In a gross violation of journalistic ethics, a CNN journalist gave the Biden administration a sneak peek of her article looking for the government stamp of approval before publishing.
The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) obtained documents shared exclusively with MRC Business showing that CNN congressional reporter Clare Foran all but asked the Department of Energy to greenlight her 2023 story going after Republican politicians for pushing to prohibit DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm from implementing any rule that would “limit consumer access to gas kitchen ranges and ovens.” The emails uncovered by FGI — dated March 30, 2023 — don’t denote a run-of-the-mill media inquiry for comment. Rather, the documents expose Foran directly asking government officials if what she wrote in her piece — updated just hours after her correspondence with DOE — was okay for publishing.
Foran emailed DOE chief spokesperson Charisma Troiano concerning a congressional hearing during which Granholm testified on Biden’s gas stove policy. Foran wrote in the email, “I want to paraphrase some of the Energy Secretary’s points and want to make sure I’m characterizing accurately. Can you let me know if the below is all correct?”
Indeed, Foran broke one of the cardinal rules of journalistic ethics: Never send your article to your source or subject, whether in part or in whole, before publication. While it is typical for journalists to seek comments, clarification or even verify the facts routinely, that is not what Foran was doing here.
Foran proceeded to copy and paste three paragraphs from her story summarizing Granholm’s comments despite the fact that Foran was basically just quoting from Granholm’s video testimony from the hearing:
I listened to the hearing. I want to paraphrase some of what the Energy Secretary’s points and want to make sure I’m characterizing accurately. Can you let me know if the below is all correct? Thank you.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, testifying before a House committee last week, said the Energy Department is required by Congress to work on energy efficiency regulations, including for gas and electric stovetops.
Referring to a proposed rule, Granholm said, ‘it is just about making existing electric and gas stoves, and all the other appliances, more efficient.’
‘There is no ban on gas stoves. I have a gas stove,’ Granholm said.
“Yep,” Troiano emailed Foran in approval. Those three pre-approved paragraphs were published 99 percent verbatim on CNN.
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics forbids journalists from engaging in any “political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility,” which seeking approval on content on a story from a government entity would clearly constitute. In addition, SPJ instructs journalists to “resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.” Foran essentially invited the DOE to exert external pressure on CNN’s coverage.
An earlier email shows Foran displayed lazy research skills. She encouraged the DOE to define its own regulations for her, something she could have easily found on the internet and summarized herself without running it by the Biden administration first. According to documents, Foran wrote, “Not for attribution, but I wanted to ask if this description in bold is accurate: In February, the Energy Department proposed new efficiency standards for consumer products, such as kitchen ranges and ovens, used to cook food with gas, electricity, or microwave energy.”
The email chain revealed that Troiano tried calling Foran directly and even offered her personal cellphone number for future correspondence: “Hey Clare – tried calling you. My cell [phone number was redacted for security reasons].”
MRC Business Vice President Dan Schneider blasted CNN for once again illustrating to the world why it isn’t a reliable news outlet. “Foran’s actions beg the question of how many other CNN stories are run through government channels first before getting published. CNN’s approach is the action of a publicist, not a journalist.” Schneider continued: “After all, it was CNN’s Oliver Darcy who admitted in 2021 that Biden White House officials were holding ‘briefings with major newsrooms’ to pressure the media to add more positive spin to their economic coverage of the president. Not only has CNN obliged, but its incestuous relationship with the White House has clearly continued with impunity.”
The attempt to dismiss the reality of Biden’s gambit against gas stoves is nothing short of ludicrous gaslighting — no pun intended.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute noted in June 2023 — just a few months after Foran’s story was published — that “[w]hile no single restriction in the works will categorically eliminate new gas stoves, the cumulative effect of them all would come very close in the years ahead.”
Specifically, CEI analyzed that at least two federal agencies were “tailoring their actions to strangle gas stoves in red tape as part of the administration’s war on fossil fuel production and use. The likely result will be gas stoves that cost more and don’t work as well, tilting the balance in favor of electric versions.”
After all, one of the primary reasons why there was any outcry about a gas stove ban at all was because U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Commissioner Richard Trumka — a Biden appointee — propagandized to Bloomberg News in January 2023 about the “hidden hazards” of gas stoves and proclaimed that “[a]ny option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Conveniently, Foran didn’t mention this context at all in her March 2023 write-up, perhaps because it would upend her Biden administration-approved version.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact CNN at 404-827-1500 and hold it to account for violating journalistic ethics by acting as Biden’s press room.
