So right wing radio host Lars Larson and Jeff Jobe, who runs a community newspaper in Kentucky....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

.....are now given time at White House press conference to ask softball questions about "returning National Forest land to the public" and allowing more coal mining, respectively.

This takes over time and precedence from reporters from actual legitimate and respected news organizations.

And their faces via Skype are plastered front and center for everyone next to Shouty Spice as they ask "questions" which serve more as sycophantant words of encouragement.

This is a charade. This is shit. This is absolute shit.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/31/media/jeff-jobe-press-briefing/

On Wednesday, Jobe will become one of the first four journalists to participate in the White House press briefing via Skype. The other participants, as announced by Spicer, are Natalie Herbick of Fox 8 in Cleveland, conservative talk radio host Lars Larson of "The Lars Larson Show," and Kimberly Kalunian of WPRI in Providence, Rhode Island.

The addition of outside questioners has unnerved some members of the existing White House press corps, who fear the Trump administration is using the initiative to dilute critical questions from veteran journalists with softballs from supportive outsiders.

Jobe describes himself as a Trump supporter -- "Absolutely, I endorsed him," he said. And he has run for elected office as a Republican twice, once in 2008 and again in 2014. But he stressed that his only intention is to serve his readers: "I want it to be of value to my state and to South Central Kentucky," he said. "I want to bring it home, if I can."

So the President won't talk to CNN, but he will talk to the publisher of the weekly Hart County News Herald, whose lead headline this week is "Car vs. Lawn Mower".

[kacekwl]

1. Maybe the" legitimate" news organizations

should start covering this shitshow properly.

[True Dough]

2. This isn't surprising at all

That Larson fellow addressed Spicer as "Commander Spicer."

The Trump administration will no doubt squeeze out the MSM more and more as the days go by.

[Sherman A1]

3. The MSM

needs to leave and leave the WH reporting altogether. This group feeds on attention and the less given them the better.

[True Dough]

4. How would the White House operating in secrecy

benefit Americans? The Trump administration has to be scrutinized as much as possible. Walking away from that circus must be tempting but it would be a mistake to not hold them accountable at every possible turn.

[Sherman A1]

7. I would leave the WH as stated and concentrate the staff

at the Hill and at the departments. He will tweet enough to get his attention and you can always pick get the updates on C-Span and Fox.

[procon]

5. It looked very Banana Republic... stacking the 'press' with fawning sycophants and

brown nosing shills added just to fluff up Trump's fragile ego with unearned praise and squishy questions.

[trueblue2007]

6. Lar larson has a radio show here in portand AND HE HAS LOW RATINGS

[Kittycow]

8. He's a massive jerk.

I despise him! Is he going to lobby to sell our Oregon forests now? That won't go over very big!

[gratuitous]

9. But for some reason, he's KGW's go-to on too many issues

I have no idea why the NBC affiliate in Portland, KGW, gives Larson so much air time on various stories. Doesn't the man already have a platform for disseminating his stupid ideas? KGW has to give him air and face time, too? Nauseating!