ANALYSIS: Conduct of Trump Town Hall Suggests CNN Has No Intention of Moving to the Center

News Analysis

Meet the new CNN, same as the old.

Despite its effort to be perceived as moving towards the political center, CNN’s town hall with Trump triggered criticism from both sides of the aisle and did little to shake the perception of the network’s left-wing bias, according to media experts.

Trump appeared on CNN on May 10  for the first time in several years to participate in what turned into a contentious primetime town hall.

The event, which featured New Hampshire Republican and undecided voters, began with moderator Kaitlan Collins confronting Trump about the 2020 election, which he continued to say was stolen from him, prompting Collins to rebut him pretty much every time he said it.

Trump also expressed a willingness, were he to win back the White House, to pardon at least some of the participants in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

CNN, which has been under the leadership of Chris Licht for a year, has been known for its hostile coverage of Trump even though Licht has sought to turn down the temperature.

But the execution of the town hall suggests CNN has no intention of shifting toward the center nor its approach toward Trump.

Curtis Houck, the managing editor of the conservative media watchdog NewsBusters, told The Epoch Times that CNN got the ratings it sought.

A total of almost 3.31 million people tuned into the town hall, which demonstrated, said Houck, “there’s no evidence CNN is moving towards the center given their reaction to not just Trump, but Trump voters writ large.”

Jon Nicosia, a media analyst who was an editor for Mediaite, told The Epoch Times that Licht did not have much support inside CNN for the town hall.

He added that some viewers “saw it as a spectacle in which Trump got revenge on CNN” while others are “furious they allowed him a platform,” also “the same group of voters who still think the media got Trump elected in 2016.”

Kevin Tober, a news analyst at NewsBusters, echoed Nicosia’s sentiment and told The Epoch Times that both conservatives and liberals are upset. The former is because of CNN’s antagonistic questions and the latter is due to giving Trump a platform.

“Allowing Trump who is a former president and current presidential candidate to participate in a town hall forum isn’t proof of CNN moving to the center,” said Tober.

Nicosia graded Collins’ performance as a “disaster,” while Tober crticized her for exhibiting a double standard.

“Collins was snarky and childish during the entire event. Asking for clarification or correcting false claims is one thing but constantly interrupting the former president and talking back isn’t how journalists who want to be taken seriously should act,” said Tober.

“If she was aggressive with [President] Joe