Media Hides Truth About Trump
Both CNN and MSNBC made the decision not to broadcast former President Trump’s speech to his supporters after his court hearing on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to 37 federal felony counts related to alleged mishandling of classified records.
According to Fox, CNN anchor Jake Tapper justified this choice during Tuesday night’s broadcast, stating that it could be potentially dangerous to air Trump’s remarks. Tapper openly expressed concerns about the former president’s tendency to make false statements, telling CNN viewers and guest Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that they would not carry the speech live.
Earlier in the day, Tapper had expressed frustration with CNN producers for showing footage of Trump celebrating with his supporters, declaring that he had seen enough of it. He believed that Trump was trying to turn the situation into a spectacle and campaign advertisement.
Tapper further cautioned the audience that CNN would air a clip of Trump defending himself, but he warned that it would likely contain baseless claims about the charges against him and the people he believed were involved.
MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow also announced during her show on Tuesday night that her network had made the same decision. Maddow explained that they expected Trump’s speech to resemble a campaign speech and, as a result, they had no intention of broadcasting it live. She emphasized the network’s commitment to protecting its reputation and journalistic integrity.
Maddow clarified that the decision was not a celebratory one and not made lightly. She stated that knowingly broadcasting falsehoods would compromise their ability to provide accurate news, regardless of who made those false statements. However, she did mention that they would reconsider their stance if Trump said anything truly newsworthy.
CNN’s choice to withhold the broadcast came shortly after the firing of CEO Chris Licht, following internal turmoil at the network. Licht had drawn criticism from liberals when CNN aired a town hall with Trump, and some of the network’s journalists publicly expressed their discontent. The decision also resulted in backlash from liberal viewers, causing a 32% decline in CNN’s primetime viewership in the weeks following the town hall.
After Licht’s dismissal, insiders and media watchdogs speculated that he had fallen victim to cancel culture within the network, as he lost the support of liberal employees who preferred the previous regime’s more partisan journalism.
During his passionate speech to his supporters on Tuesday night, Trump portrayed his federal indictment as a “sham” and accused the Biden administration of election interference, labeling it the most egregious abuse of power in the nation’s history. He criticized Special Counsel Jack Smith as a “deranged lunatic” and accused President Biden of orchestrating the arrest and charges against him as a means of political persecution, comparing it to tactics employed in fascist or communist nations.
