CNN has declined to air a commercial from President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign that briefly attacked members of the mainstream media as fake news. The spot features pictures of NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, and CBS’s Scott Pelley and has a large graphic of “Fake News” plastered over them. The commercial focuses on the successes of the Trump Administration in the first 100 days, but then diverts focus to say the viewer “wouldn’t know it from watching the news” and shows the composite picture and graphic.
CNN explained in a statement, “CNN requested that the advertiser remove the false graphic that says the mainstream media is ‘fake news.’ The mainstream media is not fake news and therefore the ad is false. Per our policy, it will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted.”
“Those are the facts.”
Campaign executive director Michael Glassner said, “This is censorship pure and simple. By rejecting our ad, CNN has proven that it supports censorship is biased and fears an opposing point of view. President Trump’s loyal supporters know the truth: The mainstream media mislead, misguide, deceive, and distract. CNN epitomizes the meaning of fake news and has proven it by rejecting our paid campaign ad.”
Fake news is one of President Trump’s favorite dismissals for a mainstream media he claims to hate, but is truly infatuated with. However, his accusations have caused supporters to turn against the media even as he courts their approval.