Two of the three major American television networks, in addition to CNN, did not broadcast President Donald Trump’s speech yesterday in prime time on their main platforms, sparking criticism from the president who is exerting unprecedented pressure on the American media.
The speech focused on election security, four months before the crucial midterm congressional elections.
During his speech, Trump said that the networks that did not broadcast the speech were involved in a “conspiracy” and should have their licenses revoked.
“In a rare step, NBC and ABC, which publish fake news, announced that they will not cover this speech,” he said, adding, “Such falsification requires withdrawing their licenses.”
Late yesterday evening, an ABC News spokesperson said that the network will broadcast Trump’s speech on the ABC News Live streaming platform and on the ABC News radio station and not on its television channel.
An informed source said that NBC News broadcast the president’s statements on its free live broadcast service, NBC News Now, but not on its main television channel. The company declined to comment.
CNN said in a statement that it will follow the speech for any news that may emerge from it, with a live broadcast appearing on its website and on the CNN All Access live streaming service, which operates on a subscription system.
ABC and NBC’s live broadcast channels generally do not attract a large proportion of the viewers that traditional broadcast signals reach. As for CNN’s digital network, it is a paid service and its audience is smaller than the audience of its regular channel.
The post Trump threatens to withdraw the licenses of American networks that did not broadcast his speech appeared first on Voice of Beirut International.
