ABC, NBC and CNN declined to air President Donald Trump’s primetime speech on election security live Thursday, instead making the address available on streaming platforms or covering it with analysis, network spokespeople told Fox News Digital.
In the speech, Trump said “vital information” about the 2020 election had been “covered up and hidden” from the American people and accused China of trying to affect the 2020 vote, citing newly declassified documents he said included CIA and FBI reporting, Fox News Digital reported.
A CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital the network planned to cover the remarks “as a news event, and monitor it for news developments” and to provide on-air analysis and commentary, and made the speech available on CNN’s website and streaming platform. CNN anchor John King told viewers the network wanted to independently verify the newly declassified documents and noted the president has “a history of misleading, and in some cases, simply false statements” on elections, the network said.
ABC carried the speech on its streaming platform and ABC News Radio, and a network spokesperson told Fox News Digital that regular ABC newscasts would cover the address, Fox News Digital reported. NBC also streamed the address and later aired a special report on the broadcast network, the report said. ABC and NBC stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group preempted network programming and aired the speech, Fox News Digital added.
CBS broadcast a special report that provided analysis before dipping into the speech minutes after it began and cut away after Trump criticized ABC and NBC, Fox News Digital said. The report added that one outlet carried about 15 minutes of the address before switching to commentary, and Fox News carried the speech in its entirety. Fox News Digital noted that networks have previously chosen not to air some presidential primetime addresses live, citing ABC, CBS and NBC’s decisions in 2014 and 2022.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
