Trump’s denial of his coronavirus failings will be “one of the biggest propaganda battles in American history”

[homersapien 11,812]

 

Americans are scared and confused about how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s only going to get worse, journalism critic Jay Rosen explains.

Americans don’t trust the government, and they don’t trust the media. That trend has been evident for years, but the Trump era has accelerated it.

Now we can see the worst-case scenario that trend could create, playing out in front of our eyes: Confronted with a paralyzing coronavirus pandemic, there’s deep confusion about the steps the country should be taking to respond.

Don’t expect it to get better, says journalism critic Jay Rosen. That’s in large part because the Trump administration uses confusion as one of its primary political tools. Right now, it is employing it to create cover for the president, who wants to argue that he shouldn’t be blamed for a litany of missteps as the virus moved from China to the US and exploded across the country.

The fight to keep Americans from understanding what happened from December to March is going to be one of the biggest propaganda battles in American history” The Republican Party and the Trump campaign and the MAGA coalition are going to have to produce confusion and doubt on a scale that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”

That conflict is unfolding in plain sight: The point of that weird campaign video Trump rolled out at a White House press conference this week was to recast himself as bold and decisive in the face of the pandemic — as opposed to convincing reports in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets emerging recently that portray him and his administration as dithering and confused, and slow to make crucial decisions like telling the country to start socially distancing.

It’s an extension of the challenge Trump has posed to journalists from the start of his administration, when he ordered his then-press secretary, Sean Spicer, to tell the press that his inauguration had an enormous audience instead of a paltry one. Or, in Trump’s words, delivered to a group of veterans in 2018: “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”

Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University, has been meeting up with me once a year to discuss the challenges the Trump administration poses for the media. This year, instead of a podcast, we chatted via Skype, and I’m presenting edited excerpts of that conversation below......

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/4/16/21223640/trump-denial-coronavirus-covid-19-failings-propaganda-battles-media-coverage

 

[Grumps 3,706]

So is it a good thing or a bad thing that Trump has made more people distrust the media?

[homersapien 11,812]

1 hour ago, Grumps said:

So is it a good thing or a bad thing that Trump has made more people distrust the media?

Thanks to the internet and explosion of cable TV, people are correct to distrust the "media".

It's his efforts to minimize or dismiss the truth as revealed by a free "press" that's damaging. (See the constitution.)

[Grumps 3,706]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

Thanks to the internet and explosion of cable TV, people are correct to distrust the "media".

It's his efforts to minimize or dismiss the truth as revealed by a free "press" that's damaging. (See the constitution.)

I agree that the constitution addresses a person's and the press's right to speak/print. How is Trump denying freedom of the press?

[homersapien 11,812]

29 minutes ago, Grumps said:

I agree that the constitution addresses a person's and the press's right to speak/print. How is Trump denying freedom of the press?

I didn't say he was "denying" freedom of the press, although there are many examples of him arbitrarily excluding certain news organizations from press conferences and other functions which arguably demonstrates that.  (Search "Trump bans reporters" for examples.)

Trump clearly has total contempt and a lack of respect for the press's key role in our democracy.  He demonstrates it constantly by his uncivil ad hominem attacks on professional reporters for simply doing their job by asking highly relevant questions.  (Search "Trump attacks reporters" for examples.)

It's damaging our democracy.

[Grumps 3,706]

1 minute ago, homersapien said:

I didn't say he was "denying" freedom of the press, although there are many examples of him arbitrarily excluding certain news organizations from press conferences and other functions which arguably demonstrates that.  (Search "Trump bans reporters" for examples.)

Trump clearly has total contempt and a lack of respect for the press's key role in our democracy.  He demonstrates it constantly by his uncivil ad hominem attacks on professional reporters for simply doing their job by asking highly relevant questions.  (Search "Trump attacks reporters" for examples.)

It's damaging our democracy.

You are incredibly biased. You know that freedom of the press does not imply that anyone who claims to be a reporter should have full access to the POTUS. The reporter who was banned has every right to print whatever he/she wants to print, but doesn't have the right to attend every meeting he/she wants to attend.

 Should POTUS be denied his free speech when responding to a question he deems to be improper? I don't think you believe that either.

[homersapien 11,812]

19 minutes ago, Grumps said:

You are incredibly biased. You know that freedom of the press does not imply that anyone who claims to be a reporter should have full access to the POTUS. The reporter who was banned has every right to print whatever he/she wants to print, but doesn't have the right to attend every meeting he/she wants to attend.

 Should POTUS be denied his free speech when responding to a question he deems to be improper? I don't think you believe that either.

BS.  I have provided you examples of how Trump has continually strived to diminish the role of a "free press" in our society. Arbitrarily banning reporters on the basis of that Trump feels they are too critical is one of those ways.

And your last question is completely disingenuous. What a irrelevant, BS thing to say.

As far as I am concerned, the more Trump speaks in a press conference, the better.