CNN town hall shows the network still doesn’t know how to handle Donald Trump

CNN nonetheless has a Donald Trump downside.

Under the management of latest CEO Chris Licht, the cable news community needs to reimagine itself as a no-nonsense, politically down-the-middle product since Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia final yr.

Wednesday’s 70-minute city corridor with Trump, moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins, was CNN’s first large alternative because the change of possession to showcase itself as a community of information. Licht informed CNBC final yr the community needs to listen to from each Democrats and Republicans, nevertheless it will not enable folks to return on and say it is raining when it isn’t.

Trump has a historical past of peddling election fraud lies — an instance of claiming it is raining when it isn’t. But as a substitute of forcing the previous president to remain throughout the bounds of the reality, the city corridor arrange a dynamic the place Trump ran roughshod over Collins, who repeatedly tried to maintain him from mendacity all through the hour-plus occasion.

Collins gamely identified all through the occasion when Trump was veering into fantasy land. That could have labored journalistically – had it not been for the truth that CNN inexplicably allowed a partisan viewers to cheer on Trump’s working commentary all through the occasion. The impact of the raucous crowd turned the city corridor from a doubtlessly probing interview right into a de facto Trump rally, undermining Collins’ makes an attempt at holding him to activity.

At one level, bothered by Collins’ constant try and tether Trump to the reality, Trump known as Collins “a nasty person.” The crowd cheered.

Collins spent the primary 20 minutes of the city corridor discussing his refusal to again off election fraud claims, which have been constantly debunked by courts, election consultants and even a number of distinguished Republicans. She took a query from an viewers member who requested if Trump would “suspend polarizing talk of election fraud” throughout his run for president.

Trump appeared confused by the query.

“If I see election fraud, I think I have an obligation to say it,” Trump stated. “But the answer is yes.”

Collins adopted up, “So you will suspend talk, to his question, about the 2020 election on the campaign trail?”

Trump answered with a nonanswer: “Well, I guess we’re going to just win. We’re at a point now. We’re getting so close. Let’s just win it again and straighten out our country.”

About 10 seconds later, he adopted with: “The Constitution says that we’re supposed to have legal and well-maintained and well-looked-at elections. And we didn’t have that.”

Collins once more interjected that there is no proof of election fraud. Trump responded by saying he is aware of she has an agenda however “that was a horrible election” and “unless someone is very stupid” earlier than trailing off and never ending the thought.

In different phrases, Trump stated he’d droop discuss in regards to the 2020 election fraud after which, seconds later, spoke about 2020 election fraud. Moreover, he dismissed Collins’ try at retaining him throughout the bounds of actuality as having an agenda.

This is the Trump downside in a nutshell. Live fact-checking Trump in an interview is extraordinarily tough as a result of he’ll steamroll most interviewers with a torrent of phrases.

“Tonight Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist,” CNN stated in a press release. “She asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner. That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.”

Licht adopted up Thursday morning with an inside workers handle, saying he thought the occasion “absolutely, unequivocally” served America.

“You don’t have to like the president’s answers but you can’t say we didn’t get them,” Licht stated, in accordance with a transcript obtained by CNBC. “That’s our job – to get answers. And we held him accountable like no other news organization in years.”

But even CNN executives will need to have realized Collins did not actually maintain Trump to account on Wednesday. Her makes an attempt at retaining him on observe have been admirable however tantamount to an exhausted mother or father attempting and failing to maintain her youngsters from consuming their Halloween sweet after trick-or-treating. Plus, CNN had added a crowd of tons of to cheer each time a toddler ate a bit of sweet.

“While it might’ve been uncomfortable to hear people clapping in response to some of the president’s answers, that audience represents the views of a large swath of America,” Licht stated. “The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that they exist.”

The city corridor was profitable as an occasion in that it allowed CNN’s viewers to once more see Donald Trump, who’s main polls because the Republican front-runner to win the nomination in 2024. Viewers can now make their very own minds up about what they noticed.

Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav informed CNBC final week why CNN allowed Trump to take part in a city corridor regardless of his historical past of election fraud lies.

“For us, the focus is let’s get the message right, let’s get the brand right, let’s the get the balance right,” he informed CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “There are a number of advocacy networks out there. Our focus is to be a network of facts, the best version of the facts, as Carl Bernstein would say, great journalism, and not just politics, but when we do politics, we need to represent both sides.”

From an event-planning perspective, the setup of the city corridor did not enable for one of the best model of information to be introduced. That could also be an olive department for Trump supporters, nevertheless it is not one of the best journalism.

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