When Trump ran in 16 and 20, it seemed the press allowed him to play them into giving him essentially unlimited free press every time he said/did anything. I was a tad dismayed to see the coverage of yesterday’s indictment. And then coverage of his speech. It sorta reminds me of the discussion regarding publishing the names of mass shooters. Wouldn’t it be preferable to go more along the line of “Florida man indicted, story on page 12.”
I think there should definitely be enough ongoing coverage to inform anyone who wishes to know that this person is the object of investigations/prosecution, but not the breathless coverage of when his plane took off and when it landed. Am I wrong in suspecting that sending in the full pack of reporters is exactly what Trump desires? Is the media generally incapable of restraining themselves?
I think the cable networks finally got it right last night. Fox carried the entirety of Trump’s post-arraignment speech. CNN cut it short. And MSNBC didn’t air it at all (live). They all know their audience and advertisers and gave them what they want.
I’m not sure what ABC, NBC, and CBS did. Anybody know?
ETA: The Washington Post says they declined to interrupt their regular entertainment programing.
NBC cut away to his remarks, at least for a little bit. I changed the channel as soon as they did (I wasn’t really watching whatever was on), and didn’t come back, so I don’t know how much of it they covered.
My other annoyance was that the local Fox affiliate kept cutting away to the Fox News programming, which was extremely biased.
I was really pissed at how much oxygen the networks and cable news shows gave him yesterday. And if I hear the word unprecedented one more time I’ll break my TV. True, a former US President has never been indicted - there aren’t that many of them - but other high level ex-government official have been, it’s practically a tradition for Illinois governors, and the heads of state of other liberal democracies have been charged with crimes after they left office.
What were the ratings on the breathless pointless commentary of every movement? If they were high, expect to see many more hours.
Wait, high? They were fantastic.
Re the thread question, it’s a big part of the 2024 election narrative, so I wouldn’t ignore it.
Are developments in the Russo-Ukrainian War a lot more consequential? Yes, although if DJT is reelected, those topics become related.
Finland joining NATO was more important than Trump’s arrest. But most American viewers and readers would feel otherwise, and the media does have to consider that in order to stay in business.
I totally agree with you about the maddening overuse of the work unprecedented regarding this situation. It’s as if everyone has forgotten former Vice President of the United States Spiro T. Agnew FFS. Having the person 2nd in line to be POTUS indicted for, and basically admit to, taking cash bribes while in office, THAT was an unprecedented situation.
As far as the cable news idiots are concerned it’s as if he never existed. (Maddow is the exception on this subject.)
What also bugs me about the nonstop “unprecedented, unprecedented, unprecedented,” is that unprecedented isn’t necessarily a bad term itself. I mean, before Obama was elected, it was unprecedented for a non-white person to be elected president. It was unprecedented for man to walk on the Moon prior to 1969. The media keeps using that word as if it’s somehow inherently bad for something to be unprecedented.
If the media wants to go after Trump, then use terms with actual negative meaning. Otherwise this would be like someone covering the 9/11 attacks complaining about how al-Qaeda used an “unprecedented” method to attack America, as if it were the method and not the terrorism itself that were the real issue.
I say assign Faux and CNN to battle it out by continuing to cover every microscopic particle of TFG’s legal woes from opposite corners, like how a dog sniffs the floor while you are cooking dinner, searching for every crumb. All other news outlets can be relieved to cover everything else going on in the world.