Washington Post Publishes Call for End to Live Broadcasts of Trump’s Coronavirus Briefings
As Four New Polls Show Majority Approval for President’s Handling of Crisis
If you can’t beat him, censor him. The growing call within the journalism community to stop live broadcasts of President Trump’s daily COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus briefings got a major boost Saturday with the publication of a column by the Washington Post’s media columnist Margaret Sullivan. Prior to her joining the Post in 2016, Sullivan was the Public Editor for the New York Times from 2012 to 2016.
Grandstanding NBC News White House reporter Peter Alexander reacts as President Trump excoriates him for asking if he was giving Americans false hope and then followed up by asking Trump if had a message for scared Americans during a coronavirus task force briefing, March 20, screen image.
The calls to censor Trump are coming as four polls released late this week show a majority of American approve his handling of the coronavirus.
ABC News/ Ipsos: 53 percent approval. Harris Poll: 53 percent approval. Morning Consult: 53 percent approval. Survey USA: 51 percent approval.
Among other rationales to censor the President, Sullivan claims Trump is using the press briefings as a substitute for his campaign rallies.
The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings. My column https://t.co/nIs5L051zq
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 21, 2020
Post headline and excerpt:
The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings
More and more each day, President Trump is using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the novel coronavirus.
These White House sessions — ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis — are in fact working against that end.