NABJ says Trump event started late largely because he opposed live fact-checking

The late start of Donald Trump’s appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago was largely due to the candidate objecting to the organizer’s plans for live fact-checking.

Trump session leads to heated moments at Black journalists convention

While NABJ acknowledges having some audio issues with the July 31, 2024, event, the organization’s president Ken Lemon told Axios that the primary reason for the delay was due to Trump’s refusal to appear if the fact-checking stream was live.

Lemon said that the technical issues at the panel were resolved quickly, though glitches continued during much of the event.

Trump originally blamed the audio issues for why the event started over an hour late. 

“The speaker equipment at the NABJ is not working properly. Don’t blame me for being late!” Trump posted on Truth Social as he was waiting for the event to start.

Trump brought up the late start during the event, which ended up devolving into a series of offensive comments and false information.

Lemon noted that he was preparing to go on stage to announce Trump would not be participating when the candidate finally came on stage.

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In response to NABJ’s claims, the Trump camp pointed the finger back at NABJ for the delay that was “close to 40 minutes,” though it did not offer an explanation for the additional time between the advertised start and when the talk got under way. 

NABJ proceeded with offering a live fact check in partnership with PolitiFact during the event.

The running list of Trump’s false or misleading information from the NABJ event was relatively short. 

Many mainstream news organizations have used the fact-checking approach alongside live coverage of Trump events, largely over concerns about his frequent lies and misinformation. 

Other prominent interviews and events have been offered without significant fact-checking, which has attracted criticism from the public and media watchers.