Is press freedom in the U.S. at risk?

IMO the press isn't immune from criticism, and I'm pretty sure that sentiment gets a 100 percent concurrence from regulars in this forum.

It's unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for the press to get ripped by the president.
But does Trump's trashing of the news media pose a threat to press freedom?

If he is allowed to select those organizations which are invited to things like press conferences. If major news and media outlets have to get their news by 'hearsay' and word of mouth from right-wing alt bloggers and such.

He has to grow a set that's all. Gees, did he think that everyone loves the POTUS?

please monitor control of individual lines.

she shall weave a quilt. listen to the quilters.

yes x 2.

No, free press is certainly not in danger.

But truth twisters are. Although, one must admit, these will always have an audience.

neci said:

she shall weave a quilt. listen to the quilters.

Click to expand...

I am. Quilter's Irish Death is in my glass.

OldJourno said:

IMO the press isn't immune from criticism, and I'm pretty sure that sentiment gets a 100 percent concurrence from regulars in this forum.

It's unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for the press to get ripped by the president.
But does Trump's trashing of the news media pose a threat to press freedom?

Click to expand...

No. It doesn't.

Freedom of press means freedom to print whatever you wish, not the right to be granted an interview or access.

The last administration with its willfull disregard for FOIA requests is a far more serious risk. Their persecution and illegal spyong on whistleblowers and members of the press was a direct threat and should have resulted in someone being jailed.

I watched and truly enjoyed Trump's news conference a few days back. It was the first time in a long time that I got the feeling it wasn't a scripted event, that he had no idea what questions were coming from what reporter.
Of course, the idea that some media outlets would cooperate with him in that game is ridiculous.
Good or bad as president, to me the guy is entertaining and funny. I'm looking forward to Tuesday's address to Congress, and also looking forward to the reception he gets at the event.
I like a lot of what Trump proposes and plans, but I'm not 100 percent sold.

Conager said:

No. It doesn't.

Freedom of press means freedom to print whatever you wish, not the right to be granted an interview or access.

The last administration with its willfull disregard for FOIA requests is a far more serious risk. Their persecution and illegal spyong on whistleblowers and members of the press was a direct threat and should have resulted in someone being jailed.

Click to expand...

I'm sure if Trump's administration seized two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for the Associated Press, it would be no big deal to the media.
A non-story.
Time to move on.
Nothing to see here.


Right.

You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.

Republicans have been telling yall about the liberal media bias for about 40 years. I guess it just took awhile for yall to get it. Like speech, the press will always be free to make shit up, but no one is obligated to listen.

If banning a section of the media from attending press conferences mean they get details wrong, or just make them up, well you can't really complain. Unless it is libel.

The press has always been biased one way or another, that will never change, I just don't read those papers that have an ethos I don't agree with.

Why did Bill O'Reilly make shit up? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

RedAllan said:

If banning a section of the media from attending press conferences mean they get details wrong, or just make them up, well you can't really complain. Unless it is libel.

The press has always been biased one way or another, that will never change, I just don't read those papers that have an ethos I don't agree with.

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Can't complain if they make up details?
If only more of my former readers were so forgiving, I wouldn't have worked so hard.

Ring
"Yo," I say. "Oh, hi boss. Just sleeping in. You like the story about city council? I thought the part about the mayor finding out about his wife's affair with the water meter reader was inspired. Source? Didn't figure I needed one since I made it up.
"Yeah, the details may be wrong but they were in executive session for a half-hour, so they really can't complain.
"See you next week."

RedAllan said:

If banning a section of the media from attending press conferences mean they get details wrong, or just make them up, well you can't really complain. Unless it is libel.

The press has always been biased one way or another, that will never change, I just don't read those papers that have an ethos I don't agree with.

Click to expand...

They weren't banned from anything. The affected media weren't in the news pool they selected for the meeting with Sean Spicer r doesn't pick, the Media picks.

The whole deal is Fake News

No one gives a damn about the Media.

Theyre corrupt, incompetent, and failing fast.

It would be interesting to know exactly how much taxpayers money will be spent to 'Spin'
The current governments agenda via (what appears to be) a hostile media pack.
The phrase 'Spin Doctor' has been associated with political posturing for many years, Trump seems to
Be his own Spin Doctor which is a refreshing tact for a politician however time will tell
How much of his ego defense strategy effects his ability to manage crisis. Fingers crossed for all
You USAers.
No matter which media wing i view from , it still makes for 'interesting' spectating.

Jamiegeo said:

It would be interesting to know exactly how much taxpayers money will be spent to 'Spin'
The current governments agenda via (what appears to be) a hostile media pack.
The phrase 'Spin Doctor' has been associated with political posturing for many years, Trump seems to
Be his own Spin Doctor which is a refreshing tact for a politician however time will tell
How much of his ego defense strategy effects his ability to manage crisis. Fingers crossed for all
You USAers.
No matter which media wing i view from , it still makes for 'interesting' spectating.

Click to expand...

Trump knows how to fuck Media at its own game, and most people hate Media.

Trump knows, as I know, that people believe advertising. If you see enough ads for corn flakes youll buy corn flakes or Hitler or whatever it is. So youll hear FAKE NEWS till you believe it.

And Trump knows how to prevent the Media from fucking him, with a fresh scandal every day. Trump dominates the news cycle.

Media can fuck Trump with facts but facts aren't in their cards.

The thing is, if all Press outlets were reporting was News, than it would be highly irrelevant how many of them are allowed to the press conference. Because all of them would technically report the same thing. They would report the facts to you, because what has been said and done on the press conference would not change a lot based on who was present. Sure, there's a thing like questions, but that's a minor thing. The politician enters the press-conference with a plan in mind, about what information he will share. It's a rare thing if someone is caught unprepared by the question - all questions and answers are prepared beforehand, and they always have a good answer or a way to wriggle around it.

The conference would stay the same regardless. And the news report whould be the same, because the facts are the same. That's not the case, and now you need to think about why. Why one and the same occurrence is reported differently by different news companies? That's because they don't report news anymore. They don't report facts to you so you could formulate your opinion. They give you an easy, often simplified outlook on things, with ready conclusions and opinions for you to consume.

And now you are angry and threatened, because you can't get a fresh dose of pre-thought opinions by the people you like watching on TV.

But doesn't it make you just a little bit wary that you don't have YOUR OWN opinion? All you have is another guy's thoughts about things, and you can nod your head apathetically and say "Hey, he's right. That's true."
Your average American citizen doesn't even THINK anymore. Doesn't try and view the problem from different sides. You just go with whatever words someone is putting into your head.

So is US freedom of speech at risk? It is. In fact, it was at risk for the last couple of decades, if you didn't notice. Press is bought and owned. Owned by people who don't care about the truth, don't care about you. They have their own agenda and they can influence the cattle through the news outlets. It's been like that since FOREVER.

OldJourno said:

IMO the press isn't immune from criticism, and I'm pretty sure that sentiment gets a 100 percent concurrence from regulars in this forum.

It's unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for the press to get ripped by the president.
But does Trump's trashing of the news media pose a threat to press freedom?

Click to expand...

No.

Not in any way, shape or form.

I see that some are taking the attack angle of, if he won't let some people in...

This is specious because it assumes that the only reporters who will ask hard questions are the ones not in the room and I do not believe this to be true.

I think that if some organizations and reporters have become so passionate about the destruction of one branch of the government to the point that they cannot be objective and polite that that branch of the government has the absolute right to protect itself and restore decorum and answer the hard questions from reporters more level-headed and dispassionate.

Conager said:

No. It doesn't.

Freedom of press means freedom to print whatever you wish, not the right to be granted an interview or access.

The last administration with its willfull disregard for FOIA requests is a far more serious risk. Their persecution and illegal spyong on whistleblowers and members of the press was a direct threat and should have resulted in someone being jailed.

Click to expand...

How quickly the #NeverTrumpPartisans forget what was done to the press under Obama, but ignored because of how beloved he was by the press, which makes this an excellent time to remind how Candy Crowley defended Obama by attacking Romney in a nationally televised debate, and that defense/attack was a naked lie. It makes Trump look smart to defend himself from reporters who will use lies to begin a national discussion about how evil the administration really is...



#HitlerTrump

OldJourno said:

I watched and truly enjoyed Trump's news conference a few days back. It was the first time in a long time that I got the feeling it wasn't a scripted event, that he had no idea what questions were coming from what reporter.
Of course, the idea that some media outlets would cooperate with him in that game is ridiculous.
Good or bad as president, to me the guy is entertaining and funny. I'm looking forward to Tuesday's address to Congress, and also looking forward to the reception he gets at the event.
I like a lot of what Trump proposes and plans, but I'm not 100 percent sold.

Click to expand...

I tend to pay less attention to Trump, or to cheerlead for him and defend him, instead I am fascinated by the Progressive Left's reactions to him, watching them damage their own brand while creating the incentive for people to rush to the Trump brand. For these big stars, with their popularity, this sort of behavior has only downsides for them as they turn off wide segments of consumers, while for Trump their is only upside because large segments of consumers were already not going to be purchasers of Trump brands, so there is only the possibility of an upside for him and his family, especially if he starts producing results for the nation economically.

SgtSpiderMan said:

You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.

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Sexism

Ms_Ann said:

Republicans have been telling yall about the liberal media bias for about 40 years. I guess it just took awhile for yall to get it. Like speech, the press will always be free to make shit up, but no one is obligated to listen.

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And for many aspects of the traditional press, people are tuning out.