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CNN's Amanpour Criticizes Network's Decision to Hold Trump Town Hall
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By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
May 18, 2023

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NEW YORK โ€” Veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour became the first CNN journalist to publicly criticize her network for airing last weekโ€™s town hall with former President Donald Trump.

Amanpourโ€™s Comments to Journalism Graduates

Amanpour told a group of graduating students at Columbia Universityโ€™s graduate school of journalism on Wednesday that she would have โ€œdropped the mic at โ€˜nasty person,โ€™โ€ a reference to when Trump lobbed that insult at moderator Kaitlan Collins.

CNN was criticized for hosting Trump at a live event in New Hampshire, where the 2024 presidential candidate repeated lies about the last election before a mostly adoring audience. CNN Chairman Chris Licht has defended the town hall as newsworthy and important, and Amanpour said she had a โ€œrobust discussionโ€ with him about it.

Everyone knows Trump tries to seize the stage and dominate at such events, said Amanpour, the chief international correspondent who has worked at CNN for 40 years.

โ€œNo matter how much flak the moderator tries to aim at the incoming, it doesnโ€™t work,โ€ she said.

Lessons from the Past and Hints at Future Approaches

Perhaps todayโ€™s journalism leaders should learn from those in the 1950s, who refused to give Sen. Joseph McCarthy attention โ€œunless his foul lies, his witch hunts and his rantsโ€ reached the basic level for evidence allowed in a courtroom, she said.

โ€œMaybe less is more,โ€ she said. โ€œMaybe live is not always right.โ€

Amanpour criticized the town hallโ€™s audience, chosen by CNN because they were Republicans or independents who plan to vote in the 2024 Republican primary.

Citing the precedents of past candidate debates or forums, CNN should have insisted โ€œthat our invited guests behave themselves โ€” no hooting, no hollering, no jeering, no cheering.โ€

Amanpourโ€™s Hopes for Media Trust

โ€œI can only hope that your trust in us might have been shaken but not shattered, that you believe that we can survive and rebuild that trust,โ€ she said.

A spokesman for Licht did not immediately return messages for comment. In an internal call with CNN staff members last week, Licht noted that people in the town hall audience represented a large swath of America.

โ€œThe mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist,โ€ he said. โ€œJust like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists.โ€

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