Fact-check methodically busts 'false claim' that CNN delayed presidential debate broadcast

Some supporters of presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump have been claiming that CNN delayed its broadcast of the June 27 Trump/Joe Biden debate in order to edit it.

But a Reuters fact-check has debunked that claim.

Reuters reports, "A CNN spokesperson said this is untrue and that the debate aired live on the day across networks and platforms."

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In a July 3 post on X, formerly Twitter, former CBS News producer Zev Shalev wrote, "30-year TV exec producer here. I've run Biden's debate audio through multiple digital enhancers and correctors and can't repair it. Frequencies unnaturally boosted/cut, words clipped. He sounds breathy and hissy, and his mid-range vocal frequencies are de-emphasized. This level of variation isn't accidental."

Some social media posts have claimed that CNN implemented a one-minute or two-minute delay rather than a typical seven-second delay. But according to Reuters, there was no such delay.

Reuters explains, "Emily Kuhn, a spokesperson for CNN, said in an e-mail that the 'false claim spread viral online minutes before the debate started and was wholly untrue,' adding that the debate aired live across networks and platforms on June 27 and can now be viewed in full on demand. Reuters Fact Check watched the debate, which began at 9 p.m. ET. A Reuters live page, where updates from the debate were published in real-time, also shows there was no delay."

Reuters adds, "A recording of CNN's livestream now viewable on YouTube shows that the on-screen clock was at 9 p.m. ET, opens new tab (0:18) when the moderators introduced the debate at the start of the event, which lasted over ninety minutes."

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The Reuters Fact Check "verdict" stresses, "The June 27 presidential debate between Biden and Trump was not delayed by a few minutes and aired live across platforms, a spokesperson for CNN, the debate's host, has said."

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