Name: Opinion | There’s No Reason to Turn Airtime Over to Trump’s Deceptive Coronavirus Campaign Rallies
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Opinion | There’s No Reason to Turn Airtime Over to Trump’s Deceptive Coronavirus Campaign Rallies

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Sign up for our newsletter.Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.Follow us: Common Dreams will never be locked behind a paywall because we believe our journalism should remain freely available to everyone ― not just those who can afford to pay. By becoming a sustaining monthly donor today, you can help make sure our work remains free for those who aren't able to chip in. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our For weeks now, Trump has been seizing on the Covid-19 crisis gripping the nation and the world as an opportunity to snag free air time. (Photo: Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) If the powerful are spreading life-threatening lies, do not freely give them a huge platform to reach more people with those lies. After the 2016 election, many journalists (e.g.,&nbsp;New York Times,&nbsp;) lamented their role in elevating Donald Trump to victory by handing him&nbsp;, in exchange for the&nbsp;&nbsp;his outrageous rhetoric and behavior generated for them. And yet they will never learn their lesson: Despite weeks of&nbsp;&nbsp;about Donald Trump’s daily briefings serving as little more than&nbsp;&nbsp;full of&nbsp;, television networks continue to broadcast them live (now with some cut-aways and factchecking), and some reporters continue to cover the tension as just another partisan battle with no clear right or wrong.For weeks now, Trump has been seizing on the Covid-19 crisis gripping the nation and the world as an opportunity to snag free air time. The primetime briefings have been a campaign bonanza for Trump: Democratic nominee-apparent Joe Biden had 13 media appearances from March 14–28, according to his campaign (The Hill,&nbsp;), reaching a total of some 20 million people. Trump’s briefings during that time had an average&nbsp;daily&nbsp;audience of 8.5 million (New York Times,&nbsp;)—and that’s not even counting his other media appearances.Airing the president’s briefings about an unprecedented crisis at first made sense, but it very quickly became apparent to some of the more clear-headed observers that Trump’s errors, lies and self-aggrandizement were not, in fact, newsworthy. Pundits like Margaret Sullivan (Washington Post,&nbsp;), Rachel Maddow (MSNBC,&nbsp;) and James Fallows (Atlantic,&nbsp;) began calling for networks to stop airing the briefings live, while others clung to the fantasy that limiting Trump’s airtime would be “censorship” (Chicago Tribune,&nbsp;; see&nbsp;FAIR.org,&nbsp;).But move away from the opinion columns, and too many journalists have fallen back on the safety of “balance.” A&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;piece () about the coverage offered a perfectly&nbsp;Timesian on-the-one-hand-on-the-other headline: “Trump’s Briefings Are a Ratings Hit. Should Networks Cover Them Live?,” followed by the subhead: “The president’s viewership has rivaled the audiences for hit reality shows and prime-time football. But some worry about misinformation.”At the&nbsp;Washington Post&nbsp;(), Amber Phillips even went so far as to give readers a pros and cons list of whether Trump should continue his briefings. (The first pro: “It’s a way for him to project that he’s in control of the crisis.”)Time‘s Tessa Berenson () gave a master class in how not to cover a journalistic dilemma, under the headline, “‘He’s Walking the Tightrope.’ How Donald Trump Is Getting Out His Message on Coronavirus.” Berenson wrote that the briefings, which she acknowledged “have become his new rallies,” appear to have given Trump a polling boost.She explained: “Some experts say that’s because Trump has found the right balance between the competing demands of the public health crisis and a spiraling economy.” Which experts, exactly? Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who told Berenson, “He’s walking the tightrope, but so far so good.” And, later, Matt Benyon, identified as “a former communications adviser to Rick Santorum’s presidential campaigns.” Note that part of how Trump is getting out his message is by&nbsp;Time&nbsp;letting a Republican spin doctor write its headlines.CNN&nbsp;and&nbsp;MSNBC&nbsp;have seemed to settle on a policy of airing the briefings, but cutting away at times from Trump’s monologues, and to offer some after-the-fact&nbsp;. But there is no reason—other than a desire for ratings, or a&nbsp;&nbsp;understanding of what journalism is—to continue to give Trump airtime for his briefings, factchecked or not. Not every presidential utterance is inherently newsworthy; naturally the actions of the powerful have impact, but reporters can cover that impact without handing Trump the mic.As the&nbsp;Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple () pointed out, factcheckers can’t possibly keep up with unspinning all the lies and distortions Trump disgorges in his typically lengthy briefings; as&nbsp;Politifact‘s editor told Wemple, if they tried to do that, they wouldn’t be able to factcheck anything else.Yet Wemple draws from this an impossible conclusion: “The only response is to work harder.”The real response here ought to be clear: If the powerful are spreading life-threatening lies, do not freely give them a huge platform to reach more people with those lies. By offering Trump live airtime for his coronavirus briefings-cum-campaign rallies (and by covering that decision with a shrug), media repeat the same mistakes of election 2016—with even more harmful consequences.© 2021 Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our "Looks like removing crushing debt burdens for families is a political winner after all," said the Groundwork Collaborative executive director. Independent state legislative theory—a formerly fringe right-wing notion that state lawmakers alone can regulate federal elections—will be tested in the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming months. After withholding raises from unionized employees earlier this year, "Starbucks is doubling down on the illegality," said one critic. "People must be able to add their voice, without fear of retaliation, to the public debates that will determine the future direction of our country and our planet." "If this contract is presented to our members in its current form, it will not pass," said one union spokesperson. Workers want to be able "to take a sick day or vacation day without the fear of termination." Donate ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our

Sign up for our newsletter.Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.Follow us: Common Dreams will never be locked behind a paywall because we believe our journalism should remain freely available to everyone ― not just those who can afford to pay. By becoming a sustaining monthly donor today, you can help make sure our work remains free for those who aren't able to chip in. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our For weeks now, Trump has been seizing on the Covid-19 crisis gripping the nation and the world as an opportunity to snag free air time....

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Opinion | There’s No Reason to Turn Airtime Over to Trump’s Deceptive Coronavirus Campaign Rallies

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