April 6, 2020 (American Thinker) — Last Sunday, we wrote that media coverage shows that the media are setting themselves up as the absolute standard for what is factual and correct in an age of coronavirus. They're doing this despite the incredible rapidity with which information changes in this coronavirus era. Moreover, their hatred of Trump is so overwhelming that they're discounting everything he says, even though he is relying on input from the nation's top scientists and doctors — and regularly allows those scientists and doctors to speak at his press conferences.
We went on to note the supreme irony behind this attitude, which is that people in the media are often spectacularly uninformed and suffer badly from innumeracy. Ben Rhodes, whom White House insiders described as “the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself,” had a clear-eyed view of the American media: “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That's a sea change. They literally know nothing.” It is these know-nothings who set themselves above the president and the scientific community.
At least that's what we argued. Had we waited a day, we wouldn't have had to make that argument, because Vox made it for us:
Trump is bragging on Twitter about his coronavirus briefings getting lots of viewers: Increasingly, members of the media are concerned this large audience is being given dangerous, incorrect information.
The man who wrote this article, Zeeshan Aleem, has never done any work other than journalism. It's all he knows.
In the article, Aleem reports with tremendous concern the fact that Trump's pride in his press conferences has MSNBC and CNN columnists and staffers horrified:
But while Trump is framing the debate about whether his briefings should be broadcast live as stemming from envy or political ambition in the liberal press, in reality the arguments from columnists and staffers at CNN and MSNBC have centered on Trump showering the public with dangerous misinformation and spreading false narratives about the state of the coronavirus pandemic.
Aleem acknowledges that Trump's press conferences include information from his exceptionally well qualified task force:
During these briefings it's not just Trump who speaks, but his coronavirus task force, which includes top public health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the widely respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Deborah Birx, a physician noted for her work combating HIV/AIDS and the White House's coronavirus response coordinator.
Nevertheless, the mere fact that Trump is pleased that the briefings are reaching the American people and improving his stand with them is itself cause for concern — at least if you're a mainstream media type:
It's precisely the critical importance of conveying accurate information in a time of crisis that has spurred many political analysts and members of the press to argue that it's dangerous to present Trump's words to the public through live broadcasts. Trump has made dozens of false claims during the briefings, including overstating the potential of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, and falsely saying that anyone who wants to be tested for coronavirus infections can get one.
There are two errors in the above paragraph. First, Trump did not overstate hydroxychloroquine's potential. That's a media lie. He said only that he was very hopeful that it would work. Second, his hopes were correct, at least based upon the most recent study. As for Trump's statement about tests being available, even the AP admitted that the problem was with the CDC, not with Trump, whose mistake seems to have been that he relied upon the CDC's representations.
In other words, the problem isn't Trump; it's the media, and, at least initially, it was also the bureaucracy upon which Trump was relying.
Even Aleem seems to recognize that the media's concerns about Trump's briefings have more to do with horror at his success in bypassing their hostility and arrogance than with any concern for the public well-being. That's why his last paragraph has about it an air of “the lady doth protest too much, methinks”:
When prominent members of the media and news anchors like MSNBC host Rachel Maddow have argued against television networks broadcasting Trump's briefings, it's not been because they're upset that someone they oppose politically is getting a lot of attention. It's that the politician involved is exploiting that attention for political gain and hurting the public with falsehoods.
The correct response to all of these arrogant, ideologically driven media hacks is simple: who the hell do you think you are to censor the American president when he's talking to the American people?
Published with permission from the American Thinker.