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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMedia Stars Agree to Off-the-Record Meeting With Trump, Break Agreement, Whine About Mistreatment
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/22/media-stars-agree-to-off-the-record-meeting-with-trump-break-agreement-whine-about-mistreatment/Glenn Greenwald
November 22 2016, 7:26 a.m.
A GLITTERING ARRAY of media stars and network executives made pilgrimage on Monday to the 25th floor of Trump Tower to meet with the president-elect. They all agreed that the discussions would be off the record: meaning they would conceal from their viewers what they discussed. Shortly after the meeting ended, several of the stars violated the agreement they made, running to the New York Post and David Remnick of the New Yorker to whine about Trumps mean behavior. The participants all shook Trumps hand at the start of the session and congratulated him, Remnick reported, but things went south from there. Its difficult to identify the shabbiest and sorriest aspect of this spectacle, but lets nonetheless try, as it sheds important light on our nations beloved media corps and their posture heading into a Trump presidency.
To begin with, why would journalistic organizations agree to keep their meeting with Donald Trump off the record? If youre a journalist, what is the point of speaking with a powerful politician if you agree in advance that its all going to be kept secret? Do they not care what appearance this creates: the most powerful media organizations meeting high atop Trump Tower with the countrys most powerful political official, with everyone agreeing to keep it all a big secret from the public? Whether or not it actually is collusion, whether or not it actually is subservient ring-kissing in exchange for access, it certainly appears to be that. As the Huffington Posts Michael Calderone put it: By agreeing to such conditions, journalists expected to deliver the news to the public must withhold details of a newsworthy meeting with the president-elect.
The pretext these media stars offer for such meetings is unpersuasive in the extreme. Oh, we need, they claim, to negotiate access and how were going to work together, and this discussion can be productive only if everyone is confident that it wont be reported. But why do media organizations need to have cooperative access agreements with politicians? Just report on and investigate what he says and does. Dont agree to ground rules that limit or subvert your ability to report aggressively. Dont turn yourselves into vassals in order to be granted access to the royal court.
More to the point, nobody really believes that a discussion that takes place in a room filled with a couple dozen TV stars and their media bosses is going to be kept private, so the off-the-record agreement does not actually foster candor. Its instead designed to achieve nothing other than creating a cozy atmosphere where just as they do at the sleazy, Versailles-like White House Correspondents Dinner and on so many other occasions media stars get to feel like theyre colleagues and friends with the president rather than his adversaries.
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flamingdem
(39,319 posts)Breitbart will be the only one allowed into press conferences .. and RT of course
nolabear
(41,991 posts)Lock her up? Not so much. The snake is a snake.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)6 hrs ago:
Donald Trump says he canceled Tuesday meeting with New York Times 'when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment' - @realDonaldTrump
5 hours ago:
New York Times says paper was unaware meeting with Donald Trump was canceled until Trump tweeted Tuesday morning; says paper did not change ground rules of meeting - @cliffordlevy
3 hrs ago:
Donald Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks confirms meeting with New York Times is back on, says 'the meeting is taking place as planned' -
3 hours ago:
New York Times confirms meeting with Donald Trump is back on; New York Times confirms meeting with Donald Trump is back on;
Trump will meet with publish in off-the-record session,
journalists and columnists will meet president-elect in on-the-record session -
32 minutes ago:
Trump is set to meet with the Times' publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, in an off-the-record session beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Following that meeting, Times journalists and editorial columnists will meet with the president-elect for a longer, on-the-record session.
Source for all above is Breaking News.com
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)All this secretive crap will come crashing down when the so called Talent's ratings hit the crapper. Wow,so called Liberal Press Eh.
Skinner
(63,645 posts)I'm shocked.