{"id":3638,"date":"2026-07-17T21:43:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3638"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:43:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:43:56","slug":"broadcast-networks-wrestle-with-whether-to-air-trumps-conspiracy-theories-or-get-sanctioned-for-dropping-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3638","title":{"rendered":"Broadcast networks wrestle with whether to air Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories or get sanctioned for dropping him"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Networks and their news operations, broadcast and cable alike, spent the hours leading up to Trump\u2019s address debating how to cover it \u2014 and struggling to balance delivering the news with handing over their airwaves to potential falsehoods about the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n

Read more Xi offers AI olive branch to the world, calling for \u2018symphony of global cooperation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

In the end, a patchwork quilt of coverage was largely united by one common strategy: real-time fact-checking as much as was possible even while the president was still speaking.<\/p>\n

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The dilemma took place against\u00a0a backdrop of deep tension\u00a0between the media and a president working to exert control over it by whatever means he can. Even in his speech itself, Trump excoriated networks that chose not to carry it live, saying that \u201cNBC and ABC fake news\u201d avoided it because they \u201cdon\u2019t like the topic.\u201d He also threatened them with consequences, using the presidential pulpit to suggest they should be sanctioned for their editorial decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey and others in the media are part of a plot,\u201d Trump said, offering no evidence for his assertion. There is also no evidence of fraud in the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going,\u201d he said. \u201cFraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multibillion-dollar-in-value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tension between Trump and the news media during his second term has taken many forms, from sanctions against members of the White House press corps to regulatory actions through the\u00a0Federal Communications Commission\u00a0to outright lawsuits.<\/p>\n

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There were a variety of approaches to coverage<\/h4>\n

The media outlets\u2019 decision-making \u2014 seemingly last-minute, for many, with networks divulging their plans minutes beforehand \u2014 produced a variety of coverage scenarios for the 24 minutes of Trump\u2019s address.<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Kaitlan Collins anchored her nightly program. \u201cWe aren\u2019t taking it live,\u201d she said of the speech, given the president\u2019s \u201cwell-documented history\u201d of falsehoods. Panelists were on hand for analysis and fact-checking. \u201cSadly, we have no choice to be skeptical when this president talks elections,\u201d said the network\u2019s veteran correspondent John King.<\/p>\n

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Fox News and Fox Broadcasting aired the president\u2019s speech live. But ABC and NBC did not, sticking with regular programming \u2014 \u201cPress Your Luck,\u201d in ABC\u2019s case, and an animal show featuring alligators in NBC\u2019s. But they were ready to cut in as they deemed newsworthy, as well as offering special reports afterwards.<\/p>\n

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Both ABC and NBC, however, provided live coverage on their streaming channels \u2014 NBC News NOW and ABC News Live \u2014 as well as ABC News Radio. In the still-young era of streaming, that is increasingly a decision that allows network news to play it both ways.<\/p>\n

Read more Commercial auto insurance explained for business owners<\/a><\/p>\n

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As for CBS, the network did preempt regular programming \u2014 a summer rerun of \u201cGeorgie & Mandy\u2019s First Marriage\u201d \u2014 to air a special report anchored by Tony Dokoupil. The report joined the live speech a few minutes in, at 9:06, and left it before the end, at 9:23.<\/p>\n

MS NOW started airing the speech, then cut away for analysis and commentary after 17 minutes on host Jen Psaki\u2019s show. Psaki used the split screen for a bit, with her speaking on the right and a muted Trump appearing on the left.<\/p>\n

By the end, of the top networks, the speech was continuing live only on Fox News.<\/p>\n

Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University\u2019s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, said coverage of the 24- minute address made for \u201ca weird evening, where the reporters quote and describe the speech but show little of what they\u2019re quoting.\u201d Thompson said full coverage was the way to go even \u2014 and perhaps especially \u2014 if the speech was believed to contain falsehoods.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen the president of the United States makes an announcement that there is going to be a major speech with major information, however cynical we are \u2026 I think that is, by definition, important civic news significant to the citizenry,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the president making the speech, and if the president does what everybody\u2019s worried about him doing, that is a real reason to be covering it, to bear witness on exactly what gets said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Networks had been urged beforehand to carry it live<\/h4>\n

Earlier Thursday, at the White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt had urged TV networks to carry the speech live. And Fox News Channel\u2019s Sean Hannity said on his show that major networks not going live was \u201cpretty unheard of for a primetime address for a president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broadcast networks, though, have previously declined primetime coverage to President Barack Obama for a 2014 speech on immigration, and President Joe Biden for his speech on democracy, \u201cBattle for the Soul of the Nation,\u201d in 2022.<\/p>\n

The backdrop of Thursday\u2019s speech was an ever-increasing tension between the media and the administration. Broadcast networks have been under close scrutiny by the Trump-appointed chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, who has launched early reviews of licenses of some ABC-owned stations and threatened to revoke the long-held exemption from equal time rules for the popular talk show \u201cThe View.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump\u2019s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn\u2019t new. But in his second presidential term, he has launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal government or attempting to do so. The efforts have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.<\/p>\n

Read more Meet the Texas monk with no phone, no account \u2014and millions of followers online<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses,” the president said as he ranted about nonexistent voter fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nBroadcast networks wrestle with whether to air Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories or get sanctioned for dropping him - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3638\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Broadcast networks wrestle with whether to air Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories or get sanctioned for dropping him - 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