On Tuesday former President Donald Trump was indicted for the third time. A federal grand jury in Washington now accuses him of several federal crimes related to his attempts to avoid the fact that he lost the 2020 presidential election. I hope to be able to write about the charges in the near future, but the point of this post is to congratulate CNN.com for its coverage of the event.
A continuing theme of my posts about journalism has been the need for the news media to present accurate facts and not just conclusions or opinions. I pretty much said exactly that in one of my first posts, The News Media Should Give Us More Details — Not Just Conclusions. Last year I pointed out the lack of detailed coverage of the actual claims that Trump supporters had made and why they are false.
That’s why I was very glad, and just a bit surprised, that CNN has published not just the full text of the 45-page indictment, but also annotated it.
Trump’s post-election conduct, especially leading up to and during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was certainly troubling and now we will get the chance to see if it was criminal. It will be up to prosecutors to prove that Trump engaged in the conduct that the indictment charges and that that conduct equates in law to the charged criminal offenses. A resolution of these charges is more important than the other criminal cases against Trump and I hope for a prompt and public trial, with detailed, accurate, and objective coverage (oh, and a public that pays attention).
Jay Bohn
August 3, 2023