In response to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign’s accusations of ad censorship:
CNN is refusing to run a Donald Trump ad marking the president’s 100 days in office because it refers to the mainstream media as “fake news.”
In a statement, CNN admitted it had rejected the ad and explained its decision, denying it was “censoring” the ad and claiming, rather, that the network has a policy of not running ads that make false claims.
In a statement, which you can read above, CNN said it will only run Trump’s ad if a graphic calling the mainstream media fake news is deleted. CNN wrote:
CNN requested that the advertiser remove the false graphic that says the mainstream media is ‘fake news.’ The mainstream media is not fake news, and therefore the ad is false. Per our policy, it will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted. Those are the facts.
Trump and CNN have been constantly at loggerheads since before the election, with Trump accusing the cable network of prematurely writing off his campaign and of constantly negative and slanted coverage.
According to the Hill, Trump’s campaign accused CNN of bias for rejecting the ad.
According to the Trump campaign, “It is absolutely shameful to see the media blocking the positive message that President Trump is trying to share with the country. It’s clear that CNN is trying to silence our voice and censor our free speech because it doesn’t fit their narrative.”
(Trump campaign ad)
Trump released the ad because he argues the media – especially CNN – are not covering his time in office fairly. The ad focuses on the president’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as his decision to allow pipelines to go forward. It’s critical of the news media and even uses footage of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer while doing so.
You can watch the ad here: