CNN is preparing for its Wednesday town hall event with former President Donald Trump. Many have applauded the network for covering Trump as a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. MSNBC’s Joy Reid, however, is not in that camp.
During The Reid Out Monday, Reid welcomed a panel of Media Matters President and CEO Angelo Carusone and The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes to discuss the situation. Reid made it known she thought it was a transparent move for CNN.
“It feels to me that this is a pretty open attempt by CNN to push itself to the right and make attractive and show its belly to MAGA and conservatives hoping that they will tune in,” Reid said.
Reid’s comments came after she played a clip from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav saying that both sides of the political aisle should be represented on CNN. In response, Reid sarcastically said “Republicans, Democrats, Insurrectionists are all on CNN”.
Carusone called the New Hampshire event a “laundering”, while Sykes said the town hall was “horrifically bad judgement” by CNN.
“Let’s be clear about this. This is not journalism. This is entertainment,” argued Sykes. “In journalism, you actually will control the questions and the answers, and you’ll have some sort of a filter for misinformation. CNN will not be able to filter or control the disinformation that Donald Trump puts out on the air live and CNN will not even be able to control the kinds of issues that are talked about.”
