Anderson Cooper says in deposition CNN’s ‘rigorous’ fact-checking means he NEVER questions reporting

Anderson Cooper has testified that he will accept pre-agreed answers during interviews about legally-thorny topics, in a deposition that lifts the lid on CNN’s journalistic processes.

The 55-year-old journalist, one of CNN’s biggest stars, bristled when the lawyer deposing him described him as a television ‘host’, and insisted that he was fully involved in reporting and not just the face of the news.

He said he never attended the morning editorial meetings, and, asked about who controlled his social media, replied: ‘I don’t look at social media that much.’

On the advice of his lawyer, Cooper refused to answer questions about his contract: a magistrate judge is now ordering Cooper to respond to whether there are financial incentives or bonuses for him tied to Anderson Cooper 360 ratings.

Cooper was asked to speak about the fact-checking inside CNN as part of a law suit filed by a Florida doctor, who sued over an article accusing him of malpractice.

Anderson Cooper, pictured in March, testified in January behind closed doors about CNN’s journalistic processes

Dr Michael Black, a surgeon in Florida, is suing CNN and their medical reporter over a 2015 article

Dr Michael Black, a surgeon in Florida, is suing CNN and their medical reporter over a 2015 article

Black is suing CNN and its medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, over this 2015 article

Black is suing CNN and its medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, over this 2015 article

The article was written in 2015, and Cooper featured the story on his show. Cooper is not being sued personally, as Dr Michael Black is taking legal action against the network and their medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Cooper’s testimony, given over several days in January this year, was obtained by online news site Puck, which got hold of the documents after a court clerk failed to seal them, by mistake.

In it, he details an internal fact-checking process known as ‘The Triad’ – which sees a complicated and sensitive story reviewed by three teams: senior editors, Standards & Practices employees, and company attorneys.

Puck described it as ‘rigorous’. 

Cooper said that he had not worked before at an organization with such an intense system, and it gave him confidence in the reporting.

Cooper, one of CNN's biggest stars, bristled at the description of himself as a television host

Cooper, one of CNN’s biggest stars, bristled at the description of himself as a television host

He said that, when he was given a script with the answers for the reporters provided, he would not query the discussion because it meant there had already been lengthy legal discussions.

‘My getting involved with [the review] will only gum up the works because so many eyes had looked at it,’ he said.

‘Normally, I would just ask the question that I’m interested in about something, and the reporter wouldn’t know in advance what I’m asking, and they would just answer it.

‘The fact that there is an answer here [in this script,] I’m assuming that meant it had gone to the Triad process.’

Pressed about the fact-checking, Cooper insisted that he was engaged in the reporting, and was not being spoon-fed material for his show.

Cooper rejected the notion that he was, as Mediate put it, ‘just a pretty face’. 

‘I feel it makes it seem like I don’t do anything all day long and I’m just sitting around for the camera to turn on,’ he said.

‘I’m deeply involved, you know, all day long every day, in learning and research and stuff.

‘It’s just not for lengthy yearlong investigations.’

When he was asked if CNN has any rules or policies for how hosts should conduct interviews, Cooper replied: ‘Well, host isn’t a term I would use.’

The insight into CNN’s practices comes as the new CEO, Chris Licht, who took over in May, attempts to insert more rigor into CNN’s journalism and steer the network away from opinion broadcasting.

Vocal and unabashed critics of Donald Trump such as media correspondent Brian Stelter, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and political correspondent John Harwood have all left in the past month.

Puck also reported that Licht is considering making more major changes, and that anchors like Jim Acosta and Brianna Keilar could also be out.

The Black case is expected to go to trial in the spring, and pry yet further into the network.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN's medical correspondent, is being sued by Black

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN’s medical correspondent, is being sued by Black

It came after CNN reported, both online and on Cooper’s show, that the mortality rate for open-heart surgery at the West Palm Beach hospital where Black worked was ‘three times the national average’.

Black claims the statistic is not accurate, and says that CNN had been warned that its methodology effectively cherry-picked data by focusing only on the highest-risk procedures.

The hospital, St. Mary, closed its pediatric cardiac surgery program in the aftermath of the expose.

More than 240 CNN employees, including its then-president, Jeff Zucker, were involved in handling the story.

Black is represented by the same conservative husband-and-wife litigators, Tom Clare and Libby Locke, that are leading a case against Fox News regarding its election coverage.

Fox is being sued by Dominion voting systems for defamation, after they reported that their technology was used to rig the 2020 election.

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