This article was originally posted on The Atlantic’s One Story to Read Today newsletter on June 2, 2023 at 8:30 p.m. ET. In an interview with Chris Licht, the chair and CEO of CNN Worldwide, in the fall of 2022, Licht stated that he believed the media has learned from the coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency and that CNN was going to actively resist being “played” by him. However, in May of 2023, when Trump appeared on a CNN town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, it proved to be disastrous for the network. Trump dominated the event with a frenzy of misleading information, and the audience of his supporters cheered him on. Licht, with ambitions to win back Republican viewers, had hoped to confront Trump with facts, but the event quickly turned into a campaign infomercial for Trump, which led to widespread criticism aimed at CNN. Despite the backlash, Licht believed that the media had an obligation to interview Trump, who was the favorite for the GOP nomination.
CNN’s Meltdown Revealed from Within
