David Zaslav, the CEO of CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, defended the ratings-challenged cable network’s decision to broadcast a town hall with former President Donald Trump next week.
“He’s the frontrunner, he needs to be on our network,” Zaslav said Friday during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Zaslav, who has been instrumental in forcing CNN to ditch the left-leaning commentary that kept Trump from appearing on the network for years, said it was necessary to provide the 2024 Republican candidate for president a forum.
“We’re a divided government. We’d like to listen to each voices. That’s what you see. Republicans are on the air on CNN, Democrats are on the air. All voices must be heard,” Zaslav added.
The town hall, to be held Tuesday at 8 p.m. at St. Anselm College in Recent Hampshire, might be moderated by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.
Zaslav didn’t address whether the network would have any system in place to censor or cut off Trump, who has forged doubt on his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and been blamed for inciting the Jan. 6 riots.
A CNN spokesperson told The Post: “Our job despite his unique circumstances is to do what we do best: Ask tough questions, follow up, and hold him accountable to provide voters the data they should sort through their decisions.”
Last week, ABC News admitted to editing out statements anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made concerning the COVID-19 vaccine during an exclusive interview conducted with the longshot Democratic presidential candidate.
Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box Friday morning, where he defended CNN’s decision to host a presidential town hall with Donald Trump.CNBC
When asked about the potential of censoring Trump, CNN declined to comment about its on-air procedures and logistics.
Zaslav told CNBC that the town hall might be a possibility to determine CNN as “a network about facts — the perfect version of the facts … great journalism and never just politics, either.”
Zaslav took the reins of the media giant after last yr’s $43 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. He installed Chris Licht to switch Jeff Zucker as CNN’s top executive with marching orders to maneuver the network’s coverage back to the middle.
“After we do politics, we’d like to represent either side,” he told CNBC.
Mehdi Hasan, an anchor for MSNBC, questioned the rival network’s decision to have a town hall with Trump.
The Trump town hall, scheduled to air on CNN on May 10, might be the primary time he has appeared on the network in years.AP
“I do hope CNN chief Chris Licht doesn’t need to find yourself apologizing for giving Trump this platform in the identical way that his predecessor Jeff Zucker needed to apologize for running all those Trump rallies uninterrupted on CNN back in 2016,” Hasan said during his show Thursday.
He continued: “Personally I wouldn’t interview a person who has used live interviews to incite violence and tell lies.”
As well as, the ladies’s advocacy nonprofit organization UltraViolet has began a petition to cancel the town hall.
“CNN has the best journalists and the biggest group of journalists on the earth,” Zaslav claimed in the course of the Squawk Box interview.Getty Images
“CNN’s decision to supply Trump with a platform is dangerous,” reads the petition, which garnered greater than 17,000 signatures as of Thursday night.
Zaslav went on CNBC after Warner Bros Discovery reported a surprise quarterly loss on Friday on costs tied to its 2022 merger, taking the shine off the primary profit for its streaming business.
The media company forged by the union of WarnerMedia and Discovery recorded a $1.81 billion charge in the primary quarter because of the merger, while also booking $95 million in restructuring expenses.
