For weeks now, the nation’s broadcasters have faced a moral dilemma every time President Donald Trump mounts the White House podium to deliver his “coronavirus briefing.” While ordinary journalistic standards compel coverage of any president’s remarks — especially during a national crisis — this president’s relentless utterance of falsehoods, propaganda points and potentially deadly disinformation mocks those same standards.
Should media outlets meekly give Trump hours of free airtime to mislead and misinform their audiences? Should they cut short or even ignore his destructive rants without violating their own principles? When the president’s speech poses a daily menace to human health and American democracy, how should responsible TV networks present him?
At CNN, the news producers try to resolve these difficult questions with assiduous fact-checking and commentary from reporters in the immediate wake of Trump’s diatribes. It is a noble gesture toward accuracy and decency.
But White House officials recently threatened to withhold interviews with Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top pandemic experts, unless the network stops interrupting the lengthy briefing coverage to correct Trump’s lies. By blackmailing network producers with punishment, officials clearly aim to delay the fact-check until the briefing’s conclusion — when most viewers have stopped watching. Continue reading.