NRA’s Dana Loesch: CNN's 'embarrassing' Parkland town hall wasn't journalism, it was 'advocacy'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nationally syndicated radio show host and National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch blasted CNN over an award it received for a town hall held just days after last year's mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.
CNN was the recipient of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism for its Parkland Town Hall prime-time special. In it, grieving students and parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of the deadly massacre, confronted Loesch and politicians on gun policy.
Loesch appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to share what she witnessed and how “biased” she thought CNN’s town hall was.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She began by telling Carlson that she found out she was participating at the town hall only a day prior, and that Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who has since been fired by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was able to “electioneer” before they appeared alongside each other on camera.
DANA LOESCH RIPS CNN'S AWARD WIN FOR TOWN HALL WHERE SHE WAS HECKLED
“It was treated as this -- I think, for ratings," she said. "They tried to stylize this to try to make it most emotionally impactful. I question the ethics of them putting it on this way. This wasn’t a journalistic endeavor. They had this town hall literally titled -- it was called, ‘Stand Up: Students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Demand Action.’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That’s not a journalistic endeavor. That is not a journalistic enterprise. That’s advocacy.”
The conservative radio show host then shared how she was almost rushed from behind, and she slammed CNN for allowing her “integrity” and millions of law-abiding gun owners to be questioned.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“What this town hall did was set dialogue back by … I don’t know how much,” Loesch continued. “It was an embarrassing display of bias and they should feel ashamed instead of back-patting themselves for this.”
“For them to say that this advanced the national conversation on gun control is like saying the Salem Witch Trials advanced the conversation on women’s rights,” she said.
The town hall was in the aftermath of the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at the Florida school, in which 17 people were killed and many more injured.