[Read the full article at the Washington Post]

After a heated exchange between President Trump and CNN reporter Jim Acosta during a post-election news conference Wednesday, the White House suspended Acosta’s credentials. Acosta and his network have been the administration’s primary targets for more than two years; the president watches hours of cable news daily, and CNN is the network he loves to hate. While far more Americans get their news from broadcast networks and local stations than from cable news, Trump’s devotion to cable has elevated the political importance of those networks, which remain plagued by myths.

MYTH NO. 1

Cable news spawned our pugilistic and polarized politics.

CNN’s “Crossfire,” born in 1982, has routinely been held up as the avatar of punditry, blamed for ruining American politics by reducing news to left-said-right-said coverage. In 2004, Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” appeared as a guest and tore into hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson, begging them to “stop hurting America” with their punchy, polarizing show. When CNN canceled “Crossfire” a few months later, network President Joe Klein sided with Stewart. “I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart’s overall premise,” he said, pledging to give up on “head-butting debate shows.”

But “Crossfire” was a copy, not an innovation. Long before cable outlets began delivering round-the-clock coverage, network news programs pioneered left-right roundtables. In 1971, CBS’s “60 Minutes” introduced its “Point/Counterpoint” segment, pitting conservative segregationist James J. Kilpatrick against liberal Nicholas von Hoffman and then Shana Alexander. Other networks soon followed suit, experimenting with political punditry throughout the 1970s. Even the hallowed halls of public television beat cable news to the punch. In early 1982, PBS launched “The McLaughlin Group,” a roundtable show featuring pundits like Pat Buchanan and Eleanor Clift. If you want to lament, as Barack Obama did in 2010, that political commentary has devolved into “Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots,” you’ll have to start with the networks, not cable.

MYTH NO. 2

Conservatives can't get enough of Fox News.

The trope holds that conservatives mainline Fox News like a two-pack-a-day smoker inhales cigarettes. It’s even become a subgenre of confessional journalism, where people share their stories of parents radicalized by Fox News. As filmmaker Jen Senko described her own father’s addiction in an interview with the Daily Beast, “His entire life became consumed by the agendas that were inundating him on the radio, the television, and through the mail.” The news channel’s bright colors, attractive hosts and constant repetition of conservative talking points could be addictive for some, including the president, who is estimated to watch about five hours of television per day.

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