The romantic tale of tv networks and Trump’s torrents of lies:
Some major TV networks showed President Donald Trump’s prime-time address live on Thursday night while others pointedly did not — a divide that highlighted Trump’s long record of lying and renewed discussion about the news media’s responsibilities.
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Trump made network decision-making a talking point in his speech. He harshly criticized NBC and ABC for not preempting their prime-time shows for his address and said it “should mean a revocation of their licenses.”
Why should it? There’s not some law or rule that tv networks are required to air presidential speeches live. It’s their decision, not the government’s and certainly not the president’s. Trump sees himself as a dictator rather than a president. We’re letting him act like a dictator, which is highly unfortunate.
Trump’s fixation on false claims about the 2020 election made Thursday night’s address a fraught event for every organization in the business of live news coverage.
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CNN opted not to take the speech live, instead treating it like other presidential events that are monitored for news and scrutinized for accuracy.
“We’ll be monitoring what the president says tonight, as we always do, but aren’t taking it live, given the president has a well-documented history of saying blatantly false things about elections,” anchor Kaitlan Collins told viewers.
In other words the president is a habitual shameless liar.
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