Conventions highlight aggressive fact-check efforts

Donald Trump's acceptance speech, the nation heads into the fall campaign as divided as it ever was.“This was unquestionably the best Donald Trump production ever,” ABC News analyst Sara Fagen said as fireworks burst over Washington.“This was repugnant,” said MSNBC's Joy Reid.There was a weariness in analysts' voices following two weeks of conventions in the COVID-19 era — mostly virtual for the Democrats and, for the Republicans, a collection of mostly pretaped speeches concluding with a

Leonard Cohen’s estate said it is exploring legal action following the unauthorised use of the revered singer-songwriter’s music at the Republican National Convention.

Ted Johnson Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on the South Lawn of the White House capped a week of moments that likely will be a lasting legacy of the 2020 Republican National Convention: The blurred lines it created between official government and partisan business.The convention showed Trump’s determination to shatter norms for the purpose of reality TV like stunts and dramatic backdrops, even if it already has yielded ethics complaints.From the standpoint of using the White House as a set, it

Leonard Cohen fans were not impressed Thursday after his song “Hallelujah” was played twice during the Republican National Convention.

Chris Willman Music WriterRepresentatives of the late Leonard Cohen’s estate and publishing company have both issued statements saying they declined requests for his song “Hallelujah” to be used at the Republican National Convention — even though it was played twice following the conclusion of Donald Trump’s speech Thursday night.The estate’s attorney made a threat of legal action as part of her statement.Said Michelle L.

Ted Johnson Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention drew 19.9 million TV viewers across six networks, falling short of the 21.8 million who watched Joe Biden’s remarks at the Democratic convention last week.The viewership during the 10 PM ET to 11:45 PM ET timeframe was a marked improvement over Wednesday night’s convention coverage, when Mike Pence spoke.

To listen to television pundits wrapping up the Republican convention and evaluating President Donald Trump's acceptance speech, the nation heads into the fall campaign as divided as it ever was. “This was unquestionably the best Donald Trump production ever,” ABC News analyst Sara Fagen said as fireworks burst over Washington.

Of course he had to have a crowd. The definitive image of the fourth and final night of the 2020 Republican National Convention was President Donald Trump standing at the White House’s South Lawn in front of 1,500 adoring loyalists, packed tightly together, mostly without masks.

Facing a national moment fraught with racial turmoil and a deadly pandemic, President Donald Trump accepted his party's renomination on a massive White House South Lawn stage Thursday night, boasting of helping African Americans and defying his own administration's pandemic guidelines to address a tightly packed, largely maskless crowd.

Leonard Cohen fans were not impressed Thursday after his song “Hallelujah” was played twice during the Republican National Convention.

Ted Johnson, Dominic Patten “Trump said he didn’t like POW’s who were captured, implied my father was burning in hell after he died and constantly trashed him while he was fighting brain cancer. This is how they have lost all decent people.” Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.Launch dates for broadcast, cable and streaming programsUp-to-date lists for broadcast, cable and streaming seriesPandemic-proof vs.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterPresident Donald Trump commandeered the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday night, delivering a long, slashing acceptance speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention.Trump spoke to an adoring crowd of about 1,900 people, tossing aside public health warnings about large gatherings and social distancing. The president was sweating, as the thermometer was stuck at 84 degrees at 11 p.m.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThroughout the weeklong broadcast of the Republican National Convention, speakers argued that Donald Trump was not in fact the person we’d seen for nearly four years as our president and for longer as a presence on social media and in the national psyche — that he was gentle, loving, kind, generous.

Ted Johnson Donald Trump will deliver scathing criticism of Joe Biden in his Republican National Convention acceptance speech on the South Lawn of the White House. That’s a given.The bigger question is whether Trump will address the unfolding crisis in Kenosha, WI, and how he frames the police shooting death of Jacob Blake.

Ted Johnson As Donald Trump prepares to give a norm-shattering acceptance speech on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, government watchdogs are filing ethics complaints alleging that other moments from the Republican National Convention may have been in violation of a key ethics law.On Thursday, Citzens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington requested a investigation of Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf for his participation in a convention moment on Tuesday, a

Ted Johnson Kamala Harris added her voice to the effort by Democrats to rebut Donald Trump’s expected attacks in his acceptance speech on Thursday, as she blasted the Republican Convention week as an exercise in trying to give the president an ego stroke.“Unlike the Democratic convention, which was very clear eyed about the challenges we are facing and how we will tackle them, the Republican convention is designed for one purpose, to soothe Donald Trump’s ego, to make him feel good,” she said in

David Muir has emerged as broadcast television's star of the summer.The “World News Tonight” anchor's nightly summary averaged 8.2 million viewers last week, more than any prime-time program on television, the Nielsen company said.ABC's prime-time interview of the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, conducted by Muir and Robin Roberts, reached 5.1 million viewers Sunday.Otherwise, coverage of the Democratic National Convention on MSNBC and CNN dominated the ratings.CBS' prime time

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticStephen Colbert didn’t watch a minute of last night’s Republican National Convention, and feels all the better for it.“I know by not watching the RNC I didn’t do my job tonight,” the host of CBS’ The Late Show said in an intense monologue last night (watch it above).

Dominic Patten, Ted Johnson If the most unobtrusive man in America thought tonight was his moment in the spotlight at the Republican National Convention, Mike Pence learned the hard way that Donald Trump always gets the last word.As the powerful Hurricane Laura moved closer and closer landfall in Texas and Louisiana, Trump’s vice president seemed like an afterthought on Wednesday as the boss came onstage to upstage him without uttering a word.Speaking live to a small audience at Fort McHenry in