Chuck Todd Bans Trump Phone Interviews From Meet The Press As Media Backlash Grows

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:51 pm

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Donald Trump will no longer be allowed to phone in to NBC’s Meet The Press. If Trump wants free media coverage on the Sunday show, he will now be forced to appear on camera in person.
Jim Ruttenberg of The New York Times reported, “On Friday, Chuck Todd, the moderator of “Meet the Press,” told me he had only grudgingly allowed Mr. Trump to call in to his show earlier in the campaign, determining that he would rather have Mr. Trump take questions via phone than not at all. Now, Mr. Todd said, he will no longer allow Mr. Trump to do prescheduled interviews by phone on the NBC program.”

Todd was following the lead of Chris Wallace and Fox News Sunday, which was the first Sunday show to ban the Trump phone in interview. Trump has gotten an estimated $1.8 billion in free media from doing nothing more than sitting on his backside and talking on the phone.

The phone interviews allowed Trump to blanket the Sunday shows without having to show up and face questions on camera. The phone interviews have also almost always been worthless garbage that was completely devoid of journalism and news value. Trump has been easily able to dodge questions and steer the conversation on the phone. The Republican frontrunner has struggled the most when he has been forced to sit down and answer questions on camera.

The corporate press has been shamed by several reports about the deals that they cut with Trump that allow him to dictate their coverage and the exposing of the discrepancy in the amount of free coverage that he has received in comparison to the other presidential candidates.

The media has helped to build Donald Trump, and as voters reject the possible Republican nominee, the media is distancing itself from their role in potentially handing a hatemonger the Republican presidential nomination.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association