We have a White Houe Press Corps problem.

[TeamPooka]

They are not good at asking questions when in front of Trump.
They ask and let him lie and get away with it.
Until they challenge his lies to his face they will continue to enable Trump and his lies.

[Achilleaze]

1. Gutless Giddy Journalism, Inc. (R)

That's what I see

[oberliner]

2. Some of them are OK

They've gotten him to say a lot of very stupid and incriminating things.

[Still In Wisconsin]

7. I agree. There are several who are doing their job well.

It's not an easy job under the best of circumstances. In our present situation...

[Polly Hennessey]

3. No kidding.

[anneboleyn]

5. Yep. It's been like this since day one. They never really challenge him, and he lies and lies

[DFW]

4. Poor Helen Thomas

She is gone in more ways than just the physical.

[Totally Tunsie]

6. April Ryan does a pretty good job. n/t

[MiniMe]

8. tRump is good at talking over the questions

Something I'm sure he learned from watching Faux

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. Format: Ask IQ45 a question on his way to helicopter. Listen to answer. Ask, "Is that another lie?"

Rinse. Repeat.

[0rganism]

10. all challenging the lie immediately does is get us to stage 3 (of 10) faster

Last edited Tue May 29, 2018, 03:39 AM - Edit history (1)

stages of Trump's method for changing lies into truths:
1. Trump lies, media reports verbatim <-- start here
2. Media dutifully reports factual errors and discrepancies, expert analysts note that his claims are false <-- speed the process up so this occurs during a press briefing rather than 20 minutes after it finishes
3. Trump blasts experts and calls the media dishonest <-- now we can get here faster
4. Trump repeats the lie frequently and publicly, along with the temporarily unverifiable and meaningless message that "many people think I'm right"
5. Media begins to refer to the lie as a "disputed fact"
6. Trump repeats the lie as do his surrogates in various right-wing echo chambers and internet forums
7. Main-stream media reports the lie as a "controversy"
8. Polls show more Americans now believe Trump's lie to be true, with far more Republicans believing it than Democrats
9. Media reports the lie as reflecting a "partisan divide" in America, and many believe it to be true (thus affirming Trump's assertion from step 4)
10. The public becomes confused and disoriented about what the facts are, and Trump "wins"

i don't think we can stop this national decline into madness without addressing steps 4-10, especially 5 and 7 which fall squarely in the media's domain. actually, i think it's a very long shot that we can stop it at all -- as you note, the media is not Trump's natural enemy...

[TeamPooka]

11. according to you we have lost and can't do anything to change the outcome.

[0rganism]

18. well, i do admit that is a possibility

i don't talk about it much on this forum, but i think denying it outright discounts some obvious positional advantages held by our adversaries.

Putin has dealt our nation a serious wound -- just how serious remains to be seen. only a handful of people, mostly working with the Mueller investigation, know the full scope of the damage. but the more annoying fact is that wound was delivered on top of a thousand self-inflicted cuts.

we don't just have a press corps problem, we have a serious cultural split wherein media owners enjoy the ad revenue reaped by playing both sides against the middle. the seeds planted by a generation of Koch money have born fruit, in the form of self-destructive governments at the state and local levels, now fully realized at the federal level. i think we're past the point where responsible journalism alone can save us. our national dialectic has drifted far beyond arguments over optimal solutions to common problems -- we now disagree over basic premises and principles. half the adults in this country live in an alternate reality constructed by varying degrees of Fox News, Alex Jones, and Rush Limbaugh broadcasts. we have a serious epistemological disconnect on what constitutes a reliable source of information. IMHO, more contentious WH press briefings are only going to dig the hole faster.

[dawg]

12. It's almost as if they were all employees of massive corporations ...

that were massively benefiting from Republican tax and regulatory policies.

[FuzzyRabbit]

13. Bingo!

[SunSeeker]

14. K & R

[davekriss]

15. Who would expect otherwise?

Chomsky and Herman told us how this works in their eighties book, Manufacturing Consent. Chomsky again, after that, in Necessary Illusions.

[triron]

16. Americans don't even know who Chomsky is.

[Vinca]

17. It's a waste of time to ask him anything because he has 1 of 2 answers:

"We'll see." "We'll have to wait and see."

[pwb]

19. Millionaire news talkers are highly paid so they won't ask tough questions.

High pay makes them one of them??

[Cha]

20. And, we know they'd be like raging bulls @ President Obama

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