Less advocacy, more journalism. Changes at CNN and New York Times may signal push to the centre

The highest echelons of the US media were once again in the spotlight this week, after CNN this week abandoned a newly launched streaming service and the New York Times appointed a prominent Bostonian to lead it.

The new chairman and chief executive of CNN, Chris Licht, said the decision to dump CNN+ was the product of a uniquely bad situation.

A board member, John Malone, has also spoken on the subject of media bias.

CNN is not alone in signaling that it is abandoning a kind of reporting that arguably came to pass in an effort to counter Fox News, the far more profitable rightwing outlet known for intense audience loyalty.

This week, the controlling Sulzberger family tapped Joe Kahn, a former China correspondent, to be the new executive editor.

Like many news organizations, the Times is attempting to steer a path between those who would see the anti-democratic excesses of the right as reason to counter with greater activism from the left and those who say news organizations should be essentially non-political.

Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, said a breakdown of political discourse had created a problem for all institutions.

In February, the Times launched a new advertising campaign: Independent Journalism for an Independent Life. To Rosen, it was the carefully calibrated articulation of a shift that cannot be fully articulated.