[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition immediately: Donald Trump should not get free airtime on
CNN or other news networks!
In 2016, major news networks gave Donald Trump $2 billion in free
advertising.^1 It's clear that they haven't learned the dangers of putting
profits and ratings over responsible journalism. Seven years later, they
are doing it again.
On Tuesday night, after Trump arrived home to Mar-a-Lago after turning
himself in on criminal charges, CNN ran Trump's speech live for 23 minutes
of the 24-minute speech.^2 The speech, which was supposedly a response to
his arraignment, was actually a campaign rally, full of his usual attacks,
lies, and bluster. Meanwhile, MSNBC, NPR, and other mainstream media
networks refused to air the speech.^3,4
All news networks have a responsibility to fact-check Trump's lies,
provide context and journalistic skepticism to his claims, and apply an
editorial lens to when to give him airtime.
[ [link removed] ]Add your name to our petition calling on CNN and other national media
outlets to STOP giving Trump free airtime! Donald Trump knows how to
manipulate the media into covering his speeches live—giving him valuable
free airtime to spew vitriol, lies, and dangerous disinformation. CNN and
other news networks need to stop showing his speeches live.
CNN: Stop giving Donald Trump—a seditionist, QAnon conspiracy theorist,
and spreader of disinformation—free airtime on cable news!
[3]Sign the petition
When Donald Trump announced he was running for president again, we saw
that the news media learned nothing from the last go-round about how to
avoid his toxic manipulations. Just like FOX, CNN covered his announcement
speech live—essentially giving him free rein to dominate airwaves and
reach viewers with his narcissistic brand of conspiracy theories and
abuse—while ABC, CBS, and NBC all passed on airing the speech live.^5
And he doesn't have to pay a dime for all this free advertising.
News networks don't need to show his speeches live. They can cover them as
news—wait until he's done, show clips within context, offer fact-checking,
and stop amplifying his abusive attacks, bigoted insults, QAnon-level
conspiracies, and dangerous deceptions.
Trump sought to overturn an election and helped incite a deadly
insurrection. We know his words carry weight. You can cover him as
news—but don't serve as his personal broadcasting network. Stop covering
him live. Fact-check his statements. And don't fall into the trap of
giving him free airtime.
[ [link removed] ]Click here to add your name to this petition which we will deliver to
the head of CNN as well as other media executives and news directors, and
then pass it along to your friends.
Thanks for all you do.
–Justin, Valeria, Isbah, David, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Donald Trump," The New York Times,
March 15, 2016
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2. "CNN chose to air almost the entirety of Trump’s lie-filled Mar-a-Lago
rally," Media Matters for America, April 4, 2023
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3. Ibid.
4. "NPR refuses to air Trump's speech from Mar-a-Lago live: 'Not what we
owe our audience,'" KATU, April 4, 2023
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5. "Broadcast networks take a pass on Trump campaign announcement," The
Washington Post, November 15, 2022
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Want to support MoveOn's work? The MoveOn community will work every
moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the
damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the
nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that
we must never give up on. And to do it MoveOn needs your ongoing support,
now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.
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