On Tuesday morning, CNN's New Day slammed President Trump for the unsubstantiated claim that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll in the late 1990s. On Monday night, AC360 host Anderson Cooper interviewed Carroll to try to get her side of the story.
The interview contained a series of oddities, including an instance in which Cooper decided that he had to cut to commercial:
CARROLL: I think most people think of rape as being sexy.
COOPER: Let's take a short break.
CARROLL: They think of the fantasies.
COOPER: We’re going to take a quick break if you can stick around on the other side.
CARROLL: You’re fascinating to talk to.
The hosts of New Day were sure to run the snippets of the Cooper interview in which Carroll hammered Trump for his claims about her not being “his type,” but they refrained from airing the portions that may not portray the President’s accuser in the most appealing light.
Ignoring that this incident happened casts into light the media’s willingness to obscure any situation in order to level an attack at Trump. Rather than air a clip that may cast doubt on Carroll’s credibility, they swept it under the rug.
Hosts John Berman and Alisyn Camerota took this further when they made repeated, some fair, comments on Trump’s “not my type” defense: “I have to say something curious about the President's defense suggesting she is not his type. Is he staying had she been her type, the claim would not have been outrageous? Think about that for a second.
Is “she’s not my type” an appropriate response to a sexual assault accusation? Not in the least, but they took it a step further. To question whether or not someone would commit sexual assault all without evidence can’t even begin to be veiled as objective.
If Trump committed an act of sexual assault he should be wholeheartedly condemned, but until he’s proven guilty it’s important for the media to depict the situation objectively in fairness to both the President and to Carroll. Any sort of thumbing the scales is a degradation of CNN’s duty to its audience to keep them informed on the subject.
Here is a relevant portion of Tuesday’s transcript:
CNN's New Day
06/25/2019
6:06 a.m. Eastern
JOHN BERMAN: I have to say, one of the really interesting things that happened yesterday in addition to your interview really following your interview which was the impetus, "The New York Times" admitted it handled this the wrong way. It only did this a book review. It didn't cover this as a news story, and yesterday the Times said they wished they had done it differently, and now all the papers are covering this accusation from you know --
ALISYN CAMEROTA: It's just what you said yesterday, have we gotten numb? That's the question everybody has to ask themselves over the weekend. Where -- how can a rape allegation against the President of the United States feel like, well, here we go again, here's just another thing that reached this sort of -- that we've become immune to something shocking.
BERMAN: I have to say something curious about the President's defense suggesting she is not his type. Is he staying had she been her type, the claim would not have been outrageous? Think about that for a second.
(....)
6:27 a.m. Eastern
CAMEROTA: In a new interview with The Hill, President Trump denies the sexual assault allegation made by author E. Jean Carroll saying quote I'll say it with great respect, number one, she's not by type, number two it never happened. It never happened, okay? Joining us now we have Abby Philip, she’s a CNN White House correspondent, as well as CNN political analyst, Sarah Esker. You help politicians craft their messages. I think I would have led with I don't rape people, but he led with she's not my type, as John points, out begs the question, to rape, not your type for what? What did you think of this back and forth yesterday?
(....)
7:09 a.m. Eastern
CAMEROTA: The President, of course, had responded to it. He was asked many times about it. He gave interesting responses and then he said this to The Hill. This was his response yesterday. Quote, I'll say it with great respect, number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened, it never happened. Okay. And you know, that's just being questioned whether that's the most sensitive way to deal with a rape accusation or even the wisest way because she's not my type, what does that mean, if she were his type, what would he have done?
