Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the DoubleTree Manchester Downtown on Thursday, April 27, 2023 in Manchester, NH.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
CNN still has a problem with Donald Trump.
Under new CEO Chris Licht, the cable news network wants to reinvent itself as a no-frills, politically low-end product since Discovery merged with WarnerMedia last year.
70-minute public meeting on Wednesday with Asset, hosted by anchor Kaitlan Collins, was CNN’s first big opportunity since the change in ownership to present itself as a factual network. Licht told CNBC last year that the network wanted to hear from both Democrats and Republicans, but that wouldn’t allow people to come and say it’s raining when it’s not raining.
Trump has a history of peddling lies about voter fraud – an example of saying that it is raining when it is not raining. But instead of forcing the former president to stay within the confines of the truth, City Hall set up a dynamic in which Trump trampled on Collins, who repeatedly tried to stop him from lying throughout. of the hour-plus event.
Collins made it clear throughout the event when Trump was veering off to Never Land. It might have worked journalistically — had it not been for the fact that CNN inexplicably allowed a partisan audience to encourage Trump’s comments throughout the event. The effect of the noisy crowd transformed the town hall from a potentially probative interview into a de facto Trump rally, undermining Collins’ attempts to hold him to account.
At one point, embarrassed by Collins’ constant attempt to tie Trump to the truth, Trump called Collins a “mean person”. The crowd cheered.
Collins spent the first 20 minutes of town hall discussing his refusal to back down on allegations of voter fraud, which have been consistently denied by the courts, election experts and even several prominent Republicans. She responded to a question from an audience member who asked if Trump would “suspend polarizing talks about voter fraud” during his run for president.
Trump seemed confused by the question.
“If I see voter fraud, I think I have an obligation to say so,” Trump said. “But the answer is yes.”
Collins continued, “So you’re suspending discussions, at his question, about the 2020 election during the campaign trail?”
Trump responded with a no answer: “Well, I guess we’re just going to win. We’re at a point now. We’re getting so close. Let’s win it again and get our country right.”
About 10 seconds later, he continued with, “The Constitution says we’re supposed to have legal, well-maintained, well-watched elections. And we haven’t had that.”
Collins again said there was no evidence of voter fraud. Trump responded by saying he knew she had an agenda but “it was a horrible election” and “unless someone was very stupid” before pausing and not finishing the thought.
In other words, Trump said he would suspend discussions of 2020 voter fraud, then seconds later talked about 2020 voter fraud. Additionally, he brushed off Collins’ attempt to keep within the bounds of reality like having an agenda.
That’s Trump’s problem in a nutshell. Fact-checking Trump live in an interview is extremely difficult as he will crush most investigators with a torrent of words.
CNN reaction
“Tonight, Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist,” CNN said in a statement. “She asked tough, fair, and revealing questions. And she tracked and fact-checked President Trump in real time to provide voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as a frontrunner. Republican. That’s CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.”
Licht followed up Thursday morning with an inside staff address, saying he thought the event “absolutely, unequivocally” served America.
“You don’t have to like the president’s responses, but you can’t say we haven’t received them,” Licht said, according to a transcript obtained by CNBC. “That’s our job – to get answers. And we’ve held it accountable like no other news agency in years.”
But even CNN executives must have realized that Collins didn’t really hold Trump to account on Wednesday. His attempts to keep him on track were admirable, but amounted to an exhausted parent trying and failing to stop his kids from eating their Halloween candy after a trick or treat. Additionally, CNN had added a crowd of hundreds of people to cheer every time a child ate a candy.
“While it might have been uncomfortable to hear people cheering in response to some of the president’s responses, this audience represents the views of a large portion of America,” Licht said. “The mistake the media has made in the past is ignoring that they exist.”
The town hall was a successful event in that it allowed CNN audiences to see Donald Trump again, who is leading polls as the Republican favorite to win the nomination in 2024. Viewers can now make up their own minds about what they saw.
Discovery of Warner Bros. General Manager David Zaslav told CNBC last week why CNN allowed Trump to participate in a town hall despite his record of voter fraud.
“For us, the goal is to get the right message, to have the right brand, to have the right balance,” he told CNBC “scream box.” “There are a number of advocacy networks. Our goal is to be a network of facts, the best version of the facts, as Carl Bernstein would say, of great journalism, and not just politics, but when we do politics, we have to represent both sides.”
From an event point of view, the configuration of the town hall did not allow the best version of the facts to be presented. It may be an olive branch for Trump supporters, but it’s not the best journalism.
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