No, CNN should NOT carry live broadcasts of Trump's lie-filled screeds
Of course, the media must cover Trump fairly. That means with context and an insistence on accuracy
During an internal conference call at CNN the other day, the network’s new leader, Mark Thompson, was challenged by one of his lieutenants about a touchy subject.
Earlier in the week, CNN had aired 10 minutes of Trump speaking live — it was his victory speech after winning the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Eventually, the network cut away from the former president’s self-congratulatory chest beating.
And that cutoff — late as it was — prompted criticism from Trump’s political and media allies.
With that as the background, the New York Times reported, Thompson began a regular morning conference call by saying he understood there was internal debate about this incident and about similar questions that lie ahead.
Thompson, according to the New York Times, opined that CNN has a journalistic obligation to broadcast what the leading Republican candidate for president says.
After a pregnant pause, one of Thompson lieutenants piped up with what, no doubt, many were thinking: Cover Trump when he makes news but don’t just give a live platform to his campaign rhetoric.
We know, after all, that Trump lies all the time, continuing to spread thoroughly debunked charges that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Fact-checking him afterwards — if it even happens — never amounts to much. It’s pretty weak sauce compared to Trump’s bombast.
Most media people (including Thompson) admit that Trump got way too much free airtime in the 2016 election. Infamously, CNN would sometimes show the empty podium where the “ratings machine” was about to arrive.
And, more generally, the media has been unable to rip their eyes from Trump ever since he declared his candidacy in 2015. They just can’t quit him.
It is extremely important to cover Trump aggressively and thoroughly — and fairly.
In order to do that, journalists must bring as much context, and factuality, to the coverage as possible. That’s a far cry from simply training the eye of the camera on him, sticking a microphone in front of his face and blasting that out to the world. Last time I checked, that doesn’t qualify as journalism.
In a recent memo/manifesto, Thompson rallied the troops at CNN with these words for the future (the emphasis is mine): “Let’s build with confidence. Let’s fulfill our mission. Let’s learn some new tricks. Let’s look after each other. Let’s have some fun.”
Surely, it’s not part of any news organization’s mission to help a politician spread lies. In fact, seeking and disseminating the truth is at the very core of what journalists are supposed to do.
Cover Trump fully and fairly? Of course.
Broadcast him live as he spews his political talking points? No way.
I’d love to hear your views on this. If you are a paid subscriber, you can share them in the comments below. I appreciate all the subscribers here. Thanks for your attention and for caring about these issues.
It’s been a rough week or so in the media, with Sports Illustrated and the music magazine Pitchfork falling prey to market forces or incompetent ownership. There has also been turmoil at storied newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun. I wrote about the latter in my most recent Guardian column.
There are good things happening, too, in the world of media. Maybe I’ll devote a column to them soon. Thanks very much for reading.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
The media are responsible for Trump winning in 2016 by giving the cheap candidate incredible amounts of free air time. CNN gloated on how much Trump helped their bottom line, so they willingly sacrificed the American public to Trump to generate higher profits for themselves. MSNBC with Chris Matthews also gave Trump incredible amounts of free air time. After the world learned of Trump as president with his political debauchery, CNN free time did not work its magic for Trump in 2020. Now we have the expectant dictator running in 2024 with his pronouncements on how he will be a dictator and have the Justice Dept. charge his political opponents just like the dictators he admires. His speeches are a multitude of lies thrown together by an occasional verb or an adjective for spice. So CNN again wants to give him free air time while he is under indictment in four jurisdictions under 91 counts of criminal behavior. MSNBC might do they same if their ratings decline, and of course Fox will act like the media arm of the Trump campaign. The media are a major problem due to their lack of integrity in not just distributing news but also promoting, directly or indirectly, a would-be dictator and charged criminal. So the answer to CNN is what Margaret said, broadcast real news if there is any but no free time.