Fans in the New York City and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas enjoying Tuesday’s Champions League match between Real Madrid and Manchester City were met with a rude awakening early on in the CBS broadcast. Coverage of the Donald Trump civil suit verdict interrupted coverage of the match and left some viewers irate.
12 minutes into the match, WCBS-NY and WUSA cut away from the match to deliver a ‘Special Report’ that a New York jury had found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in a civil lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll.
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1656105549426233344
Coverage eventually resumed after the interruption, which only appears to have occurred in those two markets. Binghamton, Buffalo, Little Rock, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and West Palm Beach were among nearby or significant areas that didn’t break away from coverage of the much-anticipated Champions League match.
To a degree, it does make sense that WCBS in New York would cut in. It’s a story rooted in New York City, so it’s a matter of public interest to the city. With Washington, D.C., being that Trump is a former President, that also makes sense.
Still, viewers were still extremely unhappy about the network’s decision to cut into the match’s coverage.
No way cbs cut from champions league semi finals for trump news man
— kyle (@knicks_tape99) May 9, 2023
I know Trump didn’t just cut into the Champions League.
— Carlos Garcia (@CG_FlyTheW) May 9, 2023
Absolutely absurd that CBS has cut away from a Champions League Semifinal for 10 minutes and counting for a news report about Trump. Run a ticker and tell us at halftime
— Will Bourque (@bourqupine) May 9, 2023
Yo @CBSNews are you joking?? We dont care about trump, you cant randomly put trump on the news during this champions league game
— Gabriel (@Cagge_10) May 9, 2023
It’s not the first or last time that sports viewers were disappointed to see the game they’re watching get interrupted by breaking news. Viewers have gotten irritated at cut-ins during important weather events, let alone national news like this. So it’s unsurprising that they were teed off when coverage broke in. That’s the gamble you take when you run sporting events on free, over-the-air television. Those affiliates deem the news necessary and will always get the pick of the litter.
Donald Trump will also always receive significant interest. That was a lesson everyone in NYC and Washington D.C. was reminded of on Tuesday.
