Media puts hatred over public interest
Pick at prez’s virus briefings
Does the media really have no shame in their hatred for Donald Trump?
Several networks have questioned whether they should stop airing President Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings for “ethical reasons.” Several networks have stopped covering the whole briefings live.
What could be more important than hearing from the most powerful person on the planet and top health officials during a pandemic? Certainly not navel-gazing talking heads criticizing his response to the crisis. They have the rest of the day to do that.
The only ethics that should be in question is their petty partisan opinions they are unable to hide and their willingness to keep vital information from the public. These briefings have lifeand-death information from experts. If it was Trump talking politics for two hours that would be an entirely separate issue. He is referring all technical and medical questions to the doctors and federal agency heads standing beside him. He is highlighting the efforts made by governors, by private corporations, by biotechnology firms, by the military and by common people. He is leading.
People are afraid and these briefings offer Americans what they want: new information and the sense that our leaders are on this.
But that’s not the message from the self-absorbed, biased media. ABC’s Jonathan Karl was recently asked if these briefings are as much about politics as they are about information, “There clearly has been a political message, as well as a really important public health message. Should these briefings be carried live from beginning to end by the various networks? But let’s face it, there’s a lot of politics here. There has been a lot of disinformation that has come out as well. So, it is our duty as reporters and, frankly, as networks to put context and to correct misinformation.”
Odd, coming from a media that has been vacillating wildly between portraying Trump’s efforts to combat virus as alarmist, racist, then inadequate, and racist again. But their real concern is that Trump’s winning this communication battle.
The New York Times has written several stories about whether networks should be covering these briefings and seems bothered that “Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ ”
It appears the former reality star is still ahead in the ratings game against one of the top reality shows. And with his approval numbers up, he’s up in that ratings game as well, to the ill-disguised discomfiture of the media.
Hard-left MSNBC host Rachel Maddow declared to her viewers, “I would stop putting those briefings on live TV — not out of spite, but because it’s misinformation.” Oh no, no spite involved, Rachel.
At a time of crisis, the American media can’t get out of its own way and realize it isn’t about them. It is about the national interest.