During White House briefing, government promotional video airs... CNN and others cut live broadcast

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 13th (local time), during a White House briefing on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), U.S. President Donald Trump played a video praising the government's COVID-19 response, which led some broadcasters, including CNN, to stop broadcasting the briefing.

According to The Hill, a U.S. congressional news outlet, CNN suddenly cut off its broadcast while covering the White House COVID-19 task force (TF) briefing that day. Following this, CNN anchor John King criticized, "It is unprecedented for the White House briefing room to show propaganda videos funded by taxpayers." CNN also displayed a caption saying, "An angry Trump turns the briefing into propaganda promotion time."

MSNBC also cut its broadcast when a campaign-style video began during the White House briefing. Host Ari Melber said, "Because this is not a White House COVID-19 briefing, we interrupted the broadcast." When The Hill asked MSNBC why they stopped the broadcast, they gave the same response as Melber's statement.

These two broadcasters have previously cut off White House briefings, showing a contrasting stance to Fox News, which broadcasts the entire briefing from start to finish. The reason the two broadcasters stopped the broadcast this time was because the White House played a video during the briefing that positively portrayed the government's COVID-19 response. The video mostly consisted of edited statements from governors expressing gratitude to the government, starting with a caption saying, "The media underestimated the severity of the situation from the beginning."

President Trump later revealed that the video was produced two hours before the briefing by White House staff, including Dan Scavino, the White House Director of Social Media. After the video aired, he said, "It is unfortunate that people write fake news," adding, "I don't mind being criticized, but I do mind when things are completely false."