CNN is reportedly tightening up its rules on staff hawking their own products on air after Jake Tapper’s intense promotion of his book on Joe Biden turned into a “rolling infomercial.”
Tapper, 56, is the host of CNN’s The Lead, as well as being a prolific author. Last May, he released Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, written with reporter Alex Thompson.
The book examined the former president’s mental decline in office, which the authors claimed was hidden from the public until the fateful presidential debate against Donald Trump in June 2024, which Tapper moderated on CNN.
That debate exposed Biden’s deteriorating mental capacity and led to him stepping down from the election contest at the age of 81, making way for his vice president, Kamala Harris.
But a new report says Tapper’s heavy promotion of the book last year “turned into a rolling informercial” which rubbed some of his CNN colleagues the wrong way.
That included a five-minute-long segment on CNN’s State of the Union where Tapper promoted his book days ahead of its May release, reading out excerpts and interviewing politicians about some of the content of the tome.
“The book comes out Tuesday,” Tapper says at the end of the segment. “You will not believe what we found out.”
Breaker said CNN updated its standards guide on Feb. 4 after the on-air exposure of Original Sin.
“CNN’s editorial platforms are meant to distribute and showcase CNN’s journalism that our audience comes to CNN for because they know content we present goes through our editorial review,” the guide states.
The policy, which Breaker reviewed, forbids CNN hosts and contributors from using the network to promote their books beyond an initial first appearance on air upon the book’s release, which the author needs to negotiate in advance with the network’s leadership team. It also tells staff not to share QR codes or websites designed to drive book sales and insists CNN must be advised if external publicists are being used beyond in-house PR teams.
“We should not mix news and advertising, even when what is being advertised is work by a leading CNN journalist,” the revised policy states.
Breaker quoted one CNN journalist claiming Tapper is “very, very unhappy” about the new rules and demanded a meeting with CNN’s CEO Mark Thompson to talk them through.
The newsletter previously claimed some of Tapper’s colleagues felt he was getting preferential treatment with the roll out of his book and the subsequent on-air promotion.
The Daily Beast has contacted CNN for comment.
Original Sin also caused Tapper grief when he was promoting his most recent book, Race Against Terror, on Pod Save America last December.
After the plugs for his latest book were over, podcast host Tommy Vietor pointed out some online commentary that Tapper wasn’t reporting on Trump’s visible health decline in the same way he did with Biden.
Speaking with copies of his latest book strategically placed behind him, Tapper insisted The Lead did discuss Trump’s health.
“I mean, we cover it all the time on my show,” Tapper said of covering Trump’s health on his CNN show. “All the time. And I think that is to a large degree because we saw what happened with Biden and while we covered it, we didn’t cover it... maybe we didn’t ask as many questions as we should have at the time.”
Tapper continued, “I think it is a legitimate question for any president of any age, but particularly anybody who is like in the range of being an octogenarian, right?”
