The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC again promoted on Wednesday night the three-round bout between 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and liberal Fusion/Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from the night before as ABC and CBS failed to note Hillary Clinton addressing her e-mail scandal Wednesday afternoon in Iowa.
Introducing correspondent Tom Llamas’ report on the “feud,” ABC’s World News Tonight fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos explained that Trump’s “face-off” with “the Latino Walter Cronkite...came in a rollicking news conference” as Ramos “repeatedly trie[d] to question Trump” before being tossed out (and then allowed back).
Hyping that Trump is “facing new heat tonight,” Llamas provided some highlights from the multi-part exchange with “[t]he tension starting when Jorge Ramos got up and challenged Trump on immigration.”
Llamas also found time in his one-minute-and-53-second segment to insert Jeb Bush’s response to the exchange regarding the treatment of journalists plus a soundbite of White House Press Secretary Josh Eawrnest offering “some unsolicited advice for Trump.”
NBC Nightly News spent another two-minutes-and-17-seconds on the press conference duel, with anchor Lester Holt touting that Trump is “defending himself after tensions” rose in a “heated confrontation” with Ramos.
On the CBS Evening News, two and a half minutes were reserved for the press conference with Ramos responding during national correspondent Chip Reid’s report that Trump is who’s “out of line” for removing him “from a press conference for simply asking a question.”
Ramos then was allowed to add: “It seems to me that Donald Trump is much more authoritarian than I originally thought. He doesn't like to be questioned.”
Despite World News Tonight devoting a 34-second brief to Clinton’s visit to Iowa, the Clinton Foundation donor in Stephanopoulos would only elaborate on Clinton’s comments concerning a possible entrance into the 2016 field by Vice President Joe Biden and how Biden spoke out about a possible run during a phone call with Democrats on the Iran deal.
In it’s 46-second coverage of Clinton, NBC’s Holt did work in a few nods to Clinton’s growing e-mail scandal. The NBC Nightly News anchor told viewers that:
Clinton cut her vacation short to get back on the trail in Iowa. She faces slipping poll numbers as well as persistent questions about her use of private e-mail – a private e-mail server while secretary of state and now, a potentially a new opponent in Biden.
After a clip of Clinton discussing a possible Biden campaign, Holt further stated that the former secretary of state took “responsibility for the decision to use a single private e-mail, saying that she should have had separate accounts.”
