After Donald Trump made his town hall appearance on CNN, much of the reaction was centered upon the job of moderator Kaitlan Collins and also what the event meant for the future of Trump’s candidacy. Former CNN host Brian Stelter has argued that Trump isn’t going away, so it is time for news organizations to understand how to deal with the former President.
During an appearance on GBH News in Boston, Stelter argued that while Trump makes for great television, that doesn’t mean the public at large is necessarily served when he does those interviews.
“Sometimes, great television is not great journalism,” Stelter said. “That is the challenge in covering Donald Trump. Frankly, I thought the town hall was great television. I watched it, was fascinated by it, but it’s not always great journalism, because of the challenge of interviewing him and the challenge of rebutting his lies.”
Stelter went on to say that the New Hampshire event — which was described as “disastrous” by some critics — may preclude Trump from appearing on CNN again. However, in Stelter’s view, that doesn’t mean Trump doesn’t have other avenues to get his message across.
“Even if Donald Trump is never on CNN again — and after the town hall, I’m not sure he will be back on CNN during this primary cycle — he’ll always have Fox, he’ll always have Newsmax and Rumble,” Stelter concluded. “He’ll always have these far-right outlets. He’ll always have ways to reach his voters.”
