CNN said on Thursday that it would not run a new ad from President Trump’s re-election campaign, saying that the 30-second spot about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. contains inaccuracies and unfairly attacks the network’s employees. The ad, released online last week, targets Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, amid a widening impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. It repeats unsubstantiated allegations about the Bidens’ financial dealings in Ukraine and derides journalists as the Democrats’ “media lap dogs,” as footage plays of several CNN stars. It is unusual but not unprecedented for television networks to reject a political advertisement from a presidential campaign. On the eve of last year’s midterm elections, major channels — including Fox News — removed an inflammatory commercial from Mr. Trump’s political team that portrayed immigrants as a violent threat.

Source: International New York Times October 03, 2019 18:00 UTC