Former President Donald Trump was charged with 37 federal felony counts stemming from an investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar–a–Lago on Tuesday.
In response, the President declared his indictment a “sham” and “the most heinous abuse of power in the history of our country” in an address to supporters in Bedminster, New Jersey.
But several news networks, including MSNBC, decided not to take the speech live. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC‘s highly paid anchor, and chief Russiagate enthusiast, explained why the left–wing network chose not to put Trump on the air in real-time.
“As we have said before in these circumstances, there is a cost to us as a news organization to knowingly broadcast untrue things,” she said. “We are here to bring you the news. It hurts our ability to do that if we live broadcast what we fully expect in advance to be a litany of lies and false accusations, no matter who says them. And I do not say this with any glee.”
The move to not air Trump‘s comments live has understandably been met with consternation from conservatives. Her decision to not take Trump‘s speech live was panned as tone–deaf and hypocritical. Fox media analyst Kevin Tober wrote in NewsBusters that Maddow had “absolutely no sense of irony” in her decision.
Maddow is one of the prominent faces of MSNBC‘s fixation for years on the Trump–Russia collusion theory and hyping the discredited Christopher Steele dossier, as well as her pushing of the liberal narrative that the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a Russian misinformation campaign. NBC‘s video editor Matt Orfala shared a montage of media coverage on Covid–19 which showed her making false statements such as that “vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person,” which turned out to be far from the truth.
This isn’t the first time left–wing media outlets have taken a stand against the former President. During the 2020 election race, some of the most influential news organizations in the US banned all of Trump’s campaign ads as they considered them to be misinformation.
Meanwhile, a few networks decided to give Trump airtime. Despite vocal opposition from executive producer Chris Licht, CNN decided to air Trump’s speech, albeit delayed.
But some cable news networks did not air the speech live. Fox News, which is traditionally supportive of Trump, aired his speech in full but with a “contrasting graphic” to provide context and rebuttal to the President’s claims.
With the President facing the potential of decades of jail time, this could well be the last time the news media is presented the conundrum of whether to air Trump‘s speech or not. Either way, the media has a responsibility to provide truthful coverage and inform the public in a manner conducive to an honest and healthy debate.
Disgraced propagandist Rachel Maddow on MSNBC not airing Trump’s remarks live: "There is a cost to us as a news organization to knowingly broadcast untrue things." pic.twitter.com/UxuJDgS7oL
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 14, 2023
