Dan Rather asked this question today and it seems to be resonating with a lot of people. His comment has 34k likes so far.

What is going on at CNN? It’s a serious question. There is a lot of speculation on directives and motives. What’s really going on? And is it being noticed by the audience?

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) September 2, 2022

The replies are full of messages like this one:

Oh we’re noticing. @cnn is now fox news ugly twin sister. https://t.co/t5lbtT2i6S

— 🇺🇸 🌊 (@CaseysSthnBlue) September 2, 2022

There’s even a #CNNIsTheNewFox hashtag circulating. The cause of the immediate outburst isn’t very clear but my best guess is that Rather was reacting to this bit of news from John Harwood:

personal news:

today's my last day at CNN

proud of the work

thanks to my colleagues

i've been lucky to serve the best in American media – St. Petersburg Times, WSJ, NYT, the NBC family, CNN

look forward to figuring out what's next

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 2, 2022

Harwood apparently had time left on his contract so as Dylan Byers put it, “he was pushed.”

Fwiw: Harwood had 2 years left on contract. So, like Stelter, he was pushed early. https://t.co/OTgzFdVTch

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) September 2, 2022

NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen called it a “public sacrifice” and connected it to Brian Stelter’s firing.

Pending any other explanation, this looks to be a second public sacrifice and warning to the CNN staff, after Stelter's. https://t.co/LEgvdWJZnB

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) September 2, 2022

And here’s where things get a little more complicated/conspiratorial. You may recall that when Stelter was canned there was lots of speculation about why. I engaged in some of that speculation myself. There were basically two different theories for why CNN agreed to pay off Stelter’s contract to get rid of him. The first was that new boss Chris Licht wanted to change the tone at CNN and get away from the constant attacks on Fox News that had become the core of Stelter’s brand. The alternative theory was that Licht’s decisions were being guided by an invisible hand:

The media correspondent frequently took strong positions against the misinformation of the Trump administration and got into on-air scuffles with Fox News, which he frequently called out for inaccurate and misleading reporting…

Those exchanges got the attention of John Malone, a Warner Bros. Discovery board member who owned in 2021 more than 93% of Discovery’s Class B shares and remains a major stakeholder in the company post-merger. In late 2021, Malone made waves with a CNBC interview when he said CNN should return to nonpartisan journalism once under Discovery’s control. “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” Malone sniped at the time.

Stelter called out Malone in February, accusing the billionaire of criticizing CNN without actually watching it and creating an atmosphere of anxiety in the newsroom. “Malone’s comments stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice,” Stelter wrote in his widely read media newsletter at the time.

Two senior Warner Bros Discovery executives denied that Stelter’s ouster was influenced in any way by Malone, calling the decision to cancel “Reliable Sources” entirely Licht’s.

The idea that John Malone is behind this hasn’t evaporated. Last week Vox published a story titled “Why billionaire John Malone’s shadow looms over CNN.” There’s still no proof Malone was involved in Stelter’s firing and people who know him have denied it but the idea that this is perhaps all a libertarian/conservative plot persists.

In any case, John Harwood decided to go out with a bang, using one of his last CNN appearances to reinforce the message of Biden’s speech last night.

Now updated with truth-telling from @JohnJHarwood, which was followed moments later by his departure from CNN. https://t.co/5UfghMdlXg pic.twitter.com/4F1XHisPS9

— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) September 2, 2022

And people are (wrongly) assuming that John Malone is targeting anyone who speaks up.

And whoosh, January 6 funder John Malone had Harwood disappeared https://t.co/d1NPIwq5k2

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 2, 2022

But Dan Froomkin from Presswatch says Harwood’s departure was decided a month ago, so today’s statement about Biden’s speech had nothing to do with his departure.

Now further updated: A knowledgeable source tells me @JohnJHarwood was informed last month that today would be his last day, even though he was on a long-term contract. "He used one of this last live shots to send a message," the source told me. https://t.co/3DuYs9wGRa. https://t.co/I1zGjHRc9T

— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) September 2, 2022

Even if you step back from all of this it doesn’t make very much sense. It’s all just a muddle of left-wing conspiratorial finger-pointing. A lot of people feel that CNN is abandoning the progressive cause and are blaming that on John Malone or Chris Licht and it all filtered up to the point that Dan Rather is asking in a semi-panic: “What is going on at CNN?”

The truth is that CNN’s ratings are pretty bad and Chris Licht is trying to move the network back to the center to help their credibility and their ratings. I don’t know if it will work but I’m confident that CNN is not turning into Fox News no matter what some folks are saying.

Update: The Post put up a story about this last night.

Harwood, who could not be reached for comment, appeared on CNN Friday morning, reporting from the grounds of the White House. But at noon, he announced his departure on Twitter. He wrote that he is “proud of the work” he did at CNN and “[looks] forward to figuring out what’s next.”…

Several current and former CNN employees who spoke with The Washington Post — most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly — are interpreting the sudden exodus as evidence that Licht, who joined the network as chairman and CEO in May, is starting his tenure by casting out voices that had often been critical of former president Donald Trump and his allies, in an effort to present a new, more ideologically neutral CNN. That aligns with a vision repeatedly expressed by David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery…

“People are freaked out,” said one CNN journalist. “It almost feels like there’s a pattern. Is there a purge going on? They seem to be sending a message: ‘Watch what you say. Watch what you do.’”…

“It’s a really confusing and unsettling time from top to bottom at CNN,” the producer said. “I don’t know anyone who is happy right now.”