Broadcasters have faced some criticism after cutting off Donald Trump’s election victory speech in Iowa.
Trump romped to victory with over 50 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucus, well ahead of his closest challengers, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
But multiple networks appeared to either talk over the speech or cut the feed of it altogether. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interjected when Trump began, saying the channel “will keep an eye” on what he says and the decision was not made “out of spite.”
“At this point in the evening, the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech,” Maddow told viewers. “We will keep an eye on that as it happens. We will let you know if there is any news made in that speech—if there is anything noteworthy, something substantive and important.”
Trump speaks at his caucus night event at the Iowa Events Center on January 15, 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa. CNN and MSNBC cut the feed of his speech.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
She added: “The reason I’m saying this is, of course, there is a reason that we and other news organizations have generally stopped giving an unfiltered, live platform to remarks by former President Trump.
“It is not out of spite, it is not a decision that we relish, it is a decision that we regularly revisit. And, honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision.”
Trump has faced repeated criticism for his continued statements that he was the actual winner of the 2020 presidential election and that it was stolen from him.
There has never been any evidence to show that this is the case.
The move from MSNBC was similar to one they made in the days after the 2020 presidential election. Two days after the November 3 election, Trump wrongly declared victory.
CNN and Fox News carried the speech, but anchor Brian Williams interrupted the MSNBC coverage just 35 seconds in.
In December, Fox News cut away from a Trump speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to counteract Trump’s election claims. “As you heard, many untruths,” Fox host Arthel Neville said. “The 2020 election was not rigged. It was not stolen.”
Despite this, some have expressed concern over whether news networks should cut the feed of a former president, saying it amounts to censorship.
The University of Austin’s CBR Chair in Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech, Michael Shellenberger said on X that MSNBC and CNN “embraced propaganda over journalism” in its coverage of Trump.
CNN aired the Iowa speech but interrupted it with analysis from host Jake Tapper.
One person wrote: “It’s appalling how MSNBC and CNN cut off trump’s victory speech last night coz he was addressing illegal immigration that’s [a] shame.”
Another added: “They are afraid to let Americans decide for themselves.”
After reviewing the footage, however, Newsweek noted that CNN aired Trump’s victory speech for over 10 minutes before Tapper’s analysis came in. The network also showed over 10 minutes of Haley’s speech and DeSantis’ short speech of over three minutes in full.
Before Tapper’s interruption, Trump said there was an “invasion of millions and millions of people,” referring to an ongoing crisis of illegal migration at the southern border with Mexico.
The U.S. Border Patrol recorded in November 2023 that there were 191,113 encounters “between ports of entry along the southwest border.”
‘Encounters’ includes apprehensions in which migrants are detained in the U.S., and incidents in which migrants are expelled. The statistics say there were over 2.475 million in the fiscal year 2023, up from 2.378 million the year before.
Tapper spoke over the Trump speech, saying: “Donald Trump declaring victory with a historically strong showing in the Iowa caucuses… here he is right now under my voice, you hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
Newsweek has approached a spokesperson for Trump along with CNN and MSNBC for comment.
Also contained in the CNN coverage was a poll of caucus voters that around two-thirds of voters said they believe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election.
“It’s a false belief,” Tapper said in his summary of the speech. “But it shows the degree to which Trump has remade and refashioned the Republican Party in his image, not only with new Republican voters, but also by convincing Republicans of his ideology even when empirically false.”
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