Media's Double Standard on CNN Hiring Political Operatives 'With No Journalism Experience': Sarah Isgur Flores vs. Laura Jarrett

As NewsBusters has previously reported, the national media, including CNN itself, have gone into an uproar over CNN's decision to hire former Justice Department Spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores as Deputy Political Editor. The topic came up on Wednesday's edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, where the eponymous host discussed the Isgur Flores hysteria with media reporter for The Hill Joe Concha.  Carlson dismissed the idea that there were "ethical implications" to hiring somebody "who publicly supported Trump," noting that "there are quite a few former Obama staffers on the CNN payroll." Concha read aloud some headlines about CNN's hiring of Isgur Flores, including one from Vox: "CNN Hires GOP Operative With No Journalism Experience to Coordinate Its 2020 Coverage," and one from Esquire: "CNN Just Set the New Standard for Corporate Media's Chickensh** Catering to Republicans." Concha then proceeded to outline a seemingly hypothetical scenario that actually turned out to be real: "But let's put it this way, let's say that CNN hired Valerie Jarrett's daughter, okay, and she was assigned to cover the Trump DOJ despite having no journalism experience whatsoever. Do you think that Esquire, Vox, and all of these other publications would be going nuts right now over a hiring like that of somebody who has no journalism experience but obviously has a bias, and the answer is, we already know the answer, because that actually happened in 2017."  Valerie Jarrett's daughter, Laura, works for CNN.  Carlson expressed bewilderment that CNN hired Valerie Jarrett's daughter and Concha mentioned how "it was barely reported."