The former president repeatedly dodged or mocked questions from CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins during the live, 70-minute forum in St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on Wednesday night. He doubled down on false claims that “a rigged election” led to his ouster in 2020 and took aim at writer E. Jean Carroll, who recently prevailed in her lawsuit against him for defamation and battery, as a “whack job,” to cheers and laughter from the audience, made up of local Republican voters.
And when Collins pressed him on why he took classified White House documents, he replied: “You’re a bad person.”
“Predictably Harmful,” wrote former network TV news executive Mark Lukasiewicz, part of a chorus of media critics and political observers bemoaning the on-air scene. “Lie works live. A friendly MAGA crowd was always laughing, clapping at Trump’s punchlines…
At a time when CNN was struggling to reverse declining viewership, the telecast proved to be a ratings disappointment, with Nielsen reporting just 3.1 million viewers overall. . That’s a big improvement over CNN’s typical 8 p.m. telecast, but a smaller audience than CNN’s town hall with President Biden last summer (3.7 million) and six previous town halls in Trump town carried by Fox News – questioned the drawing power of CNN and Trump.
The more profound impact, however, may be the damage done to the reputation of the network that has long promoted itself as “the most trusted name in news.” It also raises questions about the future prospects of chief executive Chris Licht, who replaced Trump-friend-turned-critic Jeff Zucker last year and has been accused of striking a more neutral tone. on a cable channel bursting with passionate commentary on the Trump years.
CNN reporters and others outside the organization called the town hall a “debacle,” a “disaster” and “CNN’s lowest moment.” On Twitter, the hashtags and phrases BoycottCNN, DoneWithCNN and ByeCNN were trending late Wednesday.
The thrust of the criticism is that CNN’s format, which it has used for other candidates over the years, enables Trump to filibuster and hinders real-time fact-checking, allowing him to present a disingenuous -anon to change his record. “In terms of total control of the stage and WWE-style platform dynamics, the terrible truth is that this result was preordained,” Tweet veteran political writer James Fallows. Some compared the program to a modified Trump campaign rally — the kind that CNN sometimes aired live during the 2015-16 campaign cycle, which Zucker later said he regretted.
Licht defended the decision to host Trump in this format during his regular morning meeting with network staff on Thursday.
“I know people have opinions [and] backlash, and that’s totally expected,” he said, according to an audio recording. “And I’ll say this as clearly as I can: You don’t necessarily want the former president’s answers, but you can’t say we didn’t get them. … America was served well by what we did last night. The people wake up and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way they didn’t the other day.
Licht also praised Collins’ “great performance” as moderator and called him “a rock star.”
Licht, however, was hammered by his own reporters. “We did it wrong,” said one on-air personality. “We’re treating him like a normal politician who can be fact-checked. We’re dancing around a demagogue.”
“It should be a taped interview where you can check him for the truth,” said a CNN correspondent who, like the on-air personality spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relationships and careers. “The audience laughed at his comments about Jean Carroll. Shameful.”
In his meeting with the staff, Licht defended the decisions that led to a happy, partisan audience: “That was also an important part of the story because the people in that audience represented a large part in America. And the mistake the media has made in the past is to ignore people who exist.
Another staffer, also speaking on background to avoid retaliation, suggested that Licht and other executives who approved the event should resign.
This seems like an unlikely outcome – for now. Publicly at least, Licht has the support of his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav. Asked for comment Thursday, a company spokesman pointed to Zaslav’s CNBC interview last week in which he stood by his lieutenant and dismissed some of the criticism that erupted after the town hall announcement. (“We have a divided government. Right? We need to hear both voices,” Zaslav said at the time. “All voices need to be heard.”)
An executive close to Zaslav said the board and executives understand the news business is tough today and that they are willing to give CNN enough time to find its footing.
Still, the Trump town hall is shaping up to be another disappointment under Licht’s watch. Despite his oversight of CNN’s daily lineup and a mandate to restore the network’s position as a neutral news provider, Licht was unable to prevent its ratings from sliding into historic lows. which is low.
Licht’s signature programming effort, revamping CNN’s morning program, largely failed with the firing of co-anchor Don Lemon last month. Collins, a rising star at the network, was also moved to mornings to anchor with him last fall. People inside the company expect him to be promoted to the 9 p.m. hour, which has been without a permanent host since CNN fired Chris Cuomo in December 2021. And a person close to the decision-making said the controversy at the town hall will not change Licht’s plans for him.
CNN’s daily media newsletter, Reliable Sources, was candid in its assessment of Wednesday’s event. “It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies broadcast on CNN Wednesday night,” reporter Oliver Darcy wrote Wednesday night.
But the squadron of analysts and commentators that CNN flew in late Wednesday to scrutinize Trump’s town hall performance (“We don’t have enough time to fact-check every lie he’s told,” said anchor Jake Tapper) the network’s own decision to host the forum.
At least one of the network’s paid commentators made his objections known before the Trump special aired. Michael Fanone, a US Capitol official who was injured while defending the Capitol during the riots on January 6, 2021, wrote an essay published in Rolling Stone criticizing the programming decision.
“Putting him on the stage, with him answering questions like a normal candidate who didn’t kill people in the process of trying to end the democracy he’s trying to run again, normalizes what Trump is doing ,” wrote Fanone. “It sends a message that the coup attempt is just part of the process; that accepting election results is a choice; and that there are no consequences, in the media or in politics or anywhere else, for rejecting it.”
In an interview last week, CNN political director David Chalian justified the event by saying that Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024, and that his “unique” situation as a twice impeached, criminally accused former president who instigated the Jan. 6 The turmoil in the Capitol, did not change the mission of the network’s journalism.
“You will have difficulty speaking [the format] less revealing than an interview with someone,” he said.
Chalian did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. CNN spokesman Matt Dornic said in an email, “I think Chris captured our position very well this morning. [editorial] meeting.”
Trump, for one, expressed satisfaction with the event. “Hope everyone enjoyed CNN tonight,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “The audience in New Hampshire was amazing. Thank you!”
But inside CNN, the situation is dark.
“I can’t believe anyone thought this was a good idea,” said one staffer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid career repercussions. “I’ve been a CNN journalist for many years. I’ve always been proud to say that. I’ve never been ashamed of CNN until tonight.
Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison contributed to this report.
