Late last week, President Donald Trump abruptly banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters from the White House because he didn’t like their unfavorable (in other words, accurate) coverage. All three news outlets immediately sued on First Amendment grounds to get their access reinstated. They will probably win.
Even rivals stood by the banned media outlets. NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and yes, even Fox News released a joint statement: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Major television networks have refused to replace CNN’s White House pool crew. Trump’s first live event with no TV press pool took place on Monday. It was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for his new helipad, and it was live-streamed via the White House website, which the White House tried to brand as “Trump TV.” But nobody could hear a word Trump said throughout the shoddily produced video in the absence of TV press pool coverage.
And, you know, isn’t that a good thing? I fully agree that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico should all have the same right to be present at the White House as any other outlets. But maybe no news organizations should bother going to this particular White House. I can’t imagine that Trump actually had anything important to say during his helipad ribbon-cutting ceremony, and no doubt we’d all be dumber as a result if we had been able to hear whatever nonsense he was spouting.
During his first term, attempts were made to tally up all of Trump’s lies, and they easily reached into the tens of thousands. It’s kind of a pointless exercise at this stage. You might as well add up how many sentences he utters, which would be pretty close to the same number.
Press listening to what Trump says at the White House and then reporting on it, even if the substance of what they are reporting is to point out the inaccuracy of his statements, necessarily repeat the lies. The research is abundantly clear that the more people hear the same false information repeated, the more likely they are to believe it is true, even when they initially know of its falsity. It’s called “the illusory truth effect,” and it’s a big part of how Trump got elected in the first place.
White House reporters who are critical of Trump are, I suppose, better than those who fawn over him. Still, anyone amplifying anything he says for any reason is inevitably spreading disinformation.
For most of American history, we didn’t hear from our presidents every single day. We mostly got along better than we have been these past couple years. One time Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, and the public didn’t really hear from him for the remaining 18 months of his term. Is it truly that important to have a bunch of reporters posted at the White House at all times just waiting for Trump or one of his flunkies to pass them misinformation?
Constant White House press coverage, under this president anyway, is a lot like social media use. It feels entertaining, maybe even important. But it’s bad for us, and we’re not actually learning anything.
Reporters have a right to report. The Trump administration most certainly needs to be reported upon, particularly when it comes to investigative reporting. But Trump uses the press corps that follows him around like his own personal public relations firm. I don’t think we’re getting much useful out of that, even when he did allow in CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at jon_wolf@hotmail.com.
The post Remaining Reporters Should Self-Deport From The White House, Avoid Spreading More Trump Lies appeared first on Above the Law.
Late last week, President Donald Trump abruptly banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters from the White House because he didn’t like their unfavorable (in other words, accurate) coverage. All three news outlets immediately sued on First Amendment grounds to get their access reinstated. They will probably win.
Even rivals stood by the banned media outlets. NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and yes, even Fox News released a joint statement: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”
Major television networks have refused to replace CNN’s White House pool crew. Trump’s first live event with no TV press pool took place on Monday. It was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for his new helipad, and it was live-streamed via the White House website, which the White House tried to brand as “Trump TV.” But nobody could hear a word Trump said throughout the shoddily produced video in the absence of TV press pool coverage.
And, you know, isn’t that a good thing? I fully agree that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico should all have the same right to be present at the White House as any other outlets. But maybe no news organizations should bother going to this particular White House. I can’t imagine that Trump actually had anything important to say during his helipad ribbon-cutting ceremony, and no doubt we’d all be dumber as a result if we had been able to hear whatever nonsense he was spouting.
During his first term, attempts were made to tally up all of Trump’s lies, and they easily reached into the tens of thousands. It’s kind of a pointless exercise at this stage. You might as well add up how many sentences he utters, which would be pretty close to the same number.
Press listening to what Trump says at the White House and then reporting on it, even if the substance of what they are reporting is to point out the inaccuracy of his statements, necessarily repeat the lies. The research is abundantly clear that the more people hear the same false information repeated, the more likely they are to believe it is true, even when they initially know of its falsity. It’s called “the illusory truth effect,” and it’s a big part of how Trump got elected in the first place.
White House reporters who are critical of Trump are, I suppose, better than those who fawn over him. Still, anyone amplifying anything he says for any reason is inevitably spreading disinformation.
For most of American history, we didn’t hear from our presidents every single day. We mostly got along better than we have been these past couple years. One time Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, and the public didn’t really hear from him for the remaining 18 months of his term. Is it truly that important to have a bunch of reporters posted at the White House at all times just waiting for Trump or one of his flunkies to pass them misinformation?
Constant White House press coverage, under this president anyway, is a lot like social media use. It feels entertaining, maybe even important. But it’s bad for us, and we’re not actually learning anything.
Reporters have a right to report. The Trump administration most certainly needs to be reported upon, particularly when it comes to investigative reporting. But Trump uses the press corps that follows him around like his own personal public relations firm. I don’t think we’re getting much useful out of that, even when he did allow in CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at [email protected].
