Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- July 2017
- Location
- Washington, District of Columbia
- Targets
- CNN
A Time Warner Cable truck returns to its office in San Diego, California, U.S., November 2, 2016.
White House advisers reportedly discussed using the multibillion-dollar merger between AT&T and Time Warner as leverage over cable news network CNN to sway its coverage of President Donald Trump and his administration, according to an article in The New York Times.
The article, published on July 5, 2017, cited an unnamed senior administration official. CNN’s parent company is Time Warner, and the Justice Department has been investigating the antitrust implications of this merger. CNN President Jeff Zucker said that the merger had not affected his journalistic or management choices, according to the article. Trump’s relationship with CNN is extremely contentious. He has repeatedly called the network “fake news” and “garbage journalism.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
