Trump calls for cancellation of licenses of several media outlets for refusing to show his speech
US President Donald Trump has called for cancellation of licenses of ABC, NBC and CNN after they did not broadcast in the main air his speech about the alleged vulnerabilities of the American voting system and Chinese interference in the 2020 elections.
This is reported by Reuters.
The speech was made on July 16. During the speech, Trump stated about the "staggering vulnerabilities" of the US voting system and again accused China of interfering in the 2020 presidential election. At the same time, Reuters notes that these statements contradict previous assessments of American intelligence.
In response to the decision of TV channels not to show the speech on the main air, the US President said that they were participating in a "conspiracy" and that their licenses should be revoked.
"In a rare move for themselves, Fake News NBC and ABC simultaneously announced that they would not cover this speech. Such fraud should mean the revocation of their licenses," Trump said.
Why did the TV channels not show the speech on the main air
According to Reuters, none of the three TV channels refused to cover the speech in full. Instead, they chose other platforms for broadcasting.
In particular:
- ABC News showed the speech on the streaming platform ABC News Live and on ABC News Radio;
- NBC News broadcast the speech through the free NBC News NOW service;
- CNN did not broadcast the speech live on its main channel, but covered it in the news and showed it on its website and streaming service CNN All Access.
Reuters notes that the streaming platforms of these media outlets reach a much smaller audience than traditional television broadcasting.
Experts cited by the agency emphasize that American television channels independently decide which events to broadcast on the main airwaves. At the same time, speeches by US presidents that are of public importance have historically often been shown live.
Why did CBS interrupt the broadcast of Trump's speech
CBS broadcast the US president's speech live. Before the broadcast, host Tony Dokoupil warned viewers that many of Trump's statements about the election had already been refuted.
According to him, the channel decided to show the speech because it considers it its duty to cover the news.
However, after about 15 minutes, CBS interrupted the broadcast to refute the president's claims of alleged election fraud.
As a reminder, US President Donald Trump has said that China tried to influence the 2020 US presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. He also claims to have declassified hundreds of intelligence documents that allegedly support these claims.