Tensions within CNN over coverage of former President Donald J. Trump burst into the open on Thursday during an internal call with the network’s journalists, as an executive candidly questioned the approach of the channel’s new chief executive, Mark Thompson.
CNN aired roughly 10 minutes of Mr. Trump’s victory speech after he won the Iowa caucuses on Monday before cutting away. The decision to cut him off prompted derision from the former president and his allies, although critics on the left questioned why CNN had taken Mr. Trump live in the first place, given his tendency to spread falsehoods and conspiracies. MSNBC chose not to take any of his remarks live.
Mr. Thompson opened his morning conference call on Thursday by acknowledging a debate within his newsroom, saying he believed the network had a journalistic obligation to broadcast the remarks of the leading Republican candidate for president.
Not so fast.
Other things being equal, yes, news outlets do have that kind of obligation.
But other things are not equal.
Trump is not a normal political candidate. Trump is not even a normal human being. Trump is a monster and a terrible threat.
Mind you, not broadcasting his remarks might make him and his troops even worse.
But news people shouldn’t be talking about Trump as if he were a normal candidate and a normal human. Ever.
Comments
4 responses to “A journalistic obligation”
They have a duty to air his words. They do not have a duty to air his words live, or free of additional context or commentary, and I’d argue that they have a standing obligation to not do that. Instead, they should record the speech, sic the fact-checkers on it, and then air it with interruptions every time he tells a lie or a distortion, stating the true facts plainly at every step.
Funny how they didn’t always seem to have the same obligation with Hillary.
@iknklast I used to get infuriated when they were airing his podium and giving a countdown to his rally start time instead of covering what Clinton was doing. And now, as another blast from the past from 2016;
Trump Mocks Nikki Haley’s First Name. Want to know how his followers justify it?
These people love them some Trump victimology, don’t they?
Trump posing as some sort of victim might win him some sympathy votes, particularly as a large number of voters think of themselves also as victims of something. His opponents IMHO should consider blowing a hole in this victim pose of his. It’s the ‘poor me’ syndrome often resorted to by children and infantile adults; Trump being a prize example of the latter.