US TV networks split on broadcasting Trump’s election-focused speech | US news
The largest US television stations are divided over whether they will broadcast Donald Trump’s White House address live on Thursday night amid unproven accusations about the integrity of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.
While CNN, ABC, and NBC chose not to broadcast the speech live, CBS, Fox News, and MS Now (formerly MSNBC) broadcast at least a large portion of the speech live. ABC did not air the speech as a must-air broadcast, but some station affiliates, including the Washington D.C. station owned by right-leaning broadcaster Sinclair, chose to air the speech.
Rather than broadcast the speech as a special report as CBS did, NBC chose to continue airing its previously planned nature documentary program, The Americas. (CBS was scheduled to air the sitcom Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.)
MS Now chose to air about half of the speech, even though Jen Psaki, the network’s 9 p.m. host and former Biden White House press secretary, told viewers it would differ from the traditional White House speech.
“When you’re in the White House, these are the selective moments a president spends speaking to the American public,” he said. “As you all know, we are not in normal times. And this conversation will not be about this country, it will not be about the American people and the challenges that people face.”
Trump’s speech focused on the “deep state” and China’s efforts to “interfere” in the US election system.
About 15 minutes after Trump’s statements, Psaki stopped speaking and retracted her claims about the election system.
CBS also cut Trump’s speech after just over 20 minutes, bringing in Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and chief White House correspondent Major Garrett.
Before the speech, Dokoupil explained the channel’s decision to broadcast the majority of the program.
“This is a speech that is expected to address the safety and security of American elections, which is, of course, something the President has talked about a lot over the years,” he said. “At times, almost constantly, and frankly, most of what the president has said on this issue has been false. Most importantly, of course, his claim that he won the 2020 election, but of course he didn’t. So there’s an argument that it’s irresponsible to broadcast the president’s speech tonight. But it will be the speech. It will be the news. And it’s our job to publish the news. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Instead of broadcasting the speech, CNN hosted a panel discussion featuring experts from across the political spectrum. The channel’s on-air graphic cast doubt on Trump’s words, telling viewers: “Trump Gives Election Talk After Years of False Claims.”
The network’s 9 p.m. host Kaitlan Collins told viewers her team would watch the speech, even though it wouldn’t air it. “We’ll be watching what the president says tonight, as we always do, but given the president has a well-documented history of saying patently false things about elections, we’re not covering it live,” he said.
Although ABC did not air the speech on all of its stations, the network’s streaming service aired it on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio. Still, Trump called on ABC and NBC not to air the speech live and suggested they should lose their broadcast licenses; This was a common bypass for channels he didn’t like.
“They and others in the media are part of a conspiracy. They want to continue this scam for whatever reason,” Trump said. “They want to protect the radical left.”
The news that NBC and ABC would not broadcast the speech live also sparked a reaction from Trump’s combative communications director, Steven Cheung.
“Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth. All they want to do is hide the truth from YOU,” he wrote in a previous post on X. “Listen to @WhiteHouse at 9pm EDT, where we always get higher ratings than all networks.”
While Fox News host Sean Hannity said it’s “pretty unheard of” for networks not to air presidential speeches in prime time, there is a history of networks choosing not to air speeches viewed as political in nature.
