Why Is CNN Paying John Kasich to Seemingly Trial-Balloon a 2020 Run?

Why Is CNN Paying John Kasich to Seemingly Trial-Balloon a 2020 Run?

Experts say CNN paying Ohio’s ex-governor for his punditry could cause ethical ‘chaos,’ but neither network brass nor Kasich’s camp seem all that worried.
Maxwell Tani
02.19.19
5:09 AM ET


CNN’s political news reporters have found themselves in a bizarre, murky position: One of their newest colleagues may very likely run for president.

Before and since joining CNN a month ago as a paid on-air contributor, John Kasich has made no secret that he could run for president again. In fact, ever since the 2016 election, a consistent feature of political coverage has been headlines about the Republican ex-governor of Ohio “mulling” or “considering” a primary or third-party challenge against President Trump.

And when he appears on CNN, he sounds like he’s on the stump.

Often asked to react to other candidates’ presidential aspirations and campaign moves, Kasich falls back on the messaging he tried out as a GOP primary candidate in 2016.

“You must communicate to people in this country that we understand your struggles: health care, the fact that you’re not getting ahead with your income, the fact that your kind can’t get a job,” Kasich said on CNN last month. “That’s what people I believe want to hear. And we’ll see who can articulate that.”

Media critics knocked CNN for signing Kasich knowing he may still run for president, saying the network is effectively giving him a paid platform to build momentum for a future campaign.



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