Backstory: We cut off President Trump's remarks about a "rigged" election Thursday night. Here's why.
I'm USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll, and this is The Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week....
President Trump Thursday made unfounded claims that the presidential election was corrupt and fraudulent. In response, we cut off his live remarks and removed the video from our platforms. I want to explain why.
Our job is to cover the news, but our mission is to spread truth and to stop misinformation.
Some things don’t have two sides. Facts are not up for debate. And when the president of the United States, from the White House, tries to tear down one of the bedrocks of American democracy, a fair and free election, that is no longer news. It is propaganda.
This is not censorship. There is no mandate that we air everything a political leader says. That is state-controlled media. His remarks weren’t about political differences but undermining Americans’ confidence in the democratic process.
We simply chose not to use our platforms to amplify this dangerous message, with the potential to incite violence, in real time when it was impossible to provide facts and context simultaneously. We covered the speech carefully and fully afterward.
Of course we cover potential voting issues or irregularities aggressively. They should be brought forth to the appropriate authorities for investigation. The Trump campaign has launched legal challenges in multiple states, but legal experts say most of the cases have no chance of having a major impact on the election’s outcome.
“It’s throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see if anything sticks,” said Rachael Cobb, chair of Suffolk University’s Department of Government, told our reporters. “There is no clear indication of an egregious failure of election administrations. And why would we stop counting votes? We live in a democracy.”
There was bipartisan condemnation of Trump's remarks. Major news networks, with the exception of FOX and CNN, also cut away from his appearance.
... when the president stands in the White House and says, without evidence, that he "will not allow the corruption to steal such an important election or any election for that matter. And we can't allow silence, anybody to silence our voters and manufacture results," we are way beyond news value and into legitimately dangerous territory.
It is the duty of journalists to call that out.
. Idk if you'll have the same issue with your local TV ads that Whack 9 and I will have.
. What happens in Vegas . . .
