“Covid? Gangbusters with ratings, right? Which is why we constantly have the death toll on the side,”Chester said in the video, which was posted on social media on Wednesday.
The CNN employee also revealed that he had mixed feelings about the death tracker. “I’ve even looked at it and been like… let’s make it higher,” he said. “Like, why isn’t it high enough, you know, today? Like, it would make our point better if it was higher. And I’m like, what am I f**king rallying for?”
Chester conceded to the undercover Project Veritas reporter that despite such concerns, hyping fear yields higher ratings, which helps keep him employed.
He noted that on many occasions where his director has told him to remove the Covid-19 death tracker from the screen, the network’s chief (Jeff Zucker) has called on a special red “bat phone” to order that it be restored.
“Every so often they put it on speaker, and it’s like the head of network being like, ‘There’s nothing that you’re doing right now that makes me want to stick. Put the numbers back up because that’s the most enticing thing that we had. So put it back up.’”
The latest Project Veritas video was released a day after the undercover news outlet posted a video in which Chester spoke of the network’s focus on getting former President Donald Trump out of office and said it was instrumental, through its propaganda, in getting Democrat Joe Biden elected. He admitted also that because US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) was a thorn in the side for Democrats, CNN will incessantly air stories that hurt the congressman’s image so the allegations against him won’t be quietly forgotten.
CNN’s coverage of Covid-19 reflected a formula for the way the network capitalizes on news, Chester said. “It’s fear,” he said. “Like, fear really drives numbers.” The technical director added that, while the “happiest”news might cause people to go and spend time with their families, “Fear is the thing that keeps you tuned in, I would imagine. What’s the scariest thing next, you know?”
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe said Chester’s comments on the power that CNN wields over its audience should “caution people everywhere who take the journalism at these corporations seriously.”O’Keefe said his outlet’s next video on Chester will show “CNN’s roadmap to the reality that they want you to believe.”
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