Media Matters reports that both CBS and NBC have begun stopping Donald Trump from calling into some of their news programs. Media Matters says Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” announced he wouldn’t be allowed to call them. And they say CBS has cut off his phone access to their morning show.
From Media Matters:
Since Trump launched his campaign, he has bullied news outlets into giving him special privileges in return for continued access. Last week, we documented just how big the problem the was: Trump has done 29 phone interviews with the Sunday shows; the other four remaining presidential candidates have done none at all. The phone privilege can give Trump the upper hand in his interviews, and it allows him to appear on more shows than he could if he had to visit the networks in person. That's why we launched our campaign to tell networks to cut off Trump's special phone access -- and now we know that the networks are listening.
Media Matters has a petition to get the networks to stop allowing Trump to just call in. The petition reads, in part:
Through the course of this election, time and time again your network allows Donald Trump call in to shows. We fully recognize that sometimes phone interviews are necessary. But Trump’s reliance on phone interviews is completely unprecedented and far exceeds what any other candidate has been allowed to do. By letting Trump phone it in, you’re just enabling media manipulation and reinforcing the idea that the more he takes, the more you'll give in. It's time for that to end.
Tell Donald Trump that going forward, he will be treated like every other candidate and will no longer be given the extraordinary advantage of calling in to your news programs.
Here’s the link to the petition. I’ve signed. I hope you do, too.