After the White House Banned Jim Acosta, Should Other Journalists Boycott Its Press Briefings?

[blueseas]

Snip[/iThis one, however, was easy to get right, in part because Donald Trump the candidate had made his attitude toward the press clear, and in part because I had worked as a journalist in Russia for many years. I may have been the first journalist blacklisted by the Kremlin back in 2000, Vladimir Putin’s first year as President. The Putin Administration went on to reduce the number of regular Presidential press conferences to one a year. (Sometimes Putin will be moved to hold an additional press conference or two, and he generally takes part in a brief, carefully orchestrated press appearance after meetings with foreign leaders.) The Trump Administration began asserting its power over White House correspondents by establishing that lying was a feature of its communications with the media, then excluded cameras from some White House briefings, then discontinued the practice of daily briefings, and has finally banned a reporter from the White House.

Snip:
The Trump Administration has the media in a vise. On the one hand, most of what comes out of White House mouths is poison to the public conversation: because it’s a lie, or an expression of hate, or both. Simply reporting Trump’s lies and incendiary comments, however critically, serves to entrench his world view as a part of our shared reality. At the same time, he is the President. His Twitter pronouncements find a sympathetic audience among tens of millions of Americans. Refusing to engage with his words would mean refusing to engage with Trump voters and with the Trump Administration itself. It would mean walking away from politics altogether, which, for journalists, would be an abdication of responsibility.

[link:https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/should-the-press-boycott-the-white-house-press-briefings?

[dameatball]

1. No. They should double down on Acosta's example, ask tough questiions and refuse to be lied to.

When Trump continues to ridicule them and cancel their credentials, let the American people see what is being done to freedom of the press. Many will not care, but most will. Just my opinion.

[LakeArenal]

4. Yes. Show light on them.

[Turbineguy]

2. Then Fox News would control the news.

[skylucy]

3. Trump and his toady Sarah Huckabee Sanders would LOVE it if the legitimate press

stopped showing up to White House pressers. Then Infowars, Fox, etc. would have have more seats. I will say this though---Journalists should stand up for each other (as we saw some of yesterday). And all of them need to start pushing back HARD just as Mr. Acosta and a few others did yesterday. I also hate it when they laugh when Trump "jokingly" insults fellow journalists. CNN is doing a very good job debunking Trumps lies today. Wish they could do it in real time at the bottom of the screen as the Liar in Chief is speaking.