Dear John,
Sign the petition now: Donald Trump should not get free airtime on CNN or other news networks!
By hosting a Donald Trump-only live town hall, CNN is providing the 2024 GOP presidential candidate—who incited a violent insurrection, tried to overturn the 2020 election, and is a proven sexual abuser—an exclusive, prime-time platform for his campaign.1
CNN’s televised town hall yesterday with Trump in New Hampshire, an early primary state for the GOP nomination and battleground state for the presidency, gave Trump millions of dollars worth of free airtime to spin his lies, without even a single Republican challenger present.
Tell CNN and all national media outlets: STOP giving Trump—a seditionist, QAnon conspiracy theorist, spreader of disinformation, and abusive sexual predator—free airtime on cable news!
Sign the Petition
CNN's ill-conceived town hall demonstrates that the U.S. press has not learned its lesson in covering Trump—or perhaps has only learned that his heinous antics are good for ratings.
In 2016, major news networks gave Donald Trump $2 billion in free advertising.2 Seven years later, they’re doing it again. When Trump announced he was running for president in 2024, CNN covered his announcement speech live, just like FOX News did, essentially giving him free rein to dominate airwaves and reach viewers with his narcissistic brand of conspiracy theories and abuse. Meanwhile, ABC, CBS, and NBC all passed on airing the speech live.3 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 rant, while the likes of NPR and MSNBC skipped it.4,5
All of this free air time does Trump's work for him and legitimizes him as a real politician, instead of the indicted, twice-impeached sore loser that he is. It's time for CNN and the rest of the media to treat him as such.
Click here to add your name to this petition, which we will deliver to CNN, and then pass it along to your friends.
Sign the Petition
CNN's Trump fixation is part of a calculated pattern for both CNN and Trump. For years, Trump railed against CNN as "fake news" and boycotted the network. But he realizes that reaching viewers outside the right-wing echo chamber will be necessary to win back an office he attempted to take by inciting an insurrection. Meanwhile, CNN is trying to prop up its ratings and appeal to the "center."
But there's nothing "centrist" about Trump. Just last week, he recommitted to banning Muslims from entering the U.S. if he retakes the White House.6 Earlier this week, a jury found him liable for sexual assault and defamation in New York City, where he has also been charged with 34 other felonies. He continues to reject the reality that he lost the 2020 election, and he's being investigated in multiple jurisdictions for crimes stemming from that lie. He’s a danger to our country, our democracy, our communities, and our world.
Donald Trump is a coward. He's afraid of sharing a stage with the other announced challengers for the GOP nomination, which is why he has already signaled that he will likely skip the GOP primary debates that Fox is hosting this fall.7 And he recently threw a tantrum after a journalist asked him about potential criminal charges against him in Georgia.8 This CNN town hall was moderated by a respected journalist, but there's no way to adequately fact-check someone who lies about every little thing.
We have to put the pressure on CNN and any other cable news networks that give Trump free airtime. Add your name to tell cable news networks to STOP giving a criminal and seditionist a huge platform to spread his toxic rhetoric and lies.
Thanks for all you do.
–MoveOn
Sources:
1. "CNN's town hall with Donald Trump takes on added stakes after verdict in Carroll case," NPR, May 10, 2023 https://www.npr.org/2023/05/10/1174959260/cnn-trump-town-hal/
2. "$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Donald Trump," The New York Times, March 15, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html
3. "Broadcast networks take a pass on Trump campaign announcement," The Washington Post, November 15, 2022 https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/15/tv-news-trump-campaign-speech-broadcast/
4. "CNN chose to air almost the entirety of Trump’s lie-filled Mar-a-Lago rally," Media Matters for America, April 4, 2023 https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/cnn-chose-air-almost-entirety-trumps-lie-filled-mar-lago-rally
5. "MSNBC doesn't carry Trump Mar-a-Lago speech" The Hill, April 5, 2023 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3935445-msnbc-doesnt-carry-trump-mar-a-lago-speech/
6. "Trump recommits to banning Muslims from entering US if he is re-elected," The Independent, April 28, 2023 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-election-muslim-travel-ban-b2328574.html
7. "Trump may skip the first GOP primary debates," NBC News, May 2, 2023 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-may-skip-first-gop-primary-debates-rcna82538
8. "Why CNN Gave Trump a Prime-Time Town Hall—And Why Trump Accepted," Vanity Fair, May 2, 2023 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/trump-cnn-town-hall
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
