Donald Trump’s town hall marked a ratings high for CNN, but the March 10, 2023, event also came with a price for the cable news network and its rivals. Is hosting Trump, in any format, worth the cost to a media outlet and the nation?
More than 3 million viewers tuned in to watch Trump spar with anchor Kaitlan Collins, who did her best to fact-check the former president will trying to move through audience questions. Despite the efforts of Collins, Trump had complete control of the town hall, talking over the host, ignoring questions, and refusing the back down from lies about the 2020 election.
Commentators on MSNBC, in particular, criticized CNN for giving the former president a platform. However, the MSNBC hosts and guests offered no real alternative plan for the campaign ahead of us. There’s no great solution to the problems posed by another Trump presidential campaign.
No less than CNN’s lead media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote that CNN’s CEO Chris Licht was “facing a fury of criticism — both internally and externally over the event.”
Darcy wrote of the town hall:
Trump frequently ignored or spoke over Collins throughout the evening as he unleashed a firehose of disinformation upon the country, which a sizable swath of the GOP continues to believe. A professional lie machine, Trump fired off falsehoods at a rapid clip while using his bluster to overwhelm Collins, stealing command of the stage at some points of the town hall.
Trump lied about the 2020 election. He took no responsibility for the January 6 insurrection that those very lies incited. And he mocked E. Jean Carroll’s allegations of sexual assault, which a jury found him liable for on Tuesday.
And CNN aired it all. On and on it went. It felt like 2016 all over again. It was Trump’s unhinged social media feed brought to life on stage. And Collins was put in an uncomfortable position, given the town hall was conducted in front of a Republican audience that applauded Trump, giving a sense of unintended endorsement to his shameful antics.
Based on fact-checking efforts by media outlets, Trump lies more than any previous president or presidential candidate. The Washington Post counted 30,573 lies during his four-year term. He fires off lies like a fully-automatic rifle, a machine gun that topples opponents and reporters. Trump proves that the truth doesn’t win elections or policy debates.
CNN’s Collins, a solid reporter with experience covering the Trump White House, couldn’t have stopped the entire town hall until Trump admitted he lost the 2020 election. That wasn’t going to happen. She had to move on from one topic to the next, fact-checking Trump as best she could.
What’s going to happen during any debates? Trump will launch a fusillade at anyone else on the stage, not giving an inch on any of his false claims. Though I do doubt Trump will debate his Republican foes, he might decide to debate Pres. Joe Biden once during the general election, if both men are in the general election again.
How should any live event with Trump be covered? That’s a question without a single answer, since media outlets cannot completely ignore Trump during the 2024 primaries and general election; he is the leader of the Republican base.
- No live coverage of most campaign events, excluding the 2024 Republican Convention.
- No more “town hall” format events with partisan audiences, not even during primary season.
- Require sit-down interviews of Trump, and other candidates, with aggressive follow-up questioning.
- Real-time fact checking for televised interviews, with corrections on at least a third of the screen.
- Post-event fact checking of Trump statements and events, with detailed analyses.
Campaign events aren’t genuine “events” anyway. Like so much in our politics, campaign stops are only slightly less authentic than congressional hearings. Cable news channels should stop covering any candidates campaign events, except for the actual announcement of a campaign launch.
Town halls should be more spontaneous than they are. Audiences should be as balanced as possible, so participants can challenge candidates. The curated town hall is a poor concept, today. Don’t give politicians friendly, cheering audiences. Trump proved town halls can become campaign rallies.
One-on-one interviews, or even small panel interviews, would give reporters more opportunity to correct a politician, especially a performer like Trump. If 15 minutes end up on a single topic, so be it. If the politician walks away, that’s a revelation, too.
Real-time fact checking with Trump on stage might be nearly impossible. Still, it’s necessary to try. The split-screen would be fascinating, regardless of the politician speaking.
CNN did fact-check Trump after the town hall, but they needed to spend more time on each set of lies and half-truths. The panel discussions after the town should have featured fewer voices, and much less partisan analysis. Focus on the truth, not predicting how partisans will react to Trump or another politician. I’m tired of “analysis” chatter that states the obvious: Trump’s bullying antics are popular with his base.
None of these suggestions will affect Trump supporters. Nor will sympathetic media dare challenge Trump — or other Republicans — when lies and half-truths are promoted. Close to half of voters in the country supported Trump in 2016 and 2020. Those elections were close and we need to admit that many of our fellow citizens consider Trump a superior choice to most Democratic Party alternatives.
Thankfully, there are persuadable voters. Not many, but some. For those voters, who are not cable news viewers or social media followers, facts might matter enough to sway them. If Trump will not sit for interviews that challenge his lies, half-truths, and ignorance, tell audiences that he doesn’t want to face tough questioning.
I assume Trump will stick to the safe corners of “conservative” media. (The term “conservative” has been destroyed, I must admit.)
Trump might be good for ratings, but he’s bad for the United States. News organizations and commentary media have a responsibility to consider the threat Trump poses before giving him any platform. The CNN debacle proved Trump cannot be treated like any other candidate.