CNN president Jeff Zucker defends fully airing President Trump's daily coronavirus press briefings

The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast reports that in a staff call, Zucker pushed back on internal demands to stop airing Trump's daily press briefings. "According to multiple sources, Zucker argued on the staff call that it is important for viewers to hear critical information from the administration’s public-health experts like Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, and for the CNN audience to hear the president answer tough questions from journalists including the network’s own," reports The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani. "He did note that the network had pondered whether to air portions of the briefings after Trump finishes speaking, but said that he felt comfortable airing the briefings live because of those reporterly grillings." As Tani notes, CNN has begun taking measures to push back on any inaccuracies during Trump's press briefings through CNN chyrons. “It’s a very difficult decision,” Zucker said. “As of now, we are going to continue to carry those briefings.”