To think this is scary? (Trump related)

[Bestthingever]

I have just read that the White House held a press briefing yesterday and excluded major news organisations like the BBC, CNN and the New York Times. I'm sorry I don't know how to post links, maybe someone else does. These organisations have obviously run stories critical of Trump. A media which challenges and questions government is part of having a healthy democracy. The media may get it wrong sometimes and may be heavily biased and it is our responsibility as citizens to be aware of bias etc. However for the executive branch to start excluding the media outlets he doesn't like because they are unfavourable to him is scary and I'm worried the US at the top of a slippery slope. As someone said (I forget the name) 'I don't agree with what you say but I'll die for your right to say it.' Allowing opinions we don't like is a keystone of democracy.

Agreed Grumpy, though I fear that there are people on here who are trying to throw the argument off the scent of what is actually important.

I'm always amused by people's hatred of the BBC accusing it of being left wing, given the amount of coverage UKIP are given.

There is no media outlet which does not have a bias. It's just how it works - an angle, a slant. Doesn't make them the spawn of the devil just because you don't agree (well maybe a decent exceptions).

But you can't just say 'they are bias/ed' without evidence. That's just showing your own bias and ignorance. That's just pitch fork waving.

It is very important to have all voices - within the law - heard and studied. Banning or censoring is blinkering the people to one voice alone. Very very sinister. Why would someone do this? Sounds like an abuser in a relationship - distance the victim from any voice which may question or disagree with the abuser. The tap turns slowly at first and before you know it, the victim is isolated, swallowing any lies told, but eager for approval and any scrap of attention. Brainwashed.

People who are very anti one particular outlet - so they read it it believe this to be so be sure they have been told so by... another media outlet? How do you know what is true? Can if really be that black and white? No.

Why be scared of voices that disagree and debate?

I agree with your statement OhYouBadBadKitten...

You just have to watch Question Time. They fall over themselves to ensure right wing panelists get their fair share of television time.

Yes, and don't get me started on Nigel bloody Garage.

They wheel him out for an interview almost every time Brexit is mentioned. Even though he is no longer party leader, or even an MP.

Autocorrect, obvs.

So it's official that he won't attend the correspondents dinner. He's too scared. He doesn't have the speaking skills, never mind the sense of humour required. Remember the catholic charity dinner before the election where he made nasty character attacks on Hilary Clinton rather than light hearted jokes? At the time I thought he'd never cope with the Correspondents dinner. Of course this will be spun as an anti-elite move.

Not just wimping out?

Yes he's wimping out because he doesn't have the skills to perform.

It seems bizarre that people complain about news being fake or biased when they report someone's actual words and actions, with video evidence.

It seems even more bizarre to conclude that the solution is to not allow access to the actual words, and to stop the videotaping.

That's at least 5 people on this thread alone who don't think its a big deal at all.

Pig-shit stupid. Really. I dunno what else you can say.

Of course they all have a bias that's why people like one over another.

This is scary and should be given more coverage

5 different posters? Hmmmm

Daily Wail only excluded b/c of Melania's dispute with them, I imagine.

A worrying development indeed.
The Trumps are suing the Fail, bet they don't sing his praises so much now.

Just shows, people love dictators, they stop all that disturbing news and opposition.

Why would they bother taking guns? Much easier to raise tensions between groups so that they shoot each other, and if the French Fries are really down they have tanks and planes FGS.

I think there are people who crave dictatorship. It makes them feel secure. I mean, look at Russia and Putin. The same thing is now happening elsewhere.Part of it is to do with the consequences of globalisation and the large numbers of people who have seen no benefit to themselves, only detriment, and in that sense this trend is the responsibility of collective governments the world over for ignoring a swathe of their electorate. That doesn't make it less scary though. DH is American, a large chunk of his family are Trump followers. They think this is all great. We won't be going to the US any time soon.

I post on an exJehovah's Witness forum. It's supported from a worldwide pool of contributors.

I was a JW for 32yrs. I asked the question:-

"How can people who have been witnesses not apply the same lateral thinking that woke them up to the cult and every thing that was just wrong about what our former leaders were feeding us to respecting an idiot and the position of POTUS"?

I got a barrage of abuse from the American posters. Unbelievable much.

Those saying 'oh come on he's not a dictator/as bad as hitler/Stalin/Kim Jong il do you really think those people STARTED at their worst? Of course not! As a pp said, like an abuser in a 1-1 situation it starts small, subtle, insidious so that people don't realise what's happening or at least not everyone. I lived in Germany for a few years and knew Germans who'd lived in east Germany before reunification who had in their families people who remembered why hitler was popular and liked initially, why communism was initially believed to be an antidote to fascism and who remembered the dictatorships started small and slow.

Slowly boiling frog syndrome

So now I see the Daily Fail is on the banned list. Well, well, that'll teach them. (Daily Fail) hopefully.
Hahaha- is Pierce Morgan around??

#45 will turn on anyone who doesn't treat him like a semi-god. And that is a First World dictator. Who knew we'd get one in America

The Daily Mail is more than likely about their allegations about Melania.

"The Daily Mail isn't owned by Murdoch."
My mistake, I thought that it was. Teach me not to double-check my facts at 2 in the morning.

Surely the real investigative work isn't done by those in the press pool who turn up to hear the days message from a president. it's like the press briefings in war zones. fodder for lazy journos but the good ones are elsewhere digging. so in itself this won't hamper journalism - it will probably encourage it.