When President Trump visited Cincinnati last week, it was in his role as candidate for the presidency in 2020.
The event was clearly a political rally.
Today, he travels to Dayton, Ohio, for a visit in the aftermath of Sunday's deadly mass shooting.
This visit is part of President Trump’s official role as president of the United States.
Last week, I wrote about how we decided that when presidential candidates — Republican, Democrat or otherwise — come to visit, we will not air their rallies live on TV. There are 26 candidates in the running as I write this, and we want to make sure we are fair and consistent.
Instead of broadcasting candidates' speeches live on TV, we will provide extensive coverage of their visits in other ways. Anyone who would like to watch their speeches will still be able to find them live on Facebook, on our app, on our website and on our streaming services such as Roku or Apple TV.
That policy is why we did not air President Trump’s rally live on TV on Aug. 1.
But this visit is different. It is part of President Trump’s official role as president. That’s why we will broadcast his remarks from his visit to Dayton live on TV.
Right now, we are still working on finding out exactly when and where he will deliver those remarks, but our staff is prepared to broadcast any speeches or news conferences the president makes while in Dayton.
If you have feedback about this decision for our Feedback Friday segment, please call 513-852-4998.
Mike Canan is the Senior Director of Local Media Content at WCPO. Contact him at mike.canan@wcpo.com. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @Mike_Canan.
