Trumpé cut live? "If the president is lying, we have to say it"

Donald Trump at a White House press conference, November 5, 2020. -

What a sad night.

"What a sad night for the United States of America to see its president falsely accusing people of trying to steal the election," said Jake Tapper, the star CNN presenter at the end of Donald's press conference Trump Thursday night.

A conference that the news channel broadcast in its entirety.

This was not the case with other American networks such as MSNBC, ABC or CBS, which decided to cut the president.

"Here we are again in the unusual position of [having to] not only interrupt the President of the United States, but also correct the President of the United States," commented Brian Williams, the MSNBC presenter, forty seconds after the President American took the floor to proclaim his victory and denounce the theft of the election.

From France, this television moment seems a little crazy, a moment that

made comment to Jim Bittermann, the correspondent of CNN in Paris.

Is this the first time that the President of the United States has been cut live?

It may have happened before, but it is still very rare, unprecedented.

When there is a presidential address, the channels cover it from start to finish.

This is what CNN did on Wednesday evening, we decided to broadcast the entire press conference, but not alone.

We accompanied it with scrolling banners and subtitles that pointed out the errors and lies spoken by the president.

We then had a panel to explain what he was wrong about, and how many lies he had told.

To cut off the president's speech in this way, isn't that censorship, an attack on freedom of expression?

Censorship in what respect?

We, journalists and news channels, have an obligation of truth to Donald Trump and to our viewers.

If anyone, whoever they are, is not telling the truth, we have the right to cut them off, to contradict them.

And again, CNN didn't cut it.

Other channels will tell you the same, we have an obligation of truth when it comes to covering the policy.

If you want my personal opinion, Donal Trump was breaking down as the lecture progressed and ended it so pathetically, that these chains did him a favor by cutting him off.

What is the best reaction to this kind of direct, if there is one?

It's very difficult.

I teach journalism and I always tell my students to start a story, a story, cover an event with a clean slate, no opinion, and keep that mindset until the end.

But in the end, you have to put into perspective, question what is said, what it tells, to help viewers.

Otherwise, you just pass the dishes, the floor: this is what Trump says, this is what Biden says.

However, we have experience, expertise, principles and always this obligation of what is true or not.

The decision not to cut Trump was made by my superiors, by the president of the channel, but I imagine the idea was to keep the president on the air to show what was going on, but also to allow the public to keep perspective on what they see and hear.

If any lies are being told, he must know it.

Should we expect more TV moments like this in the days or weeks to come?

What we hear from correspondents in the White House is that Trump is pushing to get his message across that he is being cheated, that the election is a fraud.

But the people around him, and many Republicans, tell him that the election is a priori folded, that he must accept reality.

If this holds true, of course, what's the message?

The argument we hear in the background is that the Americans have therefore ultimately rejected Donald Trump, but not necessarily all Republicans.

Who are in the process of keeping the Senate for example.

So now is the time for Republicans to reinvent themselves, after four years with Trump.

Can we imagine an address by Emmanuel Macron cut live?

I think it's hard to imagine, almost impossible, and for several reasons.

But the main one is that France is a more civilized country than the United States.

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• Donald trump

• US presidential election

• United States

• CNN

• Television