Trump's 'fake news' advert rejected for being 'false'

  • 06/05/2017

The major US television networks have all decided not to run Donald Trump's so-called 'Fake News' ad, according to a statement released by his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.

Ms Trump, an adviser on Trump's 2020 campaign, called the rejection a "chilling precedent against free speech rights".

"All of the mainstream media television networks have decided to block the paid placement of a campaign ad that celebrates the achievements of President Trump in his first 100 days in office," she wrote in a post on Friday on DonaldJTrump.com, which is not an official government website.

"Apparently, the mainstream media are champions of the First Amendment only when it serves their own political views, she wrote.

"Faced with an ad that doesn't fit their biased narrative, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC have now all chosen to block our ad. This is an unprecedented act of censorship in America that should concern every freedom-loving citizen," the post continued.

Donald Trump appears in the ad waving a fist at the sky, while a voiceover intones that America is "winning" (Donald Trump/YouTube)
Donald Trump appears in the ad waving a fist at the sky, while a voiceover intones that America is "winning" (Donald Trump/YouTube)

Ms Trump appeared on Fox News' Hannity on Thursday night to promote the campaign.

"There are certain networks, the majority of the mainstream media throughout the country that refuse to report the facts," she told host Sean Hannity.

"It's a great ad and it highlights all the wonderful things that have happened that you don't hear about every day because some people don't watch Fox News. If you don't watch Fox, you probably aren't hearing all the great things the President has done," she added.

Mr Trump regularly retweets Fox News and praises the network, while labelling others - notably CNN - as "fake news". The term "fake news" appears briefly in the paid ad that the other networks have refused to air.

"CNN requested that the advertiser remove the false graphic that the mainstream media is 'fake news,'" CNN said in a statement explaining their decision to not run the ad.

"The mainstream media is not fake news, and therefore the ad is false and per policy will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted."

Mr Trump's contentious relationship with the mainstream press has included banning CNN and publishers like the New York Times and Politico from White House briefings.

His surrogates often appear on news shows offering conflicting commentary. One surrogate - Kelly Anne Conway - used the term "alternative facts" while trying to defend false information put out by the Trump administration about the inauguration crowd size.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump cut short an interview with CBS when asked to explain claims he made that the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump Tower - claims without any factual evidence.

Reuters