'This is not normal': Kurt Eichenwald blasts reporters for being afraid of questioning Trump

[DonViejo]

Newsweek reporter Kurt Eichenwald on Saturday said journalists needed to “grow a backbone” to deal with President-elect Donald Trump.

MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart asked Eichenwald how the media should deal with Trump’s “mixed messaging” in regards to his charity.

“The first thing we need to do is face reality,” Eichenwald replied. “If Eric Trump is so upset, write a check. We’ve got to stop acting like everything that happens to this guy when they complain about how difficult it is, if they want to give to charity, give to charity. They can write the money themselves, they don’t need to raise it from us.”

“Secondly, and this is the most important, we have a president-elect who has been treated completely differently from anybody else,” he continued. “The press has unfortunately gotten into this thing where they’re afraid of propaganda outlets like Fox News coming in and calling them biased. There is no bias here. We have got to grow a backbone. We have got to demand press conferences. We have got to stop covering his tweets like they’re news.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/this-is-not-normal-kurt-eichenwald-blasts-reporters-for-being-afraid-of-questioning-trump/

[Cha]

1. "We have got to demand press conferences. We have got to stop covering his tweets like theyre news"

Brawaaaa .. what if no one covered trump tweets? lol

[malaise]

2. One of my nephews is so pissed that M$Greedia is respoding o his

tweets.

[Mc Mike]

3. Kurt's a good man. And he's right.

Media should mercilessly critique him, write completely anti-dRumpf stories, widely pan him, until he waves the white flag and acts like a normal American prez and gives press conferences.

Force him to be accountable to the American public.

[DK504]

30. They are more afraid of losing their jobs

from the 4 corporations that own all the media in the country. Their bosses are adamant about hiding the truth from Americans that will make them loose one damn penny in profits rather than being what they are supposed to be, reporters and the dissemination news .

[Mc Mike]

49. Agree about the oligopoly "owning" the media.

The public supposedly owns the airwaves, but we won't get action from any gov oversight that involves the repug party appointing some of the overseers.

I wrote to the NYT in the Clark Hoyt era, (when they were giving credibility to pimpy O'Keefe and his ACORN "scandal" investigation). Told them that they were cutting their own throats, by reporting the right wing view, for "balance" or to get a bigger # of conservative customers. Because those people hate any reality based reporting. Righties will always opt for the NY Post and the Washington Times over the NY Times and the Washington Post. So trying to do things in a way that is more to the righties' liking is insane, because the righties want the NY T gone.

We can vote via boycott, vote with our feet and purchases, the reduced # of consumers means less ad revenue. The media managers know that, it affects their bottom line.

[dionysus]

36. And why would the RW owned media... do that? Its not like they work for us...

[Mc Mike]

50. Agree about the media ownership.

There are good journos on tv and in the press, but the top people serve the owners.

I guess the fight has to play out in the organizational structure, where good reporters sway their editors and producers, who then have to push back against the top managers, show those managers that big money and the right want reality based media dead.

We can support the good ones through citizen customer feedback thanking the media outlets for good work, negative feedback and boycotts to punish the bad ones for bad reporting decisions. PEN is a good org, and there are a lot of good media outlets that aren't mass media, like Dem Now!, the Nation. We can nudge the vacillating larger media into more respectable reality based reporting.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. It would be instructive for everyone to read up on John Peter Zenger.

A freedom of the press case that happened more than 40 years before our Revolution.

When I learned about it in junior high school, the teacher said that it was the foundation of our First Amendment.

[still_one]

8. For those interested in what you are referring to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peter_Zenger

[beveeheart]

13. I just got a library book about him

and the 1st Amendment.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. What's the name of that book?

I'd love it if my library has it.

[beveeheart]

32. Indelible Ink

The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press by Richard Kluger, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ashes to Ashes ("a searing history of the cigarette industry&quot .

...when the British began colonizing the New World, strict censorship was the iron rule of the realm; any words, true or false, that were thought to disparage the government were judged as a criminally subversive-and duly punishable-threat to law and order.

Jailed for the better part of a year, Zenger faced a jury on August 4,1735, in a proceeding matched in importance during the colonial period only by the Salem Witch Trials.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

48. Thank you!

The two copies my library has are both checked out. I've put it on hold.

[still_one]

5. I am sure it had nothing to do with trump having a secret meeting with them and chewing them out

because he didn't like how he was being portrayed

Nope, nothing to see here

[Willie Pep]

6. Members of the press are also afraid of Trump's insane followers.

All Trump has to do is tweet that so-and-so reporter was mean and "very unfair" to him and they will be getting death threats within 24 hours. I am not trying to make excuses for reporters having no backbone but I suspect that is one reason why the press is handling Trump with kid gloves. Another is, of course, the false equivalence issue and news outlets being afraid of being called the "liberal media." Conservatives think everyone who disagrees with them is a an evil liberal shill controlled by George Soros and the secret communist underground so why bother trying to appease them?

[ffr]

18. Which totally blows Clinton's political ties meme to pieces.

They're not afraid of her, because they have nothing to be afraid of, unlike what we're being told from RW airings and Fox Entertainment.

[awoke_in_2003]

26. The press

has received death threats in the past- you think Nixon's people didn't threaten W&B? The press used to have a spine- time to regrow it.

[smirkymonkey]

7. K&R

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Remember this,the Media created and

protected Trump from the get go. You will not see anyone of the so called Million Dollar Club on air Talent challenge the Trump Crime Circle of Friends. This whole elections was a Corporate Coup of our Nation. Once they get their Grocery List filled by their lackey's,then and only then will any Media take a glimpse .

[anneboleyn]

29. Seriously. His cabinet appts are just obscene -- yet the media continues idiotically giggling over

every word the idiot utters/tweets. It is just disgusting to see every member of the press so terrified and so WEAK -- so toothless when dealing an obvious charlatan and bully. The sudden Russia worship of the right has been just unbelievable (the so-called party of Reagan mindlessly supporting a guy who clearly has money ties to Russia AND constantly tweets affectionate messages about Putin?). And obviously the obscene abuse that his minions (or Russian trolls -- who the hell knows) on Twitter inflict on any reporter who dares to ask King Trump a question is scary (and deeply unamerican despite their constant yelping about 'Murica).

Trump's blatant, grotesque treatment of the press should scare anyone who thinks he will in any way be accountable for what he plans to do in office. The media has been covering his cabinet appts (literally the worst qualified and most inappropriate and antagonistic appointments ever) like giggling schoolgirls, hanging on every scrap that Trump throws them when he opens the door of one of his various bunkers.

[Wellstone ruled]

33. What is scary,

The Stock Market is about to implode,we just had a technical run up in the last two months. 1.1trillion in ten year bonds money rotated into stocks because of poor interest earnings,it was not a Trump rally,but the media gave the Slug credit. And this rally hit the wall yesterday,next week we start the Implosion. All those Trump Voters who believe his Bull Shit will wonder why when they get their April and May 401 tickets. But,it was probably Obama's failed Economic Policies that created it.

[iluvtennis]

38. +1000 nt

[world wide wally]

10. If we had a free press, we'd have a free country

[bucolic_frolic]

11. 'Which legislation policy will Vlady be writing?'

the loosest of lips might tell us

[calimary]

12. Check out Jay Rosen! NYU journalism professor.

He was on with Lawrence O'Donnell a couple of nights ago, talking about how the media needs new tools, when covering this next regime.

He spoke about the trump & comp's preferred technique of "fomenting confusion as a strategy.

He urged journalists to STOP CHASING ACCESS!!!! Because it's not gonna help, and it will even cause more problems, because if you whore yourself for access (my words, not his), then you're apt to be hand-fed distraction and bullshit and ulterior motives galore. Access will lead you straight down the garden path and over a cliff. Deliberate deceit, redirection, distraction, they'll tell you what they want you to believe, while they're up to something completely different and don't want you on their trail.

He urged assignment editors to send the interns to the briefing room, and send the experienced reporters OUTSIDE, to develop other sources than the "party/company line" that will be issued from the mouthpiece-of-record.

He urged reporters to start working from outside in, NOT the other way around. Go to the periphery. Go to what he called "the rim of government," the civil servants, the low-guy-on-the-totem-pole, NOT the big name with the big job at the top of the ziggurat with whom you wish to rub elbows at the next fancy Georgetown cocktail party. If you want to report on foreign policy, get your info from foreign governments, NOT ours! Because the people supposedly on our side have their own agenda and won't tell you the truth. They'll only tell you what they want you to know, and preferably try to mislead you so you run off chasing the shiny object and won't notice what they're really up to.

Jay Rosen is my new hero! Check out his stuff here: http://pressthink.org

[Dustlawyer]

19. They keep chasing the latest thing tweeted or said,

and issues like his failure to divest just disappear. It's like our media can only discuss one story at a time!

Trump said that we knew he had all of his business interests while he was campaigning so it shouldn't be a problem. The media did not respond with, "You knew of the conflicts law and ran anyway." IT is all thoroughly disgusting and corrupt!

[Ilsa]

27. Problem is, the network reporters are told what to do, I think.

I don't think they are given much length on the chain to pursue real stories. I think they are given marching orders about tone, or their access will be cut off. No access, no job.

[calimary]

43. I get that.

(MAN do I get that...)

A lot of them are told what to go after, and what you damn well better not come back without.

It's just such a rat's nest. You have Les Moonves of CBS Inc. actually confessing that this election year was "bad for the country but GREAT for CBS!" Yeah, okay, we know. Ratings and revenue. Yeah. we get it. trump makes people stick to their information devices like gum (or toilet paper!) to your shoe.

I think what Jay Rosen was doing the other night on Lawrence O'Donnell's show was attempting not only to talk to his fellow journalists, but also to talk over their heads to their bosses, assignment editors, producers, and department heads. Message: YOU NEED SOME NEW RULES. Because you can't keep covering this shit the way you're used to doing. This guy trump doesn't play by the rules. And everybody around him gets that. He's big into psy-ops, mind-fucking, bait 'n' switch, throwing out all kinds of diversionary tactics and distractions and smokescreens, and sowing confusion and disinformation and flat-out lies in every direction, multiple times in any given minute. He's a salesman! And this is schtick. And as long as you use the old habits with this dude, you're GONNA get rolled. Every time. And then you'll do all your shows where you all sit on panels with each other, talking to and past each other trying to figure out what went wrong and how this could happen and how did we get here?

I heard some female talking head from one of the other news outlets this morning saying (I'm paraphrasing here) "we've gotta start getting used to using the 'L-word.' We have to start calling it a lie when trump lies. He lies and we have to be ready to say that."

HAH!!! Gee, ya THINK????

[Ilsa]

44. Thanks for all of the info. It's a great thread. NT

[iluvtennis]

39. Thanks for info on Rosen...like his thinking on media nt

[RKP5637]

52. This works if the reporters are free from their controllers and do not have to fear losing

their jobs, because most MSM organizations are RW operations.

This, would be an excellent approach, reporting from outside in. Today's media is disgusting, they are like children going to daddy asking questions. Most are note takers rather than reporters!!! ... investigative reporting is woefully lacking.

[uponit7771]

14. Yeap, saw this ... then the rest of them gave the "Trump supporters don't care" punk ass'd

... answer

[TxDemChem]

15. They had some great panel discussions this morning

I just hope other journalists and news organizations join and stop being a willing participant in spreading Cheeto McTiny-Hands's bs.

[lancelyons]

16. The medias reputation is taking a big hit and they dont seem to understand this.

WIth the fake news and Trump hammering them, they are gun shy and feel they need to cover GOP more favorably.

[MarianJack]

17. And we should be surprised after...

...a year and a half of MSM unquestioning and complete fawning over Donald Rump? PLEASE!

PEACE!

[TygrBright]

20. Snowball's chance in hell of it changing, though. n/t

[msongs]

21. trump's tweets are treated like news on DU. is eichenwald a DUer? nt

[BumRushDaShow]

23. "We have got to stop covering his tweets like theyre news.

SPOT ON.

If he refuses to do a press conference, then don't report on him at all. There is plenty of other important and substantive news going on in the nation and the world.

[northoftheborder]

25. Totally agree, and I've stated this before here.

[Raine]

41. Yes, exactly. I'm sick to death of his tweets being covered as if

they were anything other than the ravings of a lunatic.

[Hekate]

24. KnR

[bucolic_frolic]

28. If they don't find a spine

the suppression of free speech will only get worse

[Justice]

31. Cable news supported Trump because he brought them ratings and $$$.

We have to take away the ratings and the $$ -- then won't support him as much.

[barbtries]

34. yep.

turn off cable news. DU is a terrific source of great and accurate news. anything worthwhile that you missed on tv will show up here or on youtube.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

35. Really! This is a case of

"The Emperor has no clothes" come to life! The media should be throwing him fastballs until he proves he can hit. And we all know he CAN'T hit..........

[iluvtennis]

37. Amen Kurt. You're correct nt

[Duppers]

40. K & R

Sounding more and more like pre-WWll Germany!

[DallasNE]

42. We Saw The Same Thing In The Early 1950's

Back then we called it McCarthyism. It featured cowardly reporters then too. Same playbook.

[triron]

45. kick for visibility

[mahina]

46. Every time I hear the words 'trump' and 'tweet' or 'twitter' I turn of the radio, shut off the tv or

Put down the paper.

I'm telling the media I won't listen to any of it unless there's a press conference.

Twitter should shut his ass down.

[Beartracks]

47. Just cuz Fox/Trump says you're biased, doesn't mean you are.

That's some basic guidance you reporters need to remember.

You're we!come!



==============

[no_hypocrisy]

51. Two nights ago/Friday, CNN covered Trump's tweet about Putin doing nothing.

It's devolved to where there is reporting on no action, no news. Just free association attached to a keyboard.

[Portland_Anni]

53. There is going to be a showdown eventually about this.

Trump's intolerance for a free and healthy news media is intolerable in a free society.