U.S. networks face dilemma over whether to air Trump’s election security speech
By Helen Coster
NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) – U.S. television networks are discussing whether President Donald Trump will make a planned prime time speech on Thursday, as he is expected to focus his remarks on “election security” four months before the crucial midterm elections.
Networks have historically broadcast most such conversations on the grounds that they provide publicly important information.
The White House is considering using the speech to disclose sensitive intelligence about China’s intent or ability to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election, and some Trump officials worry it could be misleading, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Trump spent years sowing doubts about the election results, claiming his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was fraudulent. He also claimed, without citing any evidence, that voting by mail was rife with fraud, that voting machines were vulnerable to manipulation, and that noncitizen voting was common.
Some Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, urged networks not to air the speech, arguing that Trump would repeat debunked claims.
Spokespeople for the three major US networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, did not respond to Reuters’ questions about whether they planned to broadcast the address live. CNN and Fox News also did not respond to requests for comment.
Refusing to air the speech would risk angering the administration, which has already exerted unprecedented pressure on major broadcast networks.
Walt Disney-owned ABC faces two pending investigations by the Federal Communications Commission; one is investigating whether the daytime talk show “The View” violated equal time rules by interviewing a Democratic Senate candidate in Texas.
Trump has repeatedly attacked NBC and its parent company Comcast, which he calls “Concast.” He stormed out of an interview with NBC political correspondent Kristen Welker last month after calling the network a “one-sidedly skewed network.”
Comcast last month announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies, through a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and Sky. Analysts said the move could make NBCUniversal an attractive takeover target.
At CBS, the Paramount takeover by David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry was a Trump ally, roiled the newsroom and led to the departure of senior staff from the newsmagazine “60 Minutes.” Some employees alleged political interference in editorial decisions, which the channel denied.
Ellison has now signed a contract with Paramount’s Warner Bros. It is awaiting FCC approval for its acquisition of Discovery; That could give him control of CNN, which Trump has long characterized as unfair coverage. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division approved the deal last month.
Fox News, the conservative-leaning cable news network owned by Rupert Murdoch, generally broadcasts all of Trump’s speeches but may be wary of that, too.
The channel had to pay $787 million in 2023 to settle the defamation lawsuit filed for broadcasting false claims about the 2020 elections.
(Reporting by Helen Coster; Additional reporting by Edmund Lee; Editing by Alistair Bell)
