CBS Replaces NFL Insider Jason La Canfora After Years of Fake News Stories
NFL insider Jason La Canfora will not return to the CBS pregame show NFL Today this season.
In a now-deleted tweet, La Canfora said he appreciated his 10 years as lead CBS NFL Insider and will now focus on Audacy audio. And on Wednesday, CBS announced reporter Jonathan Jones would replace La Canfora on the pregame show.
For the past three to four seasons, there had been rumors that CBS would remove La Canfora from the role but never ultimately pulled the trigger until now.
As CBS NFL Insider, La Canfora was unable to compete with rivals Ian Rapoport (NFL Network), Adam Schefter (ESPN) and Jay Glazer (Fox Sports) in terms of news-breaking.
La Canfora gained a reputation for breaking "fake news" stories. His inaccurate reporting became a running joke on NFL blogs.
There are entire web pages dedicated to La Canfora's fake scoops. Here are some examples:
@JasonLaCanfora: I'd expect Vic Fangio and Ed Donatell to agree to join the Skins coaching staff by Tues AM. Would be very surprised if they did not
*Fangio signs with Bears the next morning*
@JasonLaCanfora: However, I'd be pretty shocked to see an Adam Gase reunion with former DEN coach Fox (CHI)
*Gase signs with Bears two days later*
Note: Jeff Fisher has still not signed with XFL Houston three years later.
La Canfora has also become increasingly political on his Twitter page. His entire timeline is dedicated to Jan. 6, Donald Trump and supposedly racist white people. In sum, La Canfora was hurting the reputation of CBS Sports.
The network decides to stay in-house with Jonathan Jones as his replacement. Jones, not exactly a news-breaker, is most known for publishing a column that accused the media of favoring Carson Wentz because he has white skin.
Jones posted this story despite pages of examples that debunked his thesis. Nevertheless, the column got Jones' name out there. So it was worth the lie.
CBS Sports sure uses the term "NFL Insider" loosely, from Jason La Canfora to the new guy.