Bernie Sanders thinks media is unfair, so he created his own

[left-of-center2012]

When Bernie Sanders wanted to preview a speech about his signature health care plan, “Medicare for All,” he did not opt for a traditional interview.

Instead, he made an appearance on “The 99,” his Democratic presidential campaign’s in-house livestreamed show, a controlled, decidedly on-message pro-Sanders program that streams on a variety of services including Twitch, a platform primarily used by gamers.

The makeshift studio for the show is in a room with a long wooden table, walls decorated with Sanders campaign signs and tchotchkes including a Sanders action figure. Sanders sat down for an interview — with his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir.

“We are doing these livestreams, we are talking to you directly,” Shakir said. “One of the reasons is while we appreciate our friends in the elite media, they don’t often cover the issues that truly matter to working Americans.” In his second run for president, Sanders is finding that the attention he received in his run against Clinton is harder to come by in a field with two dozen candidates.

https://www.apnews.com/3fe684c2c7e34b0582fa80d11af07d4e

[Me.]

1. Why Does This Approach Sound Familiar?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. GMTA! Beat me to it.

If the news is "unfair," make your own.

The "elite media"?

[Me.]

3. ...

[dalton99a]

4. There are so many similarities

[Me.]

8. But One Stands Out Amongst All The Others

[Blue_true]

12. Yep, through history post invention of the radio. nt

[Hortensis]

19. Immediately familiar even. Ability to separate vulnerable minds

so they don't experience the range of thoughts that used to be normal was something new when cable made it Fox possible, and in the internet age it's expanding alarmingly.

[Me.]

21. ...

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. Did he call the media "the enemy of the people" yet?

[SouthernProgressive]

5. I don't think we should refer to Vlogs as the media.

Specially one that thinks Sirota is the shit. Yes, he is a guest used to slam people.

[George II]

6. He was on CNN just about an hour ago, not reluctant to get exposure on the "elite media".....

By the way, the Senate is in session today to vote on two very important bills - healthcare coverage for the September 11 heroes and the budget. He's in Burlington working on his bus tour of Southern Quebec.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Southern Quebec? How's he polling there?

[corbettkroehler]

15. Since We're Discussing Facts, His Tour To Help Diabetics Save Their Lives Will Be To Ontario (n/t)

[George II]

20. In a tweet he said he was going "right across the border into Canada", which would be Quebec.

[corbettkroehler]

25. And In A Recent Interview, He Said "Ontario". He Named The Province

Since you follow his tweets, I presumed that you followed his interviews, too.

[George II]

32. When I see him being interviewed I switch to QVC.

[corbettkroehler]

33. Then Why Follow His Tweets?

Cognitive dissonance much?

[George II]

36. Why do you care? There's a big difference between tweets and videos of interviews.

[Gothmog]

9. The fact that the sanders campaign has to use fake media amuses me

[Gothmog]

10. For this thread

Is there any mainstream media source that sanders is not fighting with?

Link to tweet

"This isn't intended to be a sweeping generalization of all journalists,” he told POLITICO, “but there are a healthy number who just find Bernie annoying, discount his seriousness, and wish his supporters and movement would just go away.”...

Journalists who cover Sanders, meanwhile, dispute many of those criticisms. They say if he gets less attention than other candidates, it’s because he’s often unwilling to address breaking news and shies away from impromptu Q&A sessions, or gaggles, after events.....

Sanders “wants to talk about what he wants to talk about, when he wants to talk about it,” said one reporter who covered the candidate in 2016 and 2019. “And he doesn't see the value of talking to reporters about what they want to talk about because, in part, he thinks they’re going to talk about what he considers stupid stuff.”

He doesn’t hesitate to make that disdain known, either. The New York Times disclosed in May that Sanders declined an interview for a piece on his time as mayor of Burlington, Vt., including a 1985 meeting with Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua and a foe of the Reagan administration. After the story was published, Sanders requested a phone interview, eventually telling the reporter, “You don’t understand a word that I’m saying.”....

He doesn’t have much patience for reporters who want him to talk about anything other than that agenda. “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos kicked off an interview Thursday by telling Sanders that voters want to know more about him as a person.

[corbettkroehler]

16. Yes, Those Few Which Report Accurately And With Full Context

Sadly, they're hard to find.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. 10 years on this site people have been complaining...

.... about the media (vapid, horse racey, infotainment, corporate owned) and someone actually does something to counteract the nonsense and now he is a bad guy.

It boils down to: Bernie is a meanie!

[corbettkroehler]

18. Well Said! (n/t)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. Not to mention "Correct The Record" Media Matters ...

... and...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/31/hillary-clinton-chelsea-clinton-tv-production-company

[Gothmog]

23. sanders does not like being vetted and is against accurate reporting

The media has been more than fair with their coverage of sanders. Again sanders is being vetted this cycle and evidently accurate reporting is not to sanders liking. No one took sanders seriously and so he was not vetted. Vetting is important I amso glad that sanders is being vetted this cycle https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/28/why-bernie-sanders-has-an-uphill-climb-ahead/?utm_term=.1b4f90c2a717

Finally, what happens when the oppo dump on Sanders comes? We have no idea, because it never happened in 2016. Clinton was so terrified of alienating his supporters and seeing them vote for Jill Stein in the general election (or not vote at all) that she tiptoed around him for pretty much the entirety of the primary campaign. That doesn’t mean that he’ll be destroyed when stories about the more colorful aspects of his history start cropping up, but there’s just no way to know.

Which is what we could say about the Sanders candidacy as a whole: There’s no way to know how it’s going to go. But he’s got his work cut out for him.

See also https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/bernie-sanders-2020-campaign-donald-trump/index.html?utm_source=twCNNp&utm_content=2019-02-20T14%3A52%3A07&utm_term=image&utm_medium=social%C2%A0

2. How will he withstand more scrutiny and more attacks?
One of the secrets to Sanders' success in 2016 was that no one -- most especially Clinton -- thought he had any chance of going anywhere in the race. Clinton largely ignored him for the better part of 2015, allowing some problematic parts of Sanders' record for Democrats -- most notably his voting record on guns -- to go unnoticed. (When the race began to tighten, Clinton gently prodded Sanders on guns and health care.) Sanders, too, largely flew under the radar of investigative reporters for major news outlets who were busy looking into Clinton, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and others seen as more viable candidates. (That reality clearly benefited Donald Trump in the early days of the campaign, as well.)

Sanders will get no pass -- from either the media or his fellow candidates -- this time around. He is among the frontrunners -- and will be treated as such. His wife's time as president of Burlington College could well come up. And his opponents will do a deep dive into his nearly 30 years of votes as a member of the House and Senate. This is all very normal stuff in a campaign. But not for Sanders.

Now we can see how sanders reacts to being vetted

Link to tweet

Among some Democrats, there was a sense of bewilderment that the Sanders campaign had gone—as one operative put it—”nuclear” over a mere web video. One Democratic consultant sympathetic to Sanders described the video as being “like a gnat buzzing around your ear,” one which should not have distracted from the candidate’s Midwest tour.

It also raised questions as to whether the senator was ready for the scrutiny that would come from being a frontrunning candidate, after having run as an insurgent against an ideal foil, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.

“When you’re leading in the polls of president of your party you should expect investigative stories to hit at least once a week and to be attacked by your opponents every day,” said Ben Labolt, who served as press secretary to Barack Obama during the 2012 campaign. “An attack on something like ThinkProgress is the sign of a super-narrow-minded campaign that isn’t actually thinking of how the election will be won... They have chosen an establishment force that no one outside of the Starbucks at 16th and K would recognize.”

I am glad that sanders is being vetted

[George II]

37. Most media outlets report accurately and with full context. That's an unfair characterization.

[Blue_true]

11. That has been done many times to attempt to control messaging and drown out questions.

The Soviets did it, the Facist in Italy and Germany did it, Trump does it now with Press conferences.

[Vegas Roller]

13. Similar to Trump TV

A plan B to launch a media company after the inevitable loss in the primary.

[oasis]

14. After Super Tuesday "99" will be on the sidelines.

[NurseJackie]

24. A scripted Q&A is not really an actual "interview" is it?

Sanders sat down for an interview — with his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir.

A scripted Q&A is not really an actual "interview" is it?

In his second run for president, Sanders is finding that the attention he received in his run against Clinton is harder to come by in a field with two dozen candidates.

Gee.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. No, it's a puff piece.

[NurseJackie]

29. ...

[lapucelle]

28. Are they infomercials?

The makeshift studio for the show is in a room with a long wooden table, walls decorated with Sanders campaign signs and tchotchkes including a Sanders action figure. Sanders sat down for an interview — with his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir.

[NurseJackie]

30. That's exactly what it is.

Tough and direct questions from real reporters can be difficult for any candidate (no matter who he or she may be) when the reporter won't settle for repeating "stump speech" applause lines as the response.

[lapucelle]

34. I thought the game show setup with Sen. Nina Turner odd & the chirpy/cutesy "cancelled, cancelled,

cancelled!" commercial pandering to the point of being insulting, but staged "interviews" with an actual candidate under the guise of "alternative media"?

Yikes.

[NurseJackie]

35. It seems like a desperate stunt.