CNN anchor Jake Tapper is reportedly "very unhappy" over a change to the network's ethics guidelines that appears deliberately targeted at his alleged self-promotion, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday.
"Tapper, 56, is the host of CNN’s The Lead, as well as being a prolific author," said the report. "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."
According to the report, the network was alarmed as Tapper promoted the book continuously on his news segments, to the point that "The Lead" effectively became a "rolling infomercial" for it, including "reading out excerpts and interviewing politicians about some of the content of the tome" days ahead of the book's publication.
The new policy "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."
Tapper, for his part, is reportedly "very, very unhappy" with the changes, according to a journalist who spoke to Breaker Media, and he "demanded a meeting with CNN’s CEO Mark Thompson to talk them through."
This comes amid other recent ethics controversies from CNN, including a sponsorship deal with the online gambling platform Kalshi that has led to the network's elections analyst, Harry Enten, frequently treating Kalshi prediction market fluctuations as news updates — an arrangement that has attracted criticism across the political spectrum, ranging from progressive outlets like The Intercept to right-wing Congressman Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ).