White House press secretary Sean Spicer delivered a statement in the White House briefing room which CNN decided not to broadcast.
CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter used twitter to explain why the network felt it necessary to censor the White House.
FYI, CNN made a conscious choice not to show the @PressSec statement live. The decision was to monitor the statement & then report on it.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 21, 2017
CNN has an audience and perhaps their audience prefers to have their information shaped for them where inconvenient facts are disputed or eliminated before the viewer has had a chance to analyze the information for themselves.
bc CNN didn't screen it without filter. They were wary that the WH might lie, and Sean Spicer did.
— Marie Rutkoski (@marierutkoski) January 22, 2017
Whether Spicer’s facts or CNN’s were more accurate on the size of the inaugural crowd is irrelevant. A news organization that only broadcasts the information that meets their narrative endangers itself of becoming little more than propaganda.
The whole argument over crowd size is ridiculous and shows that the media is going to report on President Trump just as they did candidate Trump – fixating on seemingly small issues and ignoring or making up their own facts.
The right way to have covered the statement is to have shown it in its entirety, without interruption, then comment upon it afterward in a separate segment. News, then analysis and opinion.
That’s how we covered it.
Very sad,,,for them. Just ‘consider the source’. When your ratings are in single digits it really doesn’t count for much.
Did all the other major networks stop their coverage to show the press conference?
Yes, the other news networks carried it live.