SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

[Lhalo]

 

[Redondo]

• Media who oppose airing Trump coronavirus briefings not doing their job, critics say

But Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer told Fox News that journalists who complain about the briefings are essentially admitting defeat because “media should welcome these opportunities” to ask tough questions of the administration.

“Instead, most of the media gets so personally invested in petty feuds that don't serve the American public. Great journalists should relish every moment to question the leader of the free world, poor journalists want to shield the public from their incompetence,” Krakauer said. “This crisis isn't going away. I hope the media gets serious and focuses on substance over style, and does their job to inform the American public.”

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration has essentially halted the tradition of formal press briefings as Trump opted to instead speak to the American people on Twitter and answer questions from reporters as he boarded the noisy Marine One. The mainstream media regularly slammed his lack of official briefings, and on Tuesday Trump mentioned as much.

Last month, New York Times media reporter Michael Grynbaum wrote a piece questioning whether or not networks should air the briefings live. Around the same time, several far-left critics of Trump condemned the briefings. “I would stop putting those briefings on live TV. Not out of spite but because it's misinformation,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow told viewers.

A handful of conservative media critics told Fox News then that these opinions were likely more self-serving: Trump performed well during the briefings, and therefore, his critics didn’t want him to have the exposure. But as the calendar has flipped to April and coronavirus continues to impact the lives of every American, more and more voices have attacked the briefings.

“The View” co-host Joy Behar urged ABC News' Jon Karl to walk out of briefings and call him a liar, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough questioned why his network bothers to air them and CNN hosts Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon have both condemned the briefings. Many critics compare the briefings to campaign rallies, making the case that Trump is simply interested in drumming up attention and attracting eyeballs.

Liberal CNN has even stirred up attention for itself by cutting in and out of briefings, seemingly to make a point that some of Trump’s comments aren’t newsworthy. The decision not to carry the entire event on a nightly basis has polarized the media industry.

“The briefings absolutely should be aired in full and the comparison to campaign rallies is willfully dishonest and an insult to the reporters in the room,” The Hill media reporter Joe Concha told Fox News. “Campaign rallies don't have the press corps asking questions for sometimes more than an hour. Rallies don't have Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, Surgeon General Adams and other members of the task force team like Vice President Pence providing critical information.”

Meanwhile, ex-Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean recently threatened not to appear on MSNBC if it airs the briefings, while Daily Beast editor-at-large Rick Wilson took things a step further, comparing Trump’s comments to “a monkey behind the wrought-iron White House fences throwing rhetorical feces at his chosen enemies.”

White House correspondent-turned Spectator USA Washington editor Amber Athey told Fox News that it’s “ironic to see the same media who took at face value that China had no new coronavirus deaths refuse to allow their viewers to watch the president address the nation during a global pandemic because of concerns about ‘disinformation,’” referring to recent mainstream media outlets – such as NBC News -- that have been accused of publishing China talking points.

“We should be setting aside partisan bickering right now to come together as a nation but too many in the establishment media just can’t resist the urge to score points against Trump,” Athey said.

Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor said the briefings are infuriating the press for two different reasons.

“They are boosting Trump’s popularity and he fights back against media bias,” Gainor said. “What’s especially amazing is the news media’s hypocrisy. They love it when Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press conference, because they support him. They hate it when Trump holds one because they wildly oppose him.”

Gainor feels traditional journalism has “thrown out any sense of ethical guidelines and does whatever it can to hurt Trump,” with the talking point du jour being a call to silence the briefings.

Trump has been accused of everything from “hijacking” the task force for personal gain to simply repeating the same talking points on a near-daily basis.

Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News that “Trump's daily briefings present a dilemma for CNN and MSNBC because there is huge viewer interest, which normally a news network would want,” but the format limits their “ability to negatively spin against Trump” in real time.

“So far, viewer interest seems to be prevailing, and both anti-Trump networks show most of the briefings, though CNN in particular cuts in and out to provide negative commentary,” Jacobson said.

 

MSNBC'S MADDOW WANTS TRUMP KEPT OFF TV, BLASTS 'FAIRYTALE' NEWS BRIEFINGS

CNN'S JAKE TAPPER RETWEETS GEORGE CONWAY CALLING TRUMP '100 PERCENT INSANE'

[Jason]

5 hours ago, arch stanton said:

My sister is a RN in the Boston area. She says it's busy but not the fiasco they're trying to make us believe

Fiascos get clicks

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 hours ago, arch stanton said:

My sister is a RN in the Boston area. She says it's busy but not the fiasco they're trying to make us believe

 

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Fiascos get clicks

I think q lot of it depends on where youre at. A cop in Chicago is going to have a different take than a cop in Des Moise. Its also going to depend on the hospital type. (Different hospitals specialise in different functions).

But I dont think theres any sensationalism going on in NYC. And i think it should be everyones goal to keep NYC the outlier rather than the norm.

 

[arch stanton]

15 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

 

I think q lot of it depends on where youre at. A cop in Chicago is going to have a different take than a cop in Des Moise. Its also going to depend on the hospital type. (Different hospitals specialise in different functions).

But I dont think theres any sensationalism going on in NYC. And i think it should be everyones goal to keep NYC the outlier rather than the norm.

 

I'm sure NYC is an outlier. It's the price paid for living on top of each other 24/7. It's also the reason we shouldn't govern at the 330 million level. 300 million of us are probably ok to resume semi-normal living

[RallyMo]

7 hours ago, arch stanton said:

My sister is a RN in the Boston area. She says it's busy but not the fiasco they're trying to make us believe

 

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Fiascos get clicks

Right. It's a fiasco in New York. It's pretty awful there.

[RallyMo]

30 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

 

I think q lot of it depends on where youre at. A cop in Chicago is going to have a different take than a cop in Des Moise. Its also going to depend on the hospital type. (Different hospitals specialise in different functions).

But I dont think theres any sensationalism going on in NYC. And i think it should be everyones goal to keep NYC the outlier rather than the norm.

 

Hey, look at this guy. He's correct!

[arch stanton]

34 minutes ago, RallyMo said:

Hey, look at this guy. He's correct!

The point isn't whether there are areas that are getting slammed. That's a given. The point for me is that this confederation of states wasn't intended to move in lockstep. Full quarantine in most places is pointless and counterproductive

[RallyMo]

12 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

The point isn't whether there are areas that are getting slammed. That's a given. The point for me is that this confederation of states wasn't intended to move in lockstep. Full quarantine in most places is pointless and counterproductive

I'm not sure where you got the idea that I disagreed. Test, test, test and trace. The CDC screwed this up royally at the start. What we've been doing shouldn't have been necessary and isn't tenable long term at all.

[arch stanton]

15 minutes ago, RallyMo said:

I'm not sure where you got the idea that I disagreed. Test, test, test and trace.

I'm not trying to disagree. I get frustrated by the idea that we can't acknowledge that different places have different needs and enact strategies that allow for this

[RallyMo]

2 hours ago, arch stanton said:

I'm not trying to disagree. I get frustrated by the idea that we can't acknowledge that different places have different needs and enact strategies that allow for this

This is 100% correct, but due to the nature of the virus itself combined with the massive bungling of the initial response, we find ourselves where we currently are. I believe that things can and will change, and soon.

[tdawg87]

3 minutes ago, calscuf said:

I don’t know why you’re so salty.  I’m assuming your job is essential.  I drive by Burger King every day and it’s still open.

[RallyMo]

26 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

The response was botched the minute they decided to put 1/3 of the country out of work and lock everyone up inside.

Nope. It was botched approximately sixty to eighty thousand minutes before that.

[Lhalo]

1 hour ago, calscuf said:

I drive by through Burger King every day and it’s still open.

FIFY

[angelinkc]

Time to fire Fauci. He keeps playing politics and sending mixed messages. As s subject matter expert, he has been wrong more than right. 

[tdawg87]

Lol

[RallyMo]

Seriously lol

[Tank]

2 hours ago, RallyMo said:

Nope. It was botched approximately sixty to eighty thousand minutes before that.

[RallyMo]

52 minutes ago, Tank said:

This was easy to figure out. You see, I multiplied the number of days since they should have been having all hands on deck producing tests by the number of minutes in a day. Then I ate a scone.

[Don]

2 minutes ago, RallyMo said:

This was easy to figure out. You see, I multiplied the number of days since they should have been having all hands on deck producing tests by the number of minutes in a day. Then I ate a scone.

I just assumed you were referring to the time elapsed between that one dude eating a bat or something and now.

[tdawg87]

Scones are dry and flavorless crap. 

[RallyMo]

 

Just now, tdawg87 said:

Scones are dry and flavorless crap. 

They're the your posts of the bakery world.

[RallyMo]

BOOM SHAKALAKA

[tdawg87]

FACE!

[RallyMo]

6 minutes ago, Don said:

I just assumed you were referring to the time elapsed between that one dude eating a bat or something and now.

No.

It's been 20,106,720 plus minutes since then. I did the math on that one, too.