve been other cases where they’ve had to take things down as well. And I assume someone gets a slap on the wrist somewhere because it’s just too embarrassing even for CNN.
Jack Houghton:
Or a pat on the back.
Adam Creighton:
Or maybe a pat on the back.
Jack Houghton:
Who knows?
Adam Creighton:
Or a pat on the back. But look, it’s a sad case, the decline of CNN. It was created in the 80s, I think maybe 70s, Ted Turner, as a hard news organisation. Sadly now, I think barely single digits of Republicans would have any confidence in it whatsoever, but of course Democrats, very high confidence in it. It just reflects the polarisation of US cable news. The advertising’s drying up, the audiences are drying up, and so they go harder and harder to get the extremes to hang on. And they tend to be TDS boomers in the case of CNN.
Jack Houghton:
Yeah. I want to play a clip as well from CNN, which really goes to show this problem where they were trying to make it seem in a subtle way as if the Muslim mayor was a target. And let’s play this grab.
Panellist 1:
Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. And the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing really to condemn those comments. Another special guest is going to be with us at the table.
Jack Houghton:
And then of course, there is another grab which is even worse.
Panellist 2:
Ironic is… So supposedly some of these comments are as a result of the attempt against Mayor Mamdani in New York who was raised Muslim, was he not himself?
Panellist 1:
Yeah.
Panellist 2:
So they’re being anti-Muslim to… And they’re finally defending Mamdani over something.
Panellist 3:
To be clear, the attack wasn’t on Mayor Mamdani.
Panellist 2:
It was at his house.
Panellist 3:
It was attacking protesters.
Panellist 4:
At a protest at Gracie Mansion.
Panellist 3:
People protesting Mamdani.
Panellist 2:
Right by his house.
Panellist 3:
To frame it as an anti-Muslim attack would actually completely reverse what happened. Someone who shouted Allahu Akbar-
Panellist 2:
No, I’m not saying that it was anti-Muslim.
Panellist 3:
… threw a bomb that didn’t go off at the protesters.
Panellist 2:
I’m saying that Republicans are finally doing something.
Jack Houghton:
Adam, it’s rather shocking.
Adam Creighton:
It’s a total mischaracterization, but they’re trying to cast the protest as if it was somehow illegal when it was not illegal at all. It’s very, very clear under US law, very strong freedom of speech protections. Whatever they were saying, even if you disagree with it, the Supreme Court said in the Brandenburg decision, 1969, the Skokie decision, 1979, that even if you say completely outrageous things, even in close proximity to the supposed target, completely legal. There’s nothing wrong with that protest that happened.
What of course is wrong was the throwing in the bombs, that’s the breaking of the law. Although you almost don’t even get a sense of that from the reporting. It’s all about these horrible protesters outside the mayor’s house. They weren’t doing anything illegal whatsoever. Yeah. And the homemade bombs, I mean, doesn’t that suggest that they were made before they started their wonderful little journey through the sunshine across state borders?
Jack Houghton:
Well, their lives were changed forever, Adam.
Adam Creighton:
I think they’ve made them already.
Jack Houghton:
Have some empathy for the terrorists. Their lives were changed forever.
Adam Creighton:
So terrible. So terrible.
Jack Houghton:
It’s crazy that some of these people get let on television. As you said, just this network, which has just such a history in the American public, to make those arguments. And to me, there was that clear suggestion as well. Did she think that the bombs were meant for the mayor or is she kind of idiotic? Is it an IQ thing or is it an intentional?
Adam Creighton:
[inaudible 00:04:13]
Jack Houghton:
It’s good that it gets called out in the panel, but it’s crazy that it even gets to that point.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah. Look, when I left for US, interesting with CNN. I thought CNN was trying to become more centrist, basically move to the right because some people say there’s more dollars on that side. Clearly that has not happened.
Jack Houghton:
I think that they’re trying.
Adam Creighton:
Are they trying?
Jack Houghton:
I do think they’re trying.
Adam Creighton:
They sacked a few people. They sacked Don Lemon, didn’t they, from memory? I think that was a great thing I thought, and he’s kind of flopped since, I think. But look, they’re trying, but obviously it’s hard, just like the ABC here. I mean, if the journalists are a certain way inclined, doesn’t matter what managements say.
Jack Houghton:
The talent.
Adam Creighton:
The talent. Yes. Yeah, it’s hard to shift. It’s an oil tanker.
Jack Houghton:
Well, they’re not the only one’s the problem. Let’s have a listen to this grab from The View.
Joy Behar:
I feel like we’re living in the reign of terror. Am I the only one here to remember the French Revolution? I mean, I really feel like every day I wake up and he has created more chaos, more misery around the world. The economy is going down the toilet. Gas prices are going through the roof. World economies are suffering. And we’re in the middle of this and I feel like we’re pretty much helpless to do anything.
Jack Houghton:
Okay. I thought that we kind of agreed that we don’t try and call for political violence and we don’t call for the French Revolution.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah. Well, look, I mean, nice to have a little bit of history, but I think she forgets the French Revolution, it was crazy leftist running around basically chopping people’s heads off for not agreeing with the state. So I think she’s got a bit confused there. So yeah, nice to have some history.
Jack Houghton:
Or maybe she doesn’t.
Adam Creighton:
That’s true.
Jack Houghton:
That’s the thing, right?
Adam Creighton:
That’s true. Maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she doesn’t. So anyway, that show is comical. We all know now. But it’s good entertainment. Otherwise, what would you do without The View?
Jack Houghton:
Definitely. And look, back what you were saying about CNN, an attempt to become centrist. Let’s play this grab of Scott Jennings because he is… God bless Scott Jennings.
Panellist 5:
… investigation and he took full accountability and responsibility for that.
Scott Jennings:
Did you agree with the President when the President after all the Afghanistan investigations judged it to be a raging success, President Biden?
Panellist 5:
Well, I didn’t say… Well, I didn’t say that. I think he didn’t say that.
Scott Jennings:
Oh, yes. He said it was a big success.
Joe Biden:
Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history. The extraordinary success of this mission…
Jack Houghton:
It’s very good having him there. I love adversarial television, so I do like when you’ve got…
Adam Creighton:
We don’t hear many grabs of Biden anymore, even the old ones. Just a reminder of just how shocking those years were, which I covered. I had to put up with that all the time. I had to write stories from that mumbling. But just what a contrast with Donald Trump. Similar age, Trump, whatever you think of him, he can talk and he’s much sharper than the former president there. So world of difference.
This transcript of Adam Creighton on The Media Show Sky News Australia from 13 March 2026 has been edited for clarity.
