PULLING THE PLUG

There was no Presidential briefing on the coronavirus Saturday or Sunday. The White House used to offer a daily briefing by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The press was rude and obstructive. They routinely took everything she said out of context and called her a liar. Sound familiar? One day there was no White House daily briefing at all. They never came back.

The Trump briefings are drawing huge ratings. Not because of Jim Acosta or Jonathan Karl, but people would rather tune in to see Donald Trump. Last Friday, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins was scheduled to be in the front row at the daily briefing. Trump, obviously sick and tired of CNN reporters interrupting him from the front of the room tried to get her to switch places with another reporter. She arrogantly said no. Reporters’ seats are assigned in advance through the White House Correspondents Associations (“WHCA”) who ALWAYS gives front row assignments to major networks like CNN. Would it surprise you to know that Jonathan Karl is the president of the WHCA? The WHCA believes they and they alone determine who gets to ask the President questions. Trump cut the briefing short after 22 minutes and refused to take any questions from anyone.

The WHCA needs the President, but he does not need them. Have we forgotten when there was a time when the only way to quickly deliver information to the American people was through the mainstream media (MSM), including newspapers like the New York Times (“NYT”) and the Washington Post (“WP”); and prime time networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and at one time CNN? Those days are lost to history.

In 1976, 72% of people trusted the MSM. But, by 1999 it had dropped to 55%; and further still to a mere 32% in 2016. Only in 2019 did it rebound to 41%. But who (i.e. source) you trust is far more partisan than it was in 1976. While 69% of Democrats still trust the mainstream media, only 15% of Republicans and 36% of independents trust it. The low trust level of Republicans is due, in part, to their attentiveness to perceive bias, inaccuracy and misinformation in newspapers, on television and on radio.

Democrats assume that Republicans ignore the bias on Fox News and believe everything without any fact checking. The opposite is clearly true. It is Democrats who refuse to see bias, inaccuracy and misinformation. The more the MSM slams Donald Trump, the more Democrats believe them, hook line, and sinker. Democrats trust everything reported by six national news sources, but they don’t trust Fox News. Republicans don’t trust those same news sources at all and while they trust Fox News more than the others, they are skeptical about all news organizations.

I thought Trump might just cancel the press briefings. But that would have given the WHCA an undeserved victory. Instead, Trump held a press conference yesterday, in the Rose Garden. He also had a press conference today, in the Oval Office. In the Rose Garden the front row was filled with honored guests. The WHCA reporters, as a result, were a long distance away from the President. Social distancing at its best. In the Oval office, there is only room for a couple of reporters and cameras. Most of the WHCA watched this remotely on television. Trump has obviously figured out a communication risk mitigation strategy by changing the audience. The WHCA needs the White House briefing room but Trump does not. The WHCA must report it whenever the President speaks, not from where it is delivered. Trump just made it much more difficult for them to be rude and disruptive. The usual suspects will still try (some things never change) but Trump is clearly in control of the narrative.

The WHCA has been given a vital lesson regarding who is actually in-charge of things and who is not. Truly an adjustment to their perception lens. The WHCA failed to recognize their access to the briefing room, and the President, is a privilege not a right.  While the WHCA can make rules about seating arrangements in the briefing room, but they cannot force the only person who matters, President Donald J. Trump, to attend. The WHCA has two choices here. They can reach out to the Trump administration and work with him for a more neutral environment, or they can spend more time practicing the fine art  of social distancing in the Rose Garden. It’s a beautiful thing.

TDM