Trump Calls for Firing NBC's Chuck Todd
Points to 'Meet the Press' admission Barr quote was inaccurately abbreviated
President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday night (May 10) that Meet the Press host Chuck Todd should be fired, and aimed that tweet at FCC chairman Ajit Pai, tagging both Pai's and the FCC's Twitter accounts in the feed.
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by “Concast” (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News! @AjitPaiFCC @FCC https://t.co/fLTDhjMXo4May 11, 2020
Trump's tweet came after Meet the Press conceded it had used an abbreviated quote from Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday's show, a quote that Todd used to criticize Barr for the Justice Department's decision not to press charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The show said the cut was inadvertent.
You’re correct. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error.May 10, 2020
The President attacked numerous media outlets last week during a briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, calling CNN fake news, referring, as he often does, to MSNBC as MSDNC, and saying exiting NBC News president Andy Lack was "a hack" and calling NBC parent "Concast" as he did in Sunday's tweet.
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Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.