From NCS to Fox to MSNBC: How the TV networks dealt with President Donald Trump’s primetime handle to the nation on July 16.
President Donald Trump‘s primetime address to the nation on Thursday, July 16, served as a take a look at of how American TV networks deal with presidential speeches that might lead to disputed claims.
Ahead of the extremely anticipated speech, Trump mentioned he would talk about the contentious problem of “free and fair elections.” The president has constantly pushed unsubstantiated allegations that his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden was stolen, whereas additionally alleging, with out proof and ahead of the November elections, that Democrats “cheat” to win.
After plans for his speech have been made public, broadcast and cable information executives have been confronted with a choice about how to deal with the protection: do they cowl Trump’s remarks stay, stream the speech on-line, or delay protection to present context and fact-checking?
ABC, NCS and NBC opted to put the speech on-line. Fox News aired the handle and CBS News ran a Special Report that featured Trump’s speech – in which he accused China of “meddling” in the 2020 election, among other statements – usually at a low quantity on a background display.
Here’s a breakdown of how every community dealt with his speech.
ABC moved protection to its different platforms
An ABC spokesperson advised USA TODAY that the community would run President Trump’s speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio with anchored protection. The community additionally anticipated to cowl the speech in common newscasts, with their Special Report staff “fully prepared to break into network programming to deliver live updates and reporting, should significant developments occur.”
On tv, ABC broadcast “Press Your Luck” on the East Coast, whereas native information and “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” performed on the West Coast.
Previously, ABC News aired speeches by the president when the Trump administration had requested for time, together with each phrases’ inaugural addresses to Congress and the April 21 discussion on the conflict with Iran.
NBC put Trump’s speech on streaming platform
NBC introduced stay protection of the president’s speech might be discovered on its streaming platform, NBC News NOW. They additionally had plans to air a particular report on the community following his remarks, an NBC spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY.
On NBC’s TV broadcast, the community aired a brand new episode of “The Americas” on the East Coast, with native information and “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas” airing on the West Coast as an alternative of Trump’s speech. At one level, Trump’s speech was airing on NBC, although they shortly reduce to native information.
NCS coated Trump’s speech as ‘a information occasion’
NCS introduced plans to cowl the speech as a “news event” on its stay broadcast, with a stay feed of Trump’s speech obtainable on the NCS web site and NCS’s All Access streaming platform.
“NCS will cover the President’s speech as a news event, and monitor it for news developments, providing analysis and commentary from NCS experts who cover elections, intelligence and the FBI,” a spokesperson for the community advised USA TODAY. “A live feed of the speech, alongside analysis and expert commentary, will be available on NCS.com and available on NCS’s All Access streaming platform.”
Trump’s speech started airing on NCS earlier than it lower to “The Source with Kaitlin Collins,” with the breaking information banner: “Trump gives address on elections after years of false claims.” She then disputed his statements with a number of pundits on her present earlier than the dialog carried on to the next program, “NCS NewsNight with Abby Phillip.”
CBS hosted a Special Report
CBS News briefly aired the speech earlier than slicing to a Special Report from anchor Tony Dokoupil. He mentioned particular elements with pundits as Trump was proven talking within the background. The speech primarily streamed stay on CBS.com, CBS News 24/7, and the CBS News app.
Fox News ran the speech stay
Fox News ran the speech in full, and not using a banner and featured post-address evaluation from Bret Baier, Aishah Hasnie and Sean Hannity.
MS NOW
MS Now ran a pundit-led dialogue on “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” together with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA.) criticizing the speech whereas Trump was nonetheless talking. On their web site, MS NOW ran updates from the speech.
Trump threatens to revoke the licenses from ABC and NBC
In his speech, Trump criticized ABC and NBC particularly for not airing his speech stay in primetime, saying with out proof it was as a result of “they don’t like the topic” and “because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to reveal it.”
He additionally made a unprecedented name for the Federal Communications Commission to revoke ABC’s and NBC’s tv licenses for selecting not to broadcast his primetime handle. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”
But this wasn’t the primary time that networks have chosen not to air presidential addresses on broadcast tv. Similar actions have been taken in 2014 for President Barack Obama’s Nov. 20 handle on immigration, in addition to President Biden‘s Sept. 1, 2022, speech on the “Battle for the Soul of the Nation”.
In September 2025, Trump additionally instructed the FCC ‒ whose chairman Brendan Carr is a detailed Trump ally ‒ to pull broadcast licenses over detrimental protection of him. Carr positioned appreciable stress on ABC following remarks Jimmy Kimmel made on his show about Charlie Kirk.
USA TODAY streamed Trump’s speech on YouTube and offered live updates and analysis.