Nov 5, 2018

2. NBC, Fox News, Facebook pull controversial Trump anti-immigration ad

Axios

Screenshot of Trump anti-immigration ad.

NBC, Fox News and Facebook have pulled a controversial anti-immigration ad paid for by President Trump's campaign. CNN, meanwhile, refused to air the ad at all, calling it "racist."

The backdrop: The 30-second ad, a shorter version of a clip Trump tweeted last week, depicts undocumented Mexican immigrant Luis Bracamontes, who received the death penalty for murdering two police officers in 2014. Unlike Trump's tweet, the ad does not falsely blame Democrats for letting Bracamontes into the country, but it does attempt to connect Bracamontes and his crimes to the migrant caravan traveling through Mexico to the U.S. border.

The ad aired on four networks before being pulled, according to iSpot data obtained by Axios.

  • Fox Business: 8 airings
  • Fox News: 6 airings
  • MSNBC: 3 airings
  • NBC: 1 airing

What they're saying:

  • CNN: "CNN has made it abundantly clear in its editorial coverage that this ad is racist. When presented with an opportunity to be paid to take a version of this ad, we declined. Those are the facts."
  • NBC: "After further review we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible.”
  • Fox News: "Upon further review, Fox News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network," a spokesman told CNN.
  • Facebook: "This ad violates Facebook's advertising policy against sensational content so we are rejecting it. While the video is allowed to be posted on Facebook, it cannot receive paid distribution,” a spokesman told The Daily Beast.
  • Donald Trump Jr. mocked CNN as fake news on Twitter for refusing to air the ad, telling his followers to "Remember this on Tuesday."
  • President Trump, when asked about the controversy, told reporters, "We have a lot of ads. They certainly are effective, based on the numbers that we're seeing. ... A lot of things are offensive. Your questions are offensive."

Go deeper

Axios

World coronavirus updates: Global death toll surpasses 34,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 34,000 people and infected over 723,000 others globally, per Johns Hopkins data. Italy reported more than 10,700 deaths early Monday.

The big picture: Governments around the world have stepped up public health and economic measures to stop the spread of the virus and soften the financial impact. In the U.S., now the site of the largest outbreak in the world, President Trump said Sunday that his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30,

Go deeperArrowUpdated 2 hours ago - Health
Axios

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1 a.m. ET: 722,435 — Total deaths: 33,997 — Total recoveries: 151,991.
  2. U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 1 a.m.. ET: 142,502 — Total deaths: 2,506 — Total recoveries: 4,856.
  3. Federal government latest: President Trump says his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.
  4. Public health updates: Fauci says 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from virus.
  5. State updates: Louisiana governor says state is on track to exceed ventilator capacity by end of this week — Cuomo says Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "panicked" some people into fleeing New York
  6. World updates: Italy on Sunday reports 756 new deaths, bringing its total 10,779. Spain reports almost 840 dead, another new daily record that bring its total to over 6,500.
  7. What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk
  8. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

Subscribe to Mike Allen's Axios AM to follow our coronavirus coverage each morning from your inbox.

Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Infections number tops 140,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now infected over 142,000 people in the U.S. — more than any other country in the world, per Johns Hopkins data.

The big picture: COVID-19 had killed over 2,400 people in the U.S. by Sunday night. That's far fewer than in Italy, where over 10,000 people have died — accounting for a third of the global death toll. The number of people who've recovered from the virus in the U.S. exceeded 2,600 Sunday evening.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 5 hours ago - Health