CNN’s Disastrous Trump Town Hall Shows News Events Need to Stop Having Live Audiences

About one hour into what was already an unmitigated disaster for Chris Licht’s CNN, former President Donald Trump shot a scornful look at his inquisitor, Kaitlan Collins. He’d already had a number of testy exchanges with her. But now, he was sizing her up for the kill shot.

“You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell you,” Trump said.

And with that, the crowd of approximately 400 people — a crowd which CNN identified as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents — went absolutely berserk. They hooted. They hollered. They whooped it up as their hero made mince meat of the fake news.

They got what they came for. But those looking for a substantive question and answer session did not.

The 400 people in that audience unquestionably shaped viewers’ perceptions about what they were watching. Trump’s supporters watched with glee every time the crowd burst into applause. His detractors watched in horror. Either way, viewers couldn’t help but react to the reactions.

Thanks to the partisans cheering his every utterance, Donald Trump won last night. But that, frankly, is besides the point. The point is that there had to be a winner and there had to be a loser simply because of the way the event was set up. The crowd was not there to watch. They were there to participate. They were there to render a verdict.

The verdict they render can be grim. A nadir of the evening came when Trump embarked on what can only be described as a lengthy standup routine mocking the woman a jury found he sexually abused, commentary the crowd responded to with laughing and hollering.

Moments like that show beyond a reasonable doubt that CNN CEO Chris Licht completely whiffed in putting this town hall together. But the reason his event failed was because it felt too much like one his predecessor would have staged. This town hall was pure Jeff Zucker. The bright lights, the studio audience, the two gladiators facing off. This was news packaged as a sporting event — and it’s part of the disastrous legacy that Zucker left behind having torpedoed two networks and forever cheapening our discourse. The former CNN honcho lived for these high-profile, live-audience forums.

Forums like the highly emotional town hall which took place just 17 days after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, FL — where Republicans had absolutely no chance to get a point across, because they were facing off an emotional crowd of survivors from the horrific attack. Anything less than a full denunciation of the Second Amendment was met with raucous boos. The people on the stage were trying to have a very serious debate about very serious issues. But they were speaking to an (understandably) partial jury. The audience was not there to listen, but to be heard.

And that seems to go for every live audience these days. It’s not enough to watch the show. They want to be part of it. They want to impact it. But those itches are best scratched at a ballgame, not a news interview.

Back in December, Licht told The New York Times his goal was for CNN to deliver “rational conversation about polarizing issues.” What he delivered last night was far from rational conversation. It was irrational shouting. And it happened because the people on the stage were playing to an audience.

In a statement to Mediaite, the network defended the event.

“Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist,” A CNN spokesperson said. “She asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner. That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.

And on a Thursday morning conference call with CNN staffers, Licht reportedly defended having the live audience on hand Wednesday night.

“While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story,” Licht said, in comments reported by Brian Stelter.

Why? The story last night ought to have been what the Republican party frontrunner had to say to voters. Not what 400 anonymous people, all unvetted by the public, had to say.

Licht further argued the media made a mistake in ignoring these people. And indeed, they should not be ignored. But neither should they be handed pitchforks.

The CNN chief also made a truly scary comment that seems to run counter to everything he’s said up until now about his vision for the network.

“Kaitlan pressed him again and again and made news,” Licht said. “Made a LOT of news. … (and) that is our job.”

It seems every major news executive in America shares this view — one which is truly poisonous. It ought to be the job of the media to report the news, not to make it. And yet too often it seems outlets want to manufacture the news. CNN did indeed make news on Wednesday night. And the 400 people in the auditorium helped them do it.

And this is an issue media outlets need to grapple with, as the country careens toward another presidential debate cycle. There are debates on the horizon (whether or not the current Republican frontrunner opts to participate). Are the outlets charged with hosting those debates truly interested in presenting voters with information? Or are they just looking to stage gladiatorial combat in a blood-thirsty arena?

Are they looking to report the news, or make it?

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Joe DePaolo is the Managing Editor of Mediaite

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.