CNN veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour during an address to Columbia Journalism School students on Wednesday voiced her disagreement with the network's decision to host former President Donald Trump for a town hall forum last week, saying she would have "dropped the mic" when he called anchor Kaitlan Collins a "nasty person."
She also said she had a "very robust exchange of views" about the matter with CNN CEO Chris Licht.
"My management believes they did the right thing, a service to the American people," she said while accepting the prestigious Columbia Journalism Award and serving as the school's 2023 commencement speaker. "Some reports have written about important new thoughts and things that we learned from Trump's very mouth that night … . Time could very well prove that Trump's electroshock therapy to the world jolts the undecided into greater awareness.
"The fact the American people voted three times against Trump and Trumpism — 2018, 2020, 2022 — also speaks volumes. We've done our duty, we've told the story, we've put that in everybody's awareness, and people have had the opportunity to make their choices, and they have done.
"I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in that particular format," she continued. "We know Trump and his tendencies. Everyone does.
"He just seizes the stage and dominates. No matter how much flak the moderator tries to aim at the incoming, it doesn't often work. For me, I would have dropped the mic at 'nasty person,' but then that's me."
She also described the town hall as "a very well-timed, practical masterclass" on what could have been "done better."
"Maybe we should revert back to the newspaper editors and TV chiefs of the 1950s, who in the end refused to allow McCarthyism onto their pages, unless his foul lies, his witch hunts, and his rants reached the basic evidence level required in a court of law."
She continued to express her ideas on what to do with Trump in the future.
"So maybe less is more," she said. "Maybe live is not always right. Which brings us to the second-most talked about problem: the invited audience.
"Quite apart from their demographic, I believe it is our home. And therefore, there is plenty of town hall and presidential and other televised debate precedent to insist that our invited guests behave themselves — no hooting, no hollering, no jeering, no cheering.
"Chris Licht told me he agrees that the execution was lacking a little, and that I am sure we will not witness that same appalling behavior in future town halls."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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