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Trump threatens NBC and ABC: ‘Licences at risk for bias’

The US president accuses the broadcasters of being a ‘branch of the Democrats’ and proposes that they pay to broadcast

The clash with the media – US President Donald Trump is back on the attack against the major television networks. In a lengthy post on Truth Social, he threatened to revoke the licences of NBC and ABC, accusing them of ‘bias’ and representing ‘a real threat to American democracy’.

The president’s accusations – Trump claimed that “despite extremely high popularity ratings and, according to many, one of the best eight months in presidential history”, the two networks had broadcast 97% negative news about him. He called them “fake news, two of the worst and most biased networks in history” and reiterated that “according to many, the Federal Communications Commission should revoke their licences”.

The economic proposal – In a second message, the president relaunched the idea that NBC and ABC should pay ‘millions of dollars a year’ to maintain their licences. ‘At the very least,’ he wrote, ‘they should pay a fortune for the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere, anytime.’

A dispute behind him – Trump concluded by stating that ‘corrupt journalism should not be rewarded, but eradicated.’ His words come after months of friction with the major US media and a few weeks after the $15 million settlement reached with ABC to settle a defamation lawsuit.

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