CNN’s decision to give the former

P

resident

Donald

Trump a living town hall was a hard lesson for the TV news business.

The live free-for-all on May 10, which ultimately led to the demise of the network’s last Chief Executive, Chris Licht, demonstrated the dangers of placing a presidential candidate known for spreading misinformation in a format in which fact-checking is a challenge.

Trump was able to spread countless falsehoods and denials,

like an open fire hydrant,

making it impossible for anchor Kaitlan Collins to correct him. Criticism of the event was torrent

,

and some CNN viewers turned away from the network days after.

But that debacle hasn’t stopped Nextstar Media Group’s cable channel NewsNation from giving a live platform to Democratic presidential nominee Robert F. Kennedy on Wednesday at 9 p.m.

,

Jr., who is known for

promoting spraying

false information about the safety of vaccines, especially the debunked claim that they cause autism, and other dubious scientific theories.

Wi-Fi radiation opens up your blood-brain barrier and all these toxins that are in your body can now get into your brain, Kennedy recently told podcast host Joe Rogan.

Although while

that may seem like a disqualifying statement for a serious candidate, Kennedy will appear for an hour with anchor Elizabeth Vargas at NewsNation headquarters in Chicago

–

long session in which the candidate answers questions

from a distance

of voters in the studio and

remote remote

from New Hampshire and South Carolina, the first two states to hold primaries for the 2024 nomination.

Launched in 2020, NewsNation is not on par with established cable news networks Fox News, CNN or MSNBC, delivering a small audience that has slowly risen in the

I

last year but is still seeking wider recognition. That may partially explain why it

‘

is prepared to pursue an attention-grabbing event about a trend among experts who have looked at what recently happened with Trump.

“I think it just illustrates that there is an urgent need to completely rethink what responsible reporting is,” said Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “CNN was wrong and irresponsible to make a Trump town hall, and it is wrong and irresponsible for NewsNation to give one to Kennedy who repeatedly makes demonstrably false claims and makes it the centerpiece of his campaign.”

Kahn believes it would be wiser to beat Kennedy in a taped sit-down interview where the candidate’s false claims could be called above the struggles of an audience of voters.

in one go

when

Kennedy would be considered a fringe candidate that major TV news outlets could ignore. But Trump showed an ability to draw ratings with extreme viewpoints, which led to networks giving him more airtime and ultimately making him eligible for election.

Even without significant coverage on mainstream outlets, Kennedy’s famous name and prominence on podcasts and social media has managed to hit double digits in matchups against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.

Cherie Grzech,

vice president of news and editor-in-chief at NewsNation, calls that reason enough to put the candidate in a town hall format.

“It is our decision to let the public hear from him, ask tough questions and learn more about him,” said Grzech.

Grzech said Vargas, a veteran who came to NewsNation after a long career at ABC News, is able to hold Kennedy accountable for his statements. The network will also have a team of analysts blogging on its website to fact check Kennedy, and it will

a

sky

a

post-town hall analysis with former Chris Cuomo after

departments

.

Even with those measures in place, Mike Murphy, a veteran political consultant who contributes to NBC News, said it will be difficult to adequately filter out misinformation.

“You may know it’s a lie, but it might still stick,” he said.

Murphy believes the polls for Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who is the son of the slain US

S

enator and former Attorney General and nephew of

the

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is misleading at this early stage of the campaign.

“It is based on

name ID and what was hottest on cable TV a week ago,” Murphy said. “He has a famous name, but I think at least half of his supporters have no idea what he is for. There is some fear and discontent among the Democrats

P

arty about Joe Biden, so when they hear ‘Kennedy’ he gets artificially high poll numbers.”

for

From

Now other networks are holding back plans to give Kennedy a full hour. (Kennedy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment

.

)

.

But CNN’s Jake Tapper said during a recent podcast appearance that he wouldn’t anchor a town hall with Kennedy. Tapper also noted in a CNN column how Kennedy once insisted without evidence that a vaccine story he reported years ago for ABC News was killed off because of corporate pressure.

“I had enough pieces killed. Tapper wrote. Not once has corporate played a part in killing any of them.

Tapper said the 2005 piece did run in which he reported that “Kennedy alleges that a government cover-up, arguing that the Centers for Disease Control, in collusion with the pharmaceutical industry, withheld data on the dangers of thimerosal, a preventive agent that was removed from vaccines years ago.

CNN, which featured Kennedy as a guest on its programs, had no further comment.

Fox News, where commentators often tout Kennedy as a potential threat to Biden, declined to reveal whether it has plans to offer the City Hall platform.

Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, the politically progressive cable news channel, said in a recent forum that the City Hall format in general will not be part of campaign coverage for 2024.

But if NewsNation can draw a large audience with its Wednesday event,

it will be interesting if

other networks can

want to

be tempted to take the next step.