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Snake Plissken

(4,103 posts)
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 07:58 AM Jun 2019

I still don't understand, why Trump's tweets are considered news, when almost all of them turn out


to be completely meaningless distractions

I wish the media would go back to reporting news instead of chasing Trump's laser pointer around.
12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I still don't understand, why Trump's tweets are considered news, when almost all of them turn out (Original Post) Snake Plissken Jun 2019 OP
I wish trump stopped getting so much media attention. Ilsa Jun 2019 #1
Exactly. rownesheck Jun 2019 #2
+1000 smirkymonkey Jun 2019 #3
Bread and circuses. nt tblue37 Jun 2019 #9
They are officially government documents and will be archived as such karynnj Jun 2019 #4
This. Trump's POTUS and the most powerful person in the world. Hortensis Jun 2019 #6
Anyone who is interested in following the manufactured drama on his twitter feed is free to do so Snake Plissken Jun 2019 #7
We're heading fast for war with Iran. Iran is threatening, Hortensis Jun 2019 #8
+1,000 malaise Jun 2019 #5
What the President does is news. SouthernProgressive Jun 2019 #10
If Trump was playing video games instead of trolling on Twitter Snake Plissken Jun 2019 #11
Yes, if the President is spending his days playing video games or farting out broadway tunes... SouthernProgressive Jun 2019 #12

rownesheck

(2,343 posts)
2. Exactly.
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 08:54 AM
Jun 2019

I mean, what the fuck do they report?! There are never any policy proposals, just demented, deranged unreadable piles of horseshit. Unless they say, "trump vomited again and it turns out he's still a racist fuckhole flailing about in the throes of dementia. He needs to be impeached. Here's Todd with the weather." There's absolutely nothing else they can say. I hate what passes as news in this fucking country.

karynnj

(59,475 posts)
4. They are officially government documents and will be archived as such
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 10:24 AM
Jun 2019

That does mean they are news, but not all news gets much coverage. In a normal Presidency, minor policy is routinely put out via statements,that will be on the appropriate .gov site. They get coverage to the degree that they interest any part of the media.

Here, because on many things the President has the power to make - change - his administration's policy, a tweet IS news worthy because it COULD lead to a change in that direction. Covering it in many cases leads to enough negative flack that, even if his advisors agreed, they might back track.

On today's migrant arrests, this might actually be something his team was looking into, planning, or deciding how to do it. Various people on TV are also saying that the tweet as is is essentially designed to terrorize a large group of people. Thus, reporting the tweet is a difficult decision. Not reporting it might - in retrospect - by seen as hiding something where reaction could impact whether it happens. However, reporting it could be seen as intentionally terrorizing millions of people.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
6. This. Trump's POTUS and the most powerful person in the world.
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 10:30 AM
Jun 2019

What he says, no matter how stupid, is always news. Would we really want him operating in sinister silence? Even the most ardent of his supporters know his tweets hurt him and endanger their control of government, and they've been wanting him to STFU for a long time.

And, importantly to this OP, legitimate news organizations been trying for a long time now to report without overpublicizing the distractions he's constantly trying to create. There've been years now of conferences, meetings, studies, streams of industry articles, etc., all examining various ways journalism can and should serve its functions under Trump while avoiding being used.

Snake Plissken

(4,103 posts)
7. Anyone who is interested in following the manufactured drama on his twitter feed is free to do so
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 01:44 PM
Jun 2019

but it is definitely not newsworthy, it's just sophomoric trolling, that is not even entertaining.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
8. We're heading fast for war with Iran. Iran is threatening,
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 04:27 PM
Jun 2019

among other things, to abandon the nuclear agreement. Many people will die if there is war now, and what might happen in future if a state long engaged in proxy religious war gets the nuclear bomb?

This is only ONE nation of many, including huge troublemaking in our own.

And you see Trump's bloviating as not newsworthy? Snake, it's ALL news, even the most stupid tweets obviously meant to be diversionary. He accidentally reveals a lot through them, and current leaders and historians are documenting every single one.

 

SouthernProgressive

(1,810 posts)
10. What the President does is news.
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 04:40 PM
Jun 2019

Just as much if they are "meaningless distractions." Some along those lines are even very important news.

Snake Plissken

(4,103 posts)
11. If Trump was playing video games instead of trolling on Twitter
Tue Jun 18, 2019, 06:31 PM
Jun 2019

Should the media dedicate it's entire focus on that too?

Or how about if he had a webcam feed of him farting out Broadway show tunes with his armpit, should be media be only covering that too?

Or are we just supposed to believe that his trolling on the internet is somehow more newsworthy than either of those?

 

SouthernProgressive

(1,810 posts)
12. Yes, if the President is spending his days playing video games or farting out broadway tunes...
Wed Jun 19, 2019, 09:10 AM
Jun 2019

That's pretty big news we should know about.

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