Press should have walked out after CNN'S Acosta was dissed

[Tanuki]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-trumps-media-conference-degenerates-into-name-calling-20170111-gtpx44.html

"I'm not going to give you a question," Trump snarled. "I'm not going to give you a question – you are fake news."

At which point it would be nice to report that the rest of the reporters shut off their recorders and refused to ask questions. Alas, they didn't miss a beat – all pressed on, yelling to draw Trump's attention to themselves, and seemingly oblivious that if CNN is being frozen out this week, it might be any or all of the rest them next week.

After 58 minutes, Trump rounded up his family and his paid staff who he had brought along to cheer and jeer, lest he get boxed in by the tenor of questions or by awkward silences; and the media slunk away.

But social media erupted.

"Trump shouted down CNN Jim Acosta as 'fake news' then took a question from Breitbart."
"At that point the reporters should have left, turn the cameras off and leave."
Alluding to Trump's claim that he was so popular he could shoot someone on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and get away with it, another post said: "Trump just shot Jim Acosta on the middle of Fifth Avenue and the press didn't blink."

"The rest of the news people should have given the floor to Acosta, they were just as bad as trump in that regard. Shame!"
"First they came for CNN…and I did not speak."
"When trump tells Acosta to be quiet where is the outrage from the other journalists in the room? In one voice: "ANSWER THE QUESTION!"
..........


(More at link)

[melman]

1. No they shouldn't have

There's nothing he'd like more than to communicate only through twitter and YouTube. It can't be allowed to happen.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. None of his childish form of "communication" need be reported

There are literally billions of tweets going on every day around the world and not every one is seen, let alone "reported as 'news'". Particularly when the remarks are often contradictory in nature, essentially "stream of consciousness", and generally incoherent.

What this does is present the U.S. as a dysfunctional, weak, and compromised nation to the rest of the world due to the disjointed ramblings and rantings of the head of state. It literally puts the nation at risk.

[Demit]

7. I agree. It would be serving up an excuse to Trump on a silver platter.

Reporters couldn't act on their own anyway, they have their chain of command to answer to. There should, however, be some kind of pushback. Openly expressed criticism of Trump's high-handedness in by columnists & editorial writers, at least.

[yardwork]

12. Taking questions only from Breitbart is not a press conference.

[melman]

14. Less press coverage is not answer

In my opinion, it's pretty insane to suggest that it is. I mean, really...just not cover him? This makes sense to people?

[yardwork]

16. What if the press walked out and then reported what happened?

Trump isn't answering any real questions.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. The media spent 8 years "not covering" President Obama's many initiatives

and no one seemed to complain - and even many DUers just accepted that Obama did nothing.

I.e., the tactic WORKS.

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[barbtries]

24. what i think is

they should first do the fact check, then report. just parroting his lies is dangerous and wrong.

[whathehell]

26. Do you have a better answer?

[melman]

28. Than not covering what the president does?

Yes: covering what the president does.

[whathehell]

30. Um, you're missing the point..

of Trump disallowing them to ask questions, Breitbart and Fox excepted.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. How about them covering what Congress does or plans to do instead?

That is the real meat behind what will directly impact the nation. Drumpf is nothing but a cartoon figurehead who will need SOMEONE there to remind him about how the "sign/not-sign/veto/pocket-veto" process for enacting/not enacting legislation thing works.

I.e., he is so addle-brained that he may end up pocket-vetoing something important that he claimed he cared about bigly, or enacting something he disagreed with - both by letting the bills sit, because he was off showcasing the latest hotel that his son is opening now that the ethics rules have been thrown out.

[Eleanors38]

42. No need to. MSM is sufficiently cowed, and trump WILL ignore them soon, using Twitter.

[hamsterjill]

43. Yes, they should.

I have to disagree here.

I understand your point that Trump would use any "rebellion" by journalists as an excuse not to give press conferences, but Donald is going to do what Donald it going to do anyway. The press - NO ONE - should make decisions based on what Donald's reaction to something will be. Donald's reaction is always going to be to do what best benefits Donald.

Any decision should be made on the merit of what is ethical and what is rational. We cannot expect ethics and rationality from Trump. It is going to become necessary that the press stand up to Trump. If they don't, any press conference, much like the one yesterday, is going to be a meaningless campaign event any way.

Let him refuse to give press conferences. Then perhaps Twitter should ban him.

[Mister Midnight]

2. Damn Straight!

If this sheeplike behavior is what we can expect from our "news" media, we may as well start learning Russian post-haste.

[Cha]

3. "Trump shouted down CNN Jim Acosta as 'fake news' then took a question from Breitbart."

Oh fuck.. you can't make that shite up. I think trumpee doth protest too much.

As far as what the other reporters did after he called Jim Acosta "Fake News".. shame on them enabling dump's behavior and Bravo for Shep Smith who called them out later on foxscrews, no less.

"Remember his campaign twitter storms against The New York Times and the blacklisting of the likes of The Washington Post from covering his campaign events? How he had led his rally crowds in jeering at reporters, who he branded as "the lowest form of life?"

trumpee meet petard.. I don't think he's so freaking "clever"

Thank you, Tanuki

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "Press should have walked out after CNN'S Acosta was dissed"

Agree with this. However at the moment, the news outlets are so competitive in terms of corralling as many eyeballs as they can to utilize their products and services instead of the competition's, their current mentality is that if "one goes down", that means a bigger "share" (that terminology also being used by ratings aggregators like Nielsen and Arbitron, etc) for themselves.

Drumpf knows this.

The only way for this sort of nonsense to begin to end (it would take sustained efforts to end it altogether) is that they would have to be unanimous and walk out. In that case, I expect the paid-for RW fake media outlets like Breitbart, and probably outlets like RT, would be the only ones remaining and that will be telling in and of itself.

[Cha]

5. Check this quote out at the end of the article from trumpee..

"I don't recommend reforms – I recommend that people have some moral compass."

Yeah, like trumpee's.. ".. step right up.. get your trump moral compass right here.. "

BRDS

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I will leave you with what Maxine Waters said

Basically - "I don't believe anything that Donald Trump says".

[Cha]

11. Maxine couldn't be more correct! She was excellent!

She got a lot in there in 3 minutes and she wouldn't be deterred

We know how the lawsuits of trumpU turned out.. settled for $25 Million... m$m report on that? Or sweep it under the carpet?

Mahalo for that

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Yup

He has learned to Gish Gallop his way through this election and will continue to do so as long as the media allows it.

There is a need for the Joe Biden way of nuking the Gish Gallop style!

[Cha]

20. Mahalo for that gish gallop stomp from VP Biden, BRDS!

[Sherman A1]

9. I agree, but they should have walked out long ago

I would hope that the Media puts only a skeleton staff at the WH going forward if any at all and moves their focus to Congress and the Courts where the real work of government will be happening for the next few years.

Trump offers a shiny object upon which to dazzle and confuse. McConnell and Ryan are the two whom I see to be far, far more dangerous social programs, the people and the country.

[HAB911]

13. Agreed, the first time he kicked out a reporter during the primaries ......n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

25. +++THIS+++

Drumpf is this -



We need to get at this guy -



after neutralizing these guys -

[global1]

10. Acosta Should Have Persisted In Asking A Question &.....

let Spicer and Trump's people throw him out. Now that would have been news and it would have made Trump look really bad.

[Fritz Walter]

18. Their chickens have come home to roost

Throughout the campaign, these media clowns didn't have the backbone to challenge Drumpf on his outlandish statements, obvious self-serving lies, bald-faced pandering, and incitement to violence. Not to mention his childish Tweets. Now, all of a sudden, they want to play hardball and the Mangled-Apricot Hellbeast pushes back.

Boo-fucking-hoo!

With a very few, notable exceptions (Charlie Pierce, for instance), these are not journalists. Their mission is not to tell the truth, but rather to sell boner pills (and other Big Pharma products), life insurance, ambulance chasers, and used cars in the pursuit of ratings/readership. Meanwhile, they fail to notice -- or worse, decide to ignore -- how their own credibility stopped circling the drain and is now trapped in a septic tank. Just look at the number of daily newspapers that have closed shop in recent years. Then look at the number of remaining or former cable-TV subscribers who now turn elsewhere for accuracy, objectivity and balance, including sites like DU.

Fuck these on-camera bobble-heads for their part in creating this abomination!

[Locrian]

19. divide and conquer

trump is a natural at it - and the press falls in line
they needed to yield to Acosta and force the issue

[Orrex]

21. Acosta should have peed on him.

[Callmecrazy]

35. Or throw a shoe at his head...nt

[Paladin]

22. Why should the media exhibit principles and guts against Trump, at this point?

They helped put him in office with their craven, double-standard behavior.

[Vinca]

23. Absolutely. It was CNN and Acosta this time. Next time it may be any of them.

If they continue to bow to the king they are creating a dictator not a POTUS.

[liberal N proud]

27. The press owns this clusterfuck

They let him get nominated by entertaining his bullshit. They allowed him to get elected by not reporting the bullshit stories against Hillary as just that.


They own trump. Our journalists have failed our Democracy!

[Butterflylady]

32. Absolutely

They are the ones to blame and they will be the ones to have the blood that follows on their conscious. I don't think they really know what they have done to this country. All that matters to them is the story, even if the facts don't match reallity.

[Nitram]

31. Yes, they should have walked. Otherwise they are cowed and Trump wins.

[Orrex]

36. I have a concern about that

If the "real" press walks out, that leaves Breitbart and its clones as the only news source, and the "real" press will quickly deteriorate to recirculating Breitbart's carefully crafted bullshit. Hell, they do that already, but if they don't have a camera in the room then they'll completely at the mercy of Trump's propaganda ministry.

[Nitram]

37. They won't be at the mercy of Breitbart and Co because...

...they don't have the audience of sane, civilized people.

[Achilleaze]

33. The press whimped out. Totally.

This was a seminal moment.

Corporate media completely surrendered to Comrade Casino & Republican Cabal O'Cronies.

[Nitram]

38. Do you really want to quit the game?

[Achilleaze]

40. If you mean the game of whimping out, I was never in it

I call bullshit when I see it, and I stand up for my rights.

The corporate media needs to quit the whimping-out game, and get serious. When democracy is on the line, there's no time for freaking games.

[Nitram]

41. I was just recalling how some games would taunt you when you clicked "exit game."

Nothing personal. I agree, there's no time for games.

[mcar]

39. They should have deferred their question to CNN

The media is not equipped to handle this.

[djsunyc]

44. what...

the press doesn't understand is that they are losing this battle badly.

if they are to gain any sort of respect...they need:

1. stop reporting on his tweets
2. stop giving him any attention whatsoever
3. only report on what the house + senate are doing - report on the laws and the policies

ignore trump and then he will crumble.

but they don't have the guts.