CNN, NBCNews and Washington Post have become hesitant about broadcasting President Trumps live public briefings on the coronavirus. Many journalists have expressed dismay that they were unable to spin doctor the president's statements due to the fact he is giving live broadcasts.
Top MSNBC anchors and Washington Post reporters have already argued publicly that their own network should not air the president’s pandemic briefings.
"Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough tweeted during Trump’s briefing on Monday that there was “no public benefit to this briefing,” and the cable news networks should “cut away.” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who anchors the network’s most highly rated program, also repeatedly called for news networks to stop carrying Trump’s statements live, saying that the president’s daily comments contribute to the spread of misinformation.
“If it were up to me, and it’s not, I would stop putting those briefings on live TV,” Maddow said on her show earlier this week. “Not out of spite, but because it’s misinformation. If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape. But if he keeps lying like he has been every day on stuff this important, we should, all of us should stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it’s going to cost lives.”
Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan, wrote“These White House sessions—ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis—are in fact working against that end,”“Rather, they have become a daily stage for Trump to play his greatest hits to captive audience members. They come in search of life-or-death information, but here’s what they get from him instead: Self-aggrandizement… Media-bashing… Exaggeration and outright lies"Washington Post and NBC journalists have expressed anger the presidents approvals ratings are rising and want them reversed. They believe stopping live briefings will prevent his ratings from moving higher. By having edited versions of Trump's statements, the news organizations believe they can better control the public's perception of the president. Thus they are making excuses for stopping live broadcasts.
An NBC News insider, however, said the White House briefings 'should be not be ignored, but instead thoroughly covered and aired, albeit with journalistic vetting and fact checking'. In other words - with proper 'spin doctoring'.
CNN and NBC have chosen to cut away from live broadcasting. However, one CNN journalist expressed anger that FOX news continues broadcasting the live briefings, stating "Of course they did,” “And yesterday [Tuesday] they produced a propaganda show” CNN and NBC have expressed frustration that unedited and unspin doctored broadcasts of Trump's statements are still being aired by FOX. This makes their 'editing' more difficult.
In an ironic statement, left wing internet news organization Daily Beast stated "When an Asian American reporter asked the president—who has habitually referred to COVID-19 as “the Chinese virus”—what he’s doing to combat hate crimes against people of Asian heritage, Trump responded: “Well, I don’t know. All I know is this: Asian Americans in our country are doing fantastically well. I’m very close to them, as you know. And they’re doing fantastically well. And I think they appreciate the job we’re doing.” The internet news organization had previously endorsed Harvard's discriminatory admissions practice of denying Asian Americans entry in favor of Afro Americans. Thus their tacit claim of being concerned about hate against Asians seems a farce.
Biased news organizations do not like live broadcasts. It makes spin doctoring more difficult. The dismay expressed by journalists against Trump's live broadcasts is more evidence that the media is not objective. Instead, news organizations promote their own political agenda. However, it appears the America public is beginning to recognize the biased reporting. In a recent Gallup poll most of the public disapproved of the media's actions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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