CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour publicly blasted her own network for allowing former President Donald Trump a town hall a week ago.
Amanpour made the comments during a commencement speech given to the 2023 graduates of the Columbia Journalism School.
She first acknowledged that it might be easier to keep quiet about the controversial event but that she felt compelled to “do what’s right” and “empathize with and acknowledge all those who need to trust us at CNN, the most trusted name in news.”
Amanpour said she had a conversation with CNN CEO Chris Licht about his reasoning for hosting the town hall and hinted that she views Trump as old news.
“For me, of course, the fact that the American people voted three times against Trump and Trumpism- 2018, 2020, 2022- also speaks volumes,” she said. “We’ve done our duty. We have told the story.”
“I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in that particular format,” the veteran anchor added, resulting in applause from those in attendance.
Unfortunately for Amanpour, Trump isn’t “old news.” He’s not just the leading contender for the Republican nomination, he is currently the overall frontrunner.
Christiane Amanpour gave a speech at Columbia yesterday. She did not flinch. @oliverdarcy reports: https://t.co/Fu6ALfCuBC pic.twitter.com/cjDm2JvDZP
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) May 18, 2023
RELATED: Report: CNN Employees In a Full-Blown Meltdown Over Trump Town Hall
Christiane Amanpour Still Whining About CNN’s Trump Town Hall
Amanpour proceeded to suggest the network should have ‘refused to allow’ Trump a forum. Say, aren’t these the people always talking about “defending democracy”?
“So maybe less is more. Maybe live is not always right,” Amanpour proposed.
She went on to tell the Columbia graduates that journalists must “be truthful, but not neutral” adding that “both-siderism … is not always objectivity. It does not get you to the truth.”
She’s literally advocating for liberal bias in the media.
Amanpour is not the first on-air personality to publicly call out her network though, as The Political Insider reported, employees behind the scenes have been having manic breakdowns over Trump’s town hall.
The fact that she is still talking about this over a week later indicates the breakdowns have not subsided. Amanpour even apologized on behalf of the network for daring to allow Trump to speak.
“I can only hope that your trust in us might have been shaken, but not shattered,” she said. “That you believe we can survive and rebuild that trust.”
Begging viewers to stick with CNN so they can “survive” the Trump town hall is just about the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. How weak-minded are these people?
Future journalists at Wednesday’s @ColumbiaJourn commencement applaud when Christiane @Amanpour, of CNN and PBS, says CNN shouldn’t have given Trump the Town Hall and points to blacklisting of Joseph McCarthy as model for suppressing him. pic.twitter.com/mzuv0oEdAu
— Brent Baker
(@BrentHBaker) May 18, 2023
RELATED: CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Apologizes On Air After Comparing Trump To Nazis Purging Jews
She Once Compared Trump to Nazis
Watching Christiane Amanpour clutch her pearls over CNN giving Donald Trump a town hall forum and advising them to refuse coverage is pretty rich.
After all, the network has aired plenty of controversial statements in the past. Take Amanpour for instance.
Just two weeks after the 2020 presidential election, she was forced to apologize on air after comparing Trump’s four years in office to the Nazis’ Kristallnacht purge of the Jewish people in 1938.
A glimpse of what so many of the people who control large corporations,the media and Hollywood really think. That the over 72 million Americans who voted for Trump are supporters of the modern day equivalent of Nazi’s. pic.twitter.com/tAPI75PabD
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 13, 2020
“I should not have juxtaposed the two thoughts. Hitler and his evils stand alone, of course, in history,” Amanpour later said. “I regret any pain my statement may have caused.”
Less is more, Christiane. Less is more.
In 2015, Amanpour made headlines during a “Breaking News” segment on CNN with another ill-advised reference, calling Islamic extremists who murdered the 12 journalists at Charlie Hebdo “activists.”
Perhaps CNN should reconsider giving her a forum.
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