CNN Defends Reporter After She Appears to Coach Focus Group Member’s Response to Debate


After footage of Clinton saying that “America is great, because we’re good” played, CNN personality Pamela Brown could be heard quietly repeating the candidate’s remarks to the focus group. Upon realizing that she was live, Brown asked a group member what about Clinton’s comments “resonated” with her. The member then proceeded to repeat Clinton’s statement almost verbatim, as if she had been coached to agree with her but not coached to articulate why she did:

“This brief exchange is being interpreted by many as proof CNN was coaching focus group member about what to say on the air. Within just a few hours of being uploaded, the video collected nearly 150,000 views. There are other possible explanations, though; Brown may have been informing focus group members about what clip CNN had just aired (since they couldn’t see the replay themselves), or Brown could have been setting up a semi-staged response after previously finding out what the focus group member wanted to say.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to CNN for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

Update: A source at CNN told TheDCNF Monday morning Brown was prompting the focus group member about what video was being shown, so that she could react to it.

Bill Clarkin, a member of the focus group, also contacted TheDCNF and denied any coaching occurred.

‘There was no coaching,’ Clarkin said. ‘Pamela Brown was repeating the comment made by Hillary to us because we could not watch the live feed.’”

Source: The Daily Caller



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    • Liz Davis

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