Donald Trump has asked the networks for airtime tomorrow night to address the nation from the Oval Office. Network execs are perplexed. Do they air a prime-time propaganda-laden, truth-challenged speech, or do they pass and suck it up when Trump calls them fake news?
This seems an easy call. Place your network anchors on standby and if the President makes news, broadcast it. If he doesn’t, stand down.
If I were a network exec, I would counter the White House request for airtime with an offer to air it on a 5 minute delay so that they can fact check his comments in real time.
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 7, 2019
We’ve all been down this road before. We know what is going to happen. The misstatements will be broadcast before they can be properly corrected.
In 2014 President Obama was denied airtime for a prime-time address.
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1082359022865461249
But isn’t all this beside the point? What about the 800 thousand government workers going without pay? Democrats have said they’re not going to bend on the wall. It seems perhaps the two sides should be talking to one another instead of trying to sway public opinion. And it’s not as if the President has built up a lot of political goodwill. Trump preaching to the converted isn’t going to help end the shutdown.
Any network that airs this live is knowingly participating in a disinformation campaign https://t.co/PXUyOopcF7
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 7, 2019
Networks carrying Trump’s Oval Office Address:
- CBS: Yes
- NBC: Yes
- ABC: Yes
- Fox: Yes
- CNN: Yes
- Fox News: Yes (surprised?)
- MSNBC: Yes
