LIBERAL MEDIA’S DOUBLE STANDARD: CENSOR TRUMP’S BRIEFINGS, AIR CHINA’S PROPAGANDA
The mainstream media bias for the left and against our President is an outrage. Even worse as they see the public watch them and his approval goes up as people rally around him, they want to cut him off from the public. They prefer airing communist China propaganda to covering our own President.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The lack of regular White House press briefings used to be decried as the end of democracy. Now it’s daily White House briefings that represent the end of democracy.
Actress Jane Lynch demanded on Twitter on Monday that President Donald Trump end his daily press briefings and that the media stop covering them. Lest one think this is just one misguided voice in the dark crevasse that is celebrity Twitter punditry, there’s now a petition by the left-wing activist organization MoveOn.org to get news outlets to stop covering the briefings.
Many in the political punditocracy are hopping aboard this idea.
“I would stop putting those briefings on live TV—not out of spite, but because it’s misinformation,” liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on her prime-time program.
“Enough is enough. Americans deserve so much better than what this president offers every time he approaches the podium,” wrote Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist. “He needs to give up the daily press briefings, and let the experts take control so that they can use these press conferences to reassure Americans in our time of distress and not cause more fear when we need it least.”
Perhaps worst of all, some major media outlets actually seem to be taking the ending of press briefing coverage seriously.
New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet explained why the Gray Lady doesn’t find the White House briefings worth covering.
“Nowadays, it seems they make little news. We, of course, reserve the right to show them live [via web streaming], if we believe they will actually make news,” Baquet said, according to The Washington Post. “But that hasn’t happened in quite some time.”
That doesn’t seem consistent, however, with his publication’s own reporting.
A March 25 New York Times article suggested that the media stop covering Trump’s press briefings because they are spreading what it calls “misinformation.”
Just as bad, in the Times’ view, the briefings are popular.
The Times piece began with this lead sentence: “President Trump is a ratings hit, and some journalists and public health experts say that could be a dangerous thing.”
Margaret Sullivan, media columnist at The Washington Post, wrote that the press needs to “adjust accordingly” to the press briefings because, in her view, they are more like political rallies and might serve his political ends.
“Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit—a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president, bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] of the 21st century,” Sullivan wrote .
FDR didn’t use fireside chats for his political benefit?
This is basically just saying that the media need to stop covering the White House coronavirus briefings because they might help Trump.
All of this is coming from publications and an industry that formerly fretted over and lambasted the lack of regular White House press briefings before the coronavirus outbreak. Some even called them “ an essential part of democracy. ”
Now that everyone is watching the White House briefings, the media aren’t so keen on the daily ritual allegedly sustaining the republic. What gives?
The New York Times and other outlets that accuse the White House of spreading misinformation seem to have had no problem publishing literal Chinese propaganda .
In the past week, countless outlets , including the very same New York Times , published stories saying that the total number of U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed China’s, despite the fact that there’s no reason whatsoever to trust the information coming out of an authoritarian communist regime that has repeatedly lied to its own citizens and to the world, sparking the greatest global pandemic in the past century .
Remember, it wasn’t long ago that most major media outlets were publishing stories about how Trump’s move to shut off travel from China was misguided, in part based on recommendations from the World Health Organization.
The problem is, the WHO relied on information provided by China, which turned out to be not only wrong, but likely a product of willful misrepresentation.
It’s good for the media to have a healthy skepticism of those in power. That said, however, one would think that skepticism should be directed most strongly at those in positions of absolute power, as in the case of the Chinese communist government.
Despite this, many in the media still seem more consumed with attacking the Trump administration—even through foreign proxies—than simply getting to the truth.
The bottom line is that neither the reduction, nor the uptick, in White House press conferences signals the end of democracy. Americans are stuck at home en masse, and many more than usual want to hear from the president and the administration in a national crisis.
The administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been far from perfect, but the media have hardly performed without serious and embarrassing fumbles . Cutting off the president now, when so many Americans are tuning in, would be a travesty.
When one reporter asked Trump at Sunday’s coronavirus task force briefing about outlets discontinuing coverage of the daily events, the president gave a reasonable response.
“I think the American public, ultimately, they should be the decider. If they don’t want to watch, they should not watch,” Trump said . “When [the media] don’t want the president of the United States to have a voice, you are not talking about democracy any longer.”
It might be past time, especially amid an international calamity, to hope the media will make a self-correction and restore some of their lost credibility at this time.
Cutting off the president’s microphone hardly restores confidence in a collective institution that seems hopelessly partisan and one-sided.
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This is basically just saying that the media need to stop covering the White House coronavirus briefings because they might help Trump.
All of this is coming from publications and an industry that formerly fretted over and lambasted the lack of regular White House press briefings before the coronavirus outbreak. Some even called them “ an essential part of democracy. ”
Now that everyone is watching the White House briefings, the media aren’t so keen on the daily ritual allegedly sustaining the republic. What gives?
The New York Times and other outlets that accuse the White House of spreading misinformation seem to have had no problem publishing literal Chinese propaganda .
In the past week, countless outlets , including the very same New York Times , published stories saying that the total number of U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed China’s, despite the fact that there’s no reason whatsoever to trust the information coming out of an authoritarian communist regime that has repeatedly lied to its own citizens and to the world, sparking the greatest global pandemic in the past century .
Remember, it wasn’t long ago that most major media outlets were publishing stories about how Trump’s move to shut off travel from China was misguided, in part based on recommendations from the World Health Organization.
The problem is, the WHO relied on information provided by China, which turned out to be not only wrong, but likely a product of willful misrepresentation.
It’s good for the media to have a healthy skepticism of those in power. That said, however, one would think that skepticism should be directed most strongly at those in positions of absolute power, as in the case of the Chinese communist government.
Despite this, many in the media still seem more consumed with attacking the Trump administration—even through foreign proxies—than simply getting to the truth.
Truth is not being disseminated from the Trump Administration.
A scant few weeks ago the Trump Administration claimed the virus was a 'democratic hoax. Today this same administration is warning of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Even this is political ploy. When this virus is over and the death toll may be in the 'tens of thousands' this administration will claim victory by the lower count of the dead. This administration has no soul.
Please tell the truth here. Not once did Trump ever call the Wuhan China virus a hoax and I defy you to post a link with your proof of your ridiculous accusation
Don't need links. Its in the WH record of the president's utterances.
No it’s not. You would have linked that if he had. What he really said was that it was the democrats attempting to fix the blame for the pandemic upon him that was the democrat hoax regarding the virus. He never said the virus itself was a hoax. You knew that too.
And you can post the video of them saying this?
Excuse me if I don't hold my breath.
I watched the rally in question and heard him say what he actually did say.
You too, huh?
Usually when ANY politicians face appears on my TV I change the channel. I'm sure there is video of it.
Saying "we hope we're seeing a leveling off in the hottest spots of them all," President Trump revealed Sunday evening that 1.67 million people have now been tested for coronavirus in the United States -- although he made clear he felt some politicians have let their constituents down during the crisis.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, in particular, was "complaining all the time" despite underperforming, Trump charged at a briefing with the president's coronavirus task force. The two officials have sparred in recent days, with the Democrat accusing the White House of failing to provide all the ventilators he wanted.
“He’s not able to do what he’s supposed to be able to do as a governor," Trump said . "He has not performed well."
Later during the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said he had spoken to Pritzker, and the governor did "express great appreciation for the fact that our Army Corps of Engineers had constructed 500 beds at McCormick Place [convention center], and before the end of this week would construct another 2,500 beds for an overflow health facility in Chicago." Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the Army Corps was "outstanding," Pence noted. "We have sent 600 ventilators to the state of Illinois, but I assured the governor, and I assured the mayor, that while the principle focus that we have in the next several days is the rising cases in the greater New York City area and Louisiana, that Michigan and Illinois are in the forefront of our thinking," Pence said. "At the president's direction, we're gonna make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of Michigan have the resources, equipment and support that they need."
Rear Adm. John Polowczyk said U.S. operatives were going to facilities in China to inspect all medical equipment being sent to U.S. and make sure it is functional, amid reports that China has sent faulty testing kits and other supplies to several other countries.
Trump also signaled he'd be open to the government sending out an additional round of stimulus checks to Americans, saying: "I like the concept of it." He added that the current round of stimulus money should be distributed within two weeks.
Also at the briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx observed that Spain and Italy have provided "really helpful signs" that social distancing was working, and new cases and deaths were declining in both countries.
Birx said "we're very hopeful" over the next week that there will be a "stabilization of cases across these large metro areas where the outbreak began several weeks ago." Spain and Italy were "giving us hope of what our future could be," she asserted.
"In the days ahead, America will endure the peak of this terrible pandemic," Trump said, even as he told reporters, "We are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel."
Trump separately told reporters that an additional 600,000 N95 masks will be arriving to New York City on Monday "to take care of the needs of the public hospital system," on the request of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Another 200,000 masks will be headed to Long Island after officials there made the request, Trump added.
Some 500 ventilators were on their way to New Jersey, 200 to Louisiana, 300 to Michigan, 600 to Illinois and 100 to Massachusetts, the president said. Louisiana's Gov. John Bel Edwards said earlier in the day that his state could run out of ventilators by Thursday.
National Guard personnel walking outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, after officials set up a temporary hospital there amid the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Also on the way, Trump said, was more hydroxychloroquine. Limited studies, and polls of doctors, have suggested the antimalarial drug could, in fact, treat coronavirus. Journalists who previously bashed the Trump administration for suggesting hydroxychloroquine have largely changed their tune.
"We've bought a tremendous amount of the hydroxychloroquine," Trump told reporters, saying the country has stockpiled 29 million pills of the drug. "There are some signs it works on this, some very strong signs. ... They're not expensive. What do you have to lose?"
The president noted he's "not a doctor," but observed that the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] had issued emergency authorization for physicians to use the drug to treat coronavirus.
Pressed on whether he was irresponsibly offering medical advice, the president insisted he's "not acting as a doctor," and said there were "good signs" the drug could save lives -- and at worse, it wouldn't cause deaths on its own. The drug requires a prescription regardless.
Another journalist then bizzarely queried Trump as to why all businesses, including essential ones like grocery stores, weren't forced to close as well. Trump opened the briefing by offering words of hope for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was hospitalized Sunday after testing positive for coronavirus and exhibiting symptoms.
"All Americans are praying for him," Trump said. "I'm hopeful and sure that he's going to be fine. He's a strong man, a strong person."
Asked by a reporter whether he was thinking of standing apart from Pence "to ensure continuity of government," Trump responded that "sometimes we are forced into positions where I'd rather be away," but that it was "very difficult" sometimes to keep his distance from everyone else.
The president said he was considering "very substantial tariffs" on foreign oil if the current price war were to continue.
Trump added: "I'd like to ask for your prayers for the families who have lost loved ones. Ask God to comfort them in their hour of grief -- it's a great hour of grief, for our nation and for the world. ... With the faith of our families and the spirit of our people and the grace of our God, we will endure, we will overcome, we will prevail. We have learned so much; we will be stronger than ever.”
The president also touted the news that New York state has seen its first drop in daily coronavirus deaths, as U.S. Northern Command officials said it would deploy a combined total of 1,000 Air Force and Navy medical providers to the New York City area to support relief efforts in the next three days.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said earlier in the day that New York also experienced a slight drop in intensive-care admissions and the number of patients who need breathing tubes inserted. The hospital discharge rate was "way up" he said, calling it "great news."
"We sent federal troops -- not only troops, but a lot of talented doctors, nurses, first responders," Trump said.
The military said in a statement that the 1,000 personnel would work in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]. A total of 300 of these "uniformed medical providers will work from the Javits Center and the rest will deploy to other area locations to expand local medical capabilities in the war against COVID-19," U.S. Northern Command added.
Americans were bracing for what the nation's top doctor warned Sunday would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of the deadliest coronavirus hotspot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy .
As of Sunday, Britain has recorded over 47,800 virus cases.and over 4,900 deaths overall.
"This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,’’ U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told "Fox News Sunday."
A/noon..It is rather interesting to see how other countries and Leaders handle things with this virus...We were told there would be up to 150,000 deaths here from the virus, at first..Well that put the wind up us I can tell you. There are 25 million Aussies...But was somewhat stunned when it was announced the death rate at the time, was also going to be the same in the USA....Hmm and how many of you mob over there, 328 million??...Straight off I just thought something does not add up here!!..The galah that told us was some "obscure expert" who got his 15 minutes of fame and has not been heard off since..I try to decipher the fact from the fiction myself and go by that..Our Prime Minister basically only appears here when there is something majour to announce and to be honest that is enough..If he was on everyday I suspect most people would tend to "switch off" and could end up missing vital info..So when it is announced he is making a Statement to the Nation, then you know it is something important...and so you had better bloody listen..Sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don't when you are a Leader...New Zealand are going well...1 lost soul, 1000 infected and in 4 weeks lock down..We are going OK...37 lost souls and 5,500 infected...where I am in Victoria we are in 2 weeks lock down..Each State here is doing what they see fit and in their best interests which is fair enough..When you have a State half the size of the country as in Western Australia they have different needs and restrictions. This is uncharted waters for all of us around the world..and yes some countries and Leaders will handle things far better than others..But at the end of the day, we all hope to send the end of this rotten disease sooner rather than later. And just maybe, we will all be better prepared for the next one that will roll up..Stay well and stay safe where ever you are...
Another good job by our President at the daily press briefing. Well done!
Did you all hear about how China in December and January was hoarding the world supply protective gear, masks, respirators? Even though they produced tons they imported more just before the virus spread to the rest of the world.