CNN anchor Dana Bash said “objective reporting” no longer means giving “all sides” of an issue.
The “Inside Politics” host was featured in an April cover spread for Modern Luxury’s DC magazine as one of Washington’s “steadiest voices” based on her habit of “interrogating inconsistencies” in her guests and pushing back on incomplete narratives.
“Where once the journalistic mandate was often framed as presenting opposing viewpoints and allowing the audience to decide, Bash argues that such symmetry no longer suffices,” the article stated.
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Bash argued that objective reporting now means explaining when a person says something false or misleading instead of presenting all sides.
“Objective reporting doesn’t mean just giving all sides of the issue,” Bash said. “Objective reporting now, rightly so, means explaining what somebody says when it’s false or when it’s not right or when it’s misleading.”
Bash also spoke about holding strong against “increasing hostility” toward the media by some “political figures.”
“It’s intimidation,” Bash said. “There have been different governments over decades who have tried to do that. And when it’s successful, that’s when it gets scary in a democracy. The principle is not to succumb to that.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to CNN and the White House for comment.
Bash has a history of sparring with guests on her show. In January, she pressed then-Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino on the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent after Bovino claimed Pretti had intended to do “maximum damage” before his death.
“There’s no evidence that he was perpetrating violence,” Bash argued. “And there’s no evidence, unless you have it, and we’d love to see it if there is, that he was intending to massacre law enforcement other than the fact that he was there, and he had a gun lawfully.”
“He meant to be there beforehand. Again, Dana, he came there beforehand for a reason,” Bovino said.
“How do you know that? How do you know that?” Bash asked.
“Because he was there, because he was there,” Bovino responded.
She also had a contentious interview with then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance in 2024 after Vance defended claims that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating their pets.”
“I think that if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were making unsubstantiated claims that had racist undertones about people eating dogs and cats, I would, and they didn‘t answer the questions about that, then I would have similar interactions with them. As you know, I am very grateful that you come on the show, as I am for other Republicans. But this is something that you’re hearing from constituents. I did a lot of reporting. I’ve talked to people in Ohio over the weekend, and they’re really worried about these claims,” Bash said.
