CNN chief govt Mark Thompson has referred to as on the community to carry Donald Trump‘s administration to account with out coming into the ring with the U.S. president.
In an interview with the Monetary Occasions, the previous New York Occasions and BBC boss mentioned it was not CNN’s job to struggle political regimes, however to report on them with out prejudice.
“We shouldn’t slip into the concept that a part of our job is to oppose political forces as such. Our job is to cowl the political contest, somewhat than to move into the ring and begin throwing punches ourselves,” Thompson mentioned.
The analogy was notable — and maybe not an accident — after considered one of Trump’s most well-known run-ins with CNN in 2017, throughout which he tweeted a video exhibiting himself beating a person with a CNN brand superimposed on his face. “Trump punches CNN in a juvenile tweet,” was the headline from CNN’s Brian Stelter on the time.
In additional feedback to the FT, Thompson mentioned CNN should “report on the federal government of the day in whichever nation it’s” in a means that “is correct, is fair-minded, doesn’t labour below its personal prejudices or biases, and doesn’t shy [away] from holding energy to account.”
Throughout the identical interview, Thompson mentioned he “strongly” supported The Related Press within the company’s efforts to win again entry to the White Home.
The AP reported {that a} journalist and photographer had been barred from an Oval Workplace information convention on Monday. This was regardless of a federal court docket order that forbids Trump’s administration from punishing the AP for refusing to alter the identify of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Thompson mentioned the AP was a “helpful associate,” and that “a self-organising pool of individuals protecting Washington D.C., and entities just like the White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation, are genuinely helpful in co-ordinating protection.”
