CNN’s Christiane Amanpour criticized her network’s decision to host a live town hall with Donald Trump last week, calling the move by CEO Chris Licht an “earthquake.”
For more than an hour, Trump rattled off a series of dubious and outright false claims about a variety of matters, including his claim the 2020 election was rigged. Moderator Kaitlan Collins fact-checked him several times, but Trump plowed ahead each time as members of the audience applauded.
Puck News reported that Amanpour delivered the commencement address at Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday and spoke about the town hall and Licht:
Amanpour said she had met with Licht this week to convey her belief that CNN should not have allowed Trump “to appear in that particular format,” and criticized his decision to broadcast Trump’s remarks live before an unruly audience. Licht acknowledged that “the execution was lacking a little,” Amanpour said, but he maintained that the network “did the right thing,” and that the town hall was “a service to the American people.” Amanpour respectfully disagreed: “We know Trump and his tendencies, everyone does,” she told the students. “He just seizes the stage and dominates, no matter how much flack [sic] the moderator tries to aim at the incoming. It doesn’t often work.”
Attendees of the town hall were told not to boo, but that they could clap.
Later, Amanpour said she spoke to Licht because she was concerned about viewers’ trust in the network.
“I have always opted to speak out when staying silent might have been easier,” Amanpour told graduates. “I want to do what’s right and empathize with and acknowledge all of those who need to trust us at CNN. I understand that for many of us the town hall was an earthquake.”
She added, “I hope that your trust in us might have been shaken but not shattered. That you believe we can survive and rebuild that trust.”
Lastly, Amanpour addressed Trump telling Collins during the town hall that she’s “a nasty person.”
“I would have dropped the mic at ‘nasty person,’” she said. “But then that’s me,” she said. “I’ve been in the ring for a long time with these people.”
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