In a short rant on Twitter Monday, President Trump suggested that CNN is “a powerful voice portraying the United States in an unfair and false way” outside of the U.S. and that “something has to be done.”
Trumps’s solution? That the United States start its own ‘Worldwide Network’ with the expressed intent to “show the world the way we really are, GREAT!”
Trump frequently uses Twitter to discuss television ratings and make statements about things the government “might” do, but that he doesn’t actually follow through on. So there’s a good chance that today’s message won’t result in any action.
….and false way. Something has to be done, including the possibility of the United States starting our own Worldwide Network to show the World the way we really are, GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2018
The tweet also suggests that Trump is unaware of Voice of America, a U.S government-funded international broadcaster. The station is the largest U.S. international broadcaster (even larger than CNN).
Voice of America was established in 1976 by then-President Gerald Ford and has the mission “to broadcast accurate, balanced, and comprehensive news and information to an international audience.” It’s headquartered in Washington, D.C. and produces television, radio, and digital content in more than 40 languages that are then distributed around the globe. Most are watched by audiences in other countries. Spoiler: not all the news that the Voice of America broadcasts or posts portrays a “GREAT!” America either.