Posted on 03/21/2020 5:18:59 PM PDT by Steely Tom
The Trump press conferences are a problem for the anti-Trump media, because they give Trump direct access to viewers with minimal filtering by the networks.
Donald Trump’s daily press conferences, attended by numerous senior health and other officials, are a must-watch. Enormous information is provided by officials, and Trump signals where he thinks the crisis is going. Trump spends an hour or more taking reporter questions, some of which are hostile.
The press conferences almost certainly have large audiences, and have contributed to polling that shows strong support among the public for Trump’s handling of the crisis.
This is a problem for Democrats, as I reported in Biden has all but disappeared during Wuhan coronavirus crisis, as #WhereIsJoe? trends. Biden’s disappearance has been noticed by Democrats, particularly Bernie supporters. Peter Daou, a longtime Hillary supporter, tweeted his frustration:
People, I mean this sincerely: #whereisjoe?Trump is in front of the cameras every day, reassuring people, putting on the appearance of “leadership.”
Where is #Biden? Why isn’t he dominating the airwaves??
And: Two new polls show Trump with majority approval on his handling of the #pandemic.
If Dem leaders think this crisis will definitely damage him, they are greatly mistaken.
If they cede the appearance of leadership to him, it’s a major problem.
That’s pretty rich coming from someone who worked for the two newspapers that pushed the Russia-collusion hoax for three years, almost alwasy based on anonymous source that didn’t pan out.
But calls to shut down the live press conference broadcasts are even richer coming from the queen of Russia-collusion conspiracy theorists, Rachel Maddow.
Maddow, you will recall, is an Alex-Jones-level conspiracy pusher, the difference being that Jones has been deplatformed while Maddow has a prime time show on MSNBC that feeds off Resistance paranoia and venom. I covered Maddow’s history in Again We Ask: Why Isn’t Rachel Maddow Treated Like Other Crazy Conspiracy Theorists?
Here’s Maddow using prime time to call for the media to censor Trump:
“I know we ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now, but I’m not. President Trump today, again, just flat-out wrong in public about this malaria drug that has gotten stuck in his mind, quite some distance from the facts,” Maddow said on her show.“If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape but if he keeps lying like this every day on stuff this important, all of us should stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it’s gonna cost lives,” she added on the program.
There is a chorus of liberal journalists and activists calling for the networks to stop the broadcasts, under the #StopTheBriefings Twitter hashtag.
I hope Trump does the briefings and takes questions 7 days a week. These are the most transparent sessions I’ve seen in any president in my lifetime.
The media can criticize Trump all it wants, but the call to censor the press conferences simply confirms that they are not journalists, but as Prof. Glenn Reynolds says, Democrats With Bylines.
..... “where is Joe”?....
He’s letting Cuomo and Debasio carry the messages on the virus while he’s in some basement someplace with Dem leaders planning ahead of this crisis.
“Where is #Biden? Why isn’t he dominating the airwaves??”
Because many of us don’t like to see senile elderly people stumble through life.
Exactly, and the optics, or lack there of, are horrible. Trump is gathering forces to fight the pandemic, pushing drug manufacturers to fast track drugs, working with industry to manufacture critical medical equipment, working with congress to pass relief legislation to support individuals and businesses, and reassuring Americans that this will soon pass and we will get back to work.
Biden is "sheltering in place".
If I'm an undecided voter, Biden isn't inspiring any confidence that he is fit to lead this country.
I say lets start a. petition to remove Madcow from broadcast media!
The FEDERAL Communications Commission would be the ultimate arbiter. Let them try to censor the President of the United States during a legally proclaimed National Emergency. "Do you like your broadcast license? Wanna keep it?"
Bear in mind that the FCC regulates over the air broadcasting only. “Cable” like MSNBC, CNN and the others are not regulated by the FCC.
I’d love to throw this chick off a bridge. For two years this snarky dyke relentlessly pushed that bs “Russia, Russia, Russia’’ hoax. Then the Mueller Report hoax. One bs story after another and she is still at it.
Good point. I’d forgotten that. Have to just hit their sponsors then.
Journalists report the news. If they do not then they are not journalists and should not enjoy the freedoms bestowed upon that profession. They should he removed from their jobs,whether in print, radio or on tv.
I’d be in favor of canceling Butch Maddow’s show.
Rachel’s been sniffing too much hand sanitizer, AGAIN!
Are not 4G and 5G regulated as well, technically?
The entire bandwidth is publically owned.
I don’t think so. The thing on the right has an Adam’s Apple.
Is she a cow? I assert that if the animal cannot stand the light when it is shown in their corner, it could very well be a cockroach.
Did Lincoln during the CW?
Yes. But 4G and 5G are not “TV,” the subject of my post.
Of course they don’t want people to watch these briefings. If we see and hear without their filters, how will they control what we think?
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