Former Fox News Exec Gives CNN ‘Credit’ for Town Hall But Says Journalism Felt ‘Old-Fashioned’

A former Fox News executive gave kudos to CNN for hosting “a spirited town hall with Donald Trump” this week and praised moderator Kaitlan Collins for her “strong performance” against the bombastic Trump.

Bill Sammon, former managing editor of the Fox News Washington bureau, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that he never expected to congratulate CNN, but admitted that the network “performed a valuable journalistic service” by hosting the town hall.

Collins moderated the New Hampshire event to a mostly Trump-friendly crowd and attempted to push back on Trump’s continuous lies. Other news outlets like MSNBC ridiculed Collins as a “rookie” who was steamrolled by the former president. Likewise, opinion was split on CNN giving Trump the platform in the first place.

Sammon agreed with CNN’s decision to give Trump the national platform because, “Monster or not, Mr. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.”

Sammon said it would be foolish to abandon the town hall format, or deny Donald Trump a platform from which to spew his alternate reality.

“Are we better off as a society if, after shunting Mr. Trump into his own MAGA bubble, we wake up in November 2024 and find that he has been elected president?” Sammon asked.

“Town halls like this one help Americans to think for themselves. It wasn’t so long ago that journalists were able to report hard truths and conduct tough interviews without worrying about upsetting some segment of their viewers. CNN deserves a lot of credit for attempting to return to a baseline that I always considered Journalism 101, but which now feels downright old-fashioned.”

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