Eric Von Haessler: Both CNN and Donald Trump Had Ulterior Motives for Town Hall | Barrett Media (2024)

CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump continues to create headlines, and 95.5 WSB host Eric Von Haessler believes neither CNN nor Donald Trump had the right intentions for the much-publicized event.

“No one was there for the purpose of a town hall. What would be the purpose of a town hall? I would think, in the clear, the purpose of a town hall with the leader for the nomination of the Republicans for President should be to get information out to the voters. I don’t see, from either side — from Trump world or from CNN — that this had anything to do with that,” argued Von Haessler.

“Trump wanted to get back at Fox, so he went to CNN. Obviously, they didn’t decide last night that Kaitlan Collins did such a good job let’s put her on primetime. This has been in the hopper, so this was a big stage to introduce a potential primetime audience to Kaitlan Collins, and maybe another way to punch Don Lemon on her way out. Even according to Don Lemon, she’s in her prime.”

Von Haessler was alluding to the report that CNN has offered Collins a primetime role, with a new contract, that would see the 31-year-old move to the 9:00 PM timeslot previously occupied by Chris Cuomo.

His comments on the matter came after he admitted he did not watch the New Hampshire event live, but said the advent of social media makes viewing the program live nearly obsolete, but that too has its failings.

“You’re getting the clips from different points of view,” Von Haessler said. “It’s funny, you have the same clip online in two places and one says ‘Kaitlan Collins buries Trump’ and then the very same clip from a different channel says ‘Trump buries Kaitlan Collins and her nonsense’. Listen, you’re always better to watch the whole thing. I’ve seen enough…to know that it was in fact an s-show, but it was a different s-show than I thought it would be.”

NPRis making changes to its podcasting department as the public radio company announced that Collin Campbell will be their new podcast chief.

Furthermore, the reason for Campbell’s promotion is to stabilize NPR’s position as a critical player in a crowded field. The podcasting industry has become increasingly crowded, causing the once-innovative outlet to lose its leading status.

“People who are looking for news and information on topics are just facing a really confusing mix,” Campbell said in an interview ahead of the announcement (h/tPodcast News Daily).

“You can’t sort between the output of a group of journalists that have the goods and have the boots on the ground and a bunch of people [simply] talking about it. We have to really look at ways to stand out and show what we do and how we do it.”

Campbell pledged to strengthen the public radio network’s journalism, connect more with listeners, and leverage its local member stations. Additionally, NPR’s acting chief content officer, Edith Chapin, selected Campbell after a national search. He will start his new position next month.

X owner Elon Musk elevated eyebrows around the media world Wednesday by declaring that advertisers who are boycotting the social media platform can “go f–k” themselves. KFI AM-640 host Bill Handel believes the move is another in a long line of bad decisions by the billionaire.

While discussing Musk’s comments, Handel argued that the comments won’t be overly helpful as Musk attempts to regain advertising dollars that left the platform after charges he posted anti-Semitic content. A Media Matters report detailed that large advertisers saw their advertisem*nts placed directly next to other anti-Semitic content on the platform also led to the boycott.

“That’s an interesting move, by a CEO telling advertisers who are either about to leave or leaving because of controversy about the CEO of the company they’re advertising with. I don’t believe that’s a particularly good move,” Handel admitted. “It’s been at least 10 days, two weeks, since he posted the anti-Semitic comments and advertisers said ‘Thank you, we’re done’, up to this point.”

Handel continued by noting that a simple apology from Musk would have likely ended any pushback before other advertisers pulled their money.

“I think so. ‘Oops, I made a mistake. I’m sorry’, I don’t know,” Handel said before joking that Musk’s purchase of X was equal to an average person seeing candy bars at the checkout of a grocery store.

“He grabbed it without thinking. He has done everything he can to destroy that company, and he has done a brilliant job.”

NewsNation announced on Wednesdaythat it will offer an audio broadcast of the network’s 5 p.m. political program,The Hill,on SiriusXM’s bipartisan P.O.T.U.S. Channel.

The audio broadcast on SiriusXM will begin on Monday, December 4, and will air each weeknight on SiriusXM channel 124 at 6:00 PM ET, following the original live broadcast on NewsNation.

“As NewsNation continues to grow and expand the brand, we are searching for new ways to meet our audiences wherever they are, and our agreement with SiriusXM will do just that,” Michael Corn, President of News at NewsNation, said.

“We thinkThe Hillis a perfect start and look forward to listeners getting a taste of the NewsNation product whether they’re in their cars or on-the-go listening to the SiriusXM app.”

Blake Burman,The Hill’schief Washington correspondent, moderates this program that provides an insider’s perspective on the most important news headlines emerging from Washington.

The program focuses on the individuals actively shaping today’s political landscape. Furthermore, Burman and panelists analyze critical issues and ask essential questions.