The Jake Tapper-hosted town hall, Stand Up: The Students Of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action, was watched by nearly 3 million people on CNN Wednesday night, making it the most-watched show on cable news. The event also gave CNN Digital its most-watched town hall ever with 1.9 million multi-platform live starts, with concurrent streams peaking at 350,000 at 10:45 p.m. (TVNewser)
Roughly 7,000 students, teachers, parents, members of law enforcement and elected representatives gathered inside a Florida sports arena (the BB&T Center) for the event. Jake Tapper moderated the intense, and oftentimes contentious two-hour event. Those who were able to ask questions—teachers, students and parents—were not at all afraid to express their opinions to lawmakers and especially to NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch. (TVNewser)
However, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Colton Haab said he didn’t attend CNN’s town hall in his hometown because the network rejected his prepared questions and suggested he ask a scripted one instead. “CNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions, and it ended up being all scripted,” Haab said. (Mediaite)
The network on Thursday vehemently denied Haab’s accusation. “There is absolutely no truth to this,” CNN said in a statement. “CNN did not provide or script questions for anyone in last night’s town hall, nor have we ever.” A CNN source said the town hall was intended to give participants a chance to ask a question, but Haab wanted to read an “extensive” speech. Colton’s father, Glenn Haab, declined to have his son participate after the network refused to let his son read the full speech, according to the source. (HuffPost)
President Trump called the CNN forum “Fake News” in an angry tweet Thursday night. “‘School shooting survivor says he quit @CNN Town Hall after refusing scripted question.’ @TuckerCarlson,” the president tweeted, referring to a Fox News host who referenced the report. “Just like so much of CNN, Fake News. That’s why their ratings are so bad! MSNBC may be worse.” (New York Post)