CBS’s Interview with Donald Trump Was an Abdication
The central issue is that Donald Trump routinely makes statements detached from reality. When a journalist interviews someone known for constant falsehoods, they face a clear choice: confront the misinformation or let it slide.
During her CBS interview with Trump, aired on Sunday, Norah O’Donnell chose to avoid direct confrontation, following the path many reporters have taken before her. This lack of challenge was unsurprising, especially after CBS's earlier capitulation to Trump in a questionable lawsuit and the network's leadership becoming more favorable toward him.
“Confrontation is the only way journalists can begin to answer the key questions about Trump that the public deserves to know.”
Instead of allowing inaccuracies to pass unchecked, the first step should have been to challenge Trump on statements that were demonstrably false. Journalist Mehdi Hassan from Zeteo highlighted several of Trump’s most misleading claims and the immediate fact-checks O’Donnell could have presented during the interview.
Similarly, CNN’s Daniel Dale noted that the majority of Trump’s false statements have long been disproven, meaning correcting them on air would not have posed much difficulty. Observing Trump faced with factual pushback would have provided valuable insight into how he responds to truth under pressure.
Journalists, after all, are uniquely positioned to puncture the bubble of misinformation that surrounds figures like Trump.
Author’s Summary
Norah O’Donnell’s CBS interview with Donald Trump exemplified mainstream media’s failure to confront habitual misinformation, missing a vital chance for journalistic accountability.