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White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

nytimes.com

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Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#141

Post by daeken »

mason240 wrote: post #131
daeken wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bullshit. Obama was a presidential candidate when this took place, not even the president. You're making this into a partisan issue; not the others upthread of you.

10/15/09 >The administration has taken increasing steps in recent weeks and months to isolate the TV network, with some Capitol Hill veterans recalling no such similar steps by any president since Richard Nixon’s retaliation against The New York Times and The Washington Post during Watergate. >“The point is this, and it really needs to be made: Fox is not just another television network,” said Senate Democratic Whip…

That wasn't the original source, nor was it discussing the same issue. This is a very different issue, which I do think was a case of overstepping by the Obama administration. However, your comment was entirely out of line for what the thread was actually discussing.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#142

Post by vacri »

mintplant wrote: post #79
jerf wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63167-congression... It's not a 100% precise match, but I'd look dimly on anyone trying to argue it's completely different somehow. Reverse the affiliations and you'd almost think it was written today. (Almost.)

I know many won't actually click through to read the linked article, so I think it's important to cite this here in the comments: > The effort hasn’t been a total blackout; White House press secretary Robert Gibbs still calls on Fox News reporter Major Garrett at press briefings , but the Obama White House is clearly targeting the network that it believes is biased. > In a weekend interview with The New York Times, W…

It's not that similar. Fox wasn't barred from the briefings. It's just that folks weren't willing to be personally interviewed by them or go on their panel shows. The latter requires active engagement from the establishment, as people have to do a lot of prep work for interviews; the former is just another reporter in the scrum.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#144

Post by mythrwy »

Ya, well the press's treatment of Trump has been a bit one sided. And well out of proportion to his actual comments and deeds.

You might not like Trump, and you might have good reasons but the above is true all the same. And, he is sitting president of the USA right now, irrespective of how you feel about him, his platforms and his supporters.

The amount of vitriol involving Trump is ridiculous. It really is. I'm not saying Trump has good manners (because he doesn't) but the press hasn't been many steps behind in utter nastiness. And they have, in most cases, stopped even pretending to be objective. It's gotten where I can't even watch or read the news anymore. It's just irrational nastiness from one side or the other with zero nuance.

I don't know where this all ends if we stay on the trajectory. Gang warfare and cutting off heads maybe. Seems the veneer of civilization indeed might be pretty thin. Maybe we might have to relearn the hard way about the things we take for granted in the social order.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#145

Post by LeifCarrotson »

thehardsphere wrote: post #53
cyrus_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's better to enforce the norms of a free and antagonistic press.

Right, which usually requires press people to show up to do the reporting. I mean it may not be as much of a requirement now in the age of live TV and internet streaming, but if we're going to argue about norms then certainly the norm of sending reporters to actually report on stuff is kind of important.

It requires people to do reporting. It does not require them to show up at a press briefing - that doesn't happen in a lot of countries, or if it does, the press is a mouthpiece for the government to say whatever it wants to say whether true or false.

It's certainly helpful for the White House to distill information into an easy-to-digest press briefing. But the AP, Time, and other barred and protesting organizations are certainly capable of reporting on what actually happens rather than what they're told at a press briefing. Reuters described it aptly here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rpb-adlertrump-idUSKBN15F276

> Become ever-more resourceful: If one door to information closes, open another one.

> Give up on hand-outs and worry less about official access. They were never all that valuable anyway. Our coverage of Iran has been outstanding, and we have virtually no official access. What we have are sources.

> Don’t take too dark a view of the reporting environment: It’s an opportunity for us to practice the skills we’ve learned in much tougher places around the world...

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#147

Post by dbcurtis »

dukeluke wrote: post #120
meentsbk wrote: post #61

I'm finding I'm having a hard time reconciling the current climate - not necessarily at his supporters (or the opposite), but just at how polar opposite everyone seems to be on this. For me, I see these organizations as not treating him poorly, but actually willing to call out things he is not being factual on. But at the same time, maybe I'm being biased against him. I want the discourse, but I'm just struggling to…

In our FPTP voting system, a two party system naturally emerges. And during times of hardship, instead of a middle-ground being found like would occur in a multiparty system, things become even more partisan and contentious. It's a fundamental facet of our political system, and won't ever change by using the political system. The political momentum needed is just too great.

Exactly. I heard it well put the other day: "Trump didn't cause the current political divisiveness. The current political devisions caused Trump."

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#148

Post by kylewest »

if we're going to be honest, most are upset because they have an issue with trump to start with. after he was elected Trump did hour-long interviews with 60-minutes, ABC, O-Reily, and Hannity. Where's the outrage over that? Shouldn't equal time have been given to Dateline, CBS, Anderson Cooper, and Van Jones?

Sooner or later there will be a real issue and most of us are going to tune it out because CNN/NYT/Others have treated every day since he took office as the 2nd coming of Hitler and beginning of WW3.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#149

Post by mannykannot »

oh_sigh wrote: post #85
pm90 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Press Secretary is the "Official" voice of the White House, and thus is accountable for WH's actions. Now, if nobody knows what was officially said, the WH can deny it and there will be no record of it. I understand that the current press secretary/briefings are pretty much useless. But they are officially recorded as being useless , which is very important for accountability. Seems like another stunt for the cur…

The press meetings are televised...there will be video record of what was said.

What matters more is what was not said on account of questions not asked. Even an evasion or an alternative fact carries information in its being offered in response.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#150

Post by rc_bhg »

aestetix wrote: post #48

Title is misleading. Press was blocked from a single press briefing. I do not see anything in the article about briefings going forward. Can someone change the title so it's less sensationalized? Edit: thanks to the moderator for removing the "s" and making the word "Briefing" singular to accurately reflect the article.

It's still unprecedented. This has never happened before in America.
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