How do you interview Donald Trump, anyway?

According to CNN Director Chris Licht, the network’s recent “town hall” event with former President Donald Trump has “provided a very good service” to Americans. “You don’t have to like the former president’s answer,” Licht admitted in a message to CNN staff allegedly outraged by the broadcast, adding that CNN host Caitlan Collins “put pressure on him.” I’ve been here,” he justified the interview. [Trump] It was in the news again and again. Made a lot of news. “

“That’s what we do,” he said.

Licht’s staunch defense of the interview came amid a barrage of criticism over the content of the broadcast and his network’s responsibility for helping spread lies repeatedly exposed by the former president. But in justifying the show’s decision, Licht also raised broader questions, perhaps unintentionally, simply beyond the content of one town hall. By justifying “making news” as a journalist’s “work”, Several critic fighthe confuses the distinction between media and message, and ultimately fails to deliver on the presumptuous promises inherent in high-profile interviews with former presidents and current presidential frontrunners.

This in turn leads to the inevitable subsequent dilemma. How should the news report on the man who perfected the rhetoric of “Gish Gallop”? Journalists can effectively screen and contextualize the comments of those who choose to overwhelm interviewers, audiences, or debate opponents with an irrepressible flood of only tangentially relevant and inaccurate arguments. It’s not a new dilemma, but the looming 2024 presidential election has created a new sense of urgency for an old, unanswered question. do Anyway, would you interview Donald Trump?

format is important

“The best-case scenario, where Trump’s lies/crimes/authoritarianism is meaningfully confronted and exposed, was never possible in the Town Hall format.” huff post Andy Campbell, editor and extremism expert tweeted In response to report The sympathetic audience at the CNN event was largely due to invitations from local conservative groups, he said.

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Despite Collins’ efforts to push back against some of Trump’s lies, “the problem was the format that it was a rally, not City Hall.” agreed Willie Geist of MSNBC.

Given the format of CNN’s Town Hall, “the only way Ms Collins has actually been even semi-successful is because she has completely ignored the audience and the format, and instead criticized Trump’s false and offensive remarks.” They would have tried to find out one by one,” a statement,” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan agreed. The problem was, in that format, “The CNN anchor didn’t do that, it couldn’t!”

Giving politicians free reign to take advantage of the network’s established measure of trust with their audiences live, without complaint, would be “a It’s no longer a deal the news media should be making,” says Mark, dean of Hofstra University’s Communication Department. Lukasevich told PBS.

in fact in other forms offal According to a professor of communications at the University of Maine, in contrast to “bizarre amnesia about ethical and professional interviews conducted with Donald Trump over the past few years,” when it comes to Trump’s coverage, intermittent Albeit Michael Sokolow, who has already proven to be particularly effective. Pointing to Trump’s 2020 Fox News interview with Chris Wallace, 60 minutes In the same year, a conversation with Leslie Stahl spread widely, AxiosJonathan Swann, the common denominator seems to be that “everything was videotaped for later broadcast”. Therefore, Sokolov concludes, “News media should not hand over live microphones or radio waves to others.” [Trump]But rather, interview him while allowing him to bring to the team the video production skills he feels are necessary to protect himself.

“It’s time to ask him some new questions.”

The media may be the message in an interview with Trump, but in the end it’s the content of the interview itself that counts. To that point, many commentators have focused on the specific questions asked as a determining factor in the success of Trump’s interview. “Turning into the weeds of factual disputes with Mr. Trump, even if he is proven wrong, is not a useful way to interrogate him.” washington post Columnist Ramesh Ponnul recently argued: “It’s time to ask him some new questions.”

But, as journalist Simon Huttenstone wrote in 2017, simply asking a new question, no matter how aggressive, is an opportunity to give President Trump a “sour journey of answers.” is given. To that end, Hattenstone “recommended asking questions such as: He is “simple” and “clear”, but predicts that “in the next few years, in the so-called ‘post-truth era’, interviews may become increasingly difficult.”

Additionally, it’s important to have the patience to not only ask sharp questions, but demand important answers. Journalist Hamilton Nolan suggested after President Trump’s town hall, “Let him talk until it’s clear he won’t answer, then ask again.” “Mut his mic if you have to. He won’t like it. It doesn’t matter. Ask the clear question again. If he doesn’t give a clear answer, ask the question again. Same question.” Ask me again. “

“As far as I know, it has never been done,” he noted. “It could be.”

Even if the question cannot be answered specifically, the process itself can produce important results. [then-]The president is lying, but he can stop looking authoritative. ” financial times Columnist Henry Mans wrote in 2020: For a politician whose entire career seems to be based more on assertive impressions of competence than on enumerating policy details, that may be the most important point an interviewer can offer.

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