Friday, March 27, 2020
Huge Ratings: Millions of Americans Watching Donald Trump’s Daily White House Briefings
President Donald Trump’s return to daily White House press briefings during the coronavirus crisis has generated massive ratings.
The New York Times reports nearly 12.2 million people watched Trump’s briefing on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to Nielsen — plus millions more on streaming sites, and local news networks.
That puts him in the same ratings territory as Monday Night Football, typically the most popular program for a Monday.
Millions of Americans have made the president’s daily briefings must-watch television since the coronavirus hit, especially since many of them are in quarantine.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has followed a similar strategy, turning his grim but compassionate daily updates on the fight against the virus into an event for people on the East Coast.
President Trump continues to spread optimism about beating the virus from the briefing room podium and returning life to normal, despite cautionary talk from government doctors like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. Vice President Mike Pence offers comfort and reassurance from the podium, reminding Americans to follow the government recommendations to help stop the spread of the virus.
The left has turned Fauci into a resistance hero, despite repeated assertions from the doctor that they are on the same team although they serve different roles. Supporters of the president cheer him on as he battles through skeptical journalists who routinely pit themselves against the president.
On Wednesday, the president scolded a CBS journalist for suggesting he was only promoting Easter as a date allowing Americans go back to church so he could win re-election.
He replied:
I think there are certain people that would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls. And I don’t know if that’s so, but I do think it’s so that a lot of — that there are people in your profession that would like that to happen.He added:
I think it’s very clear that there are people in your profession that write fake news. You do. She does. There are people in your profession that write fake news. They would love to see me, for whatever reason — because we’ve done one hell of a job. Nobody has done the job that we’ve done. And it’s lucky that you have this group here, right now, for this problem, or you wouldn’t even have a country left.
“Social distancing” restrictions have reduced the number of White House reporters allowed in the room, giving establishment reporters unprecedented access to the president, shutting out lesser-known and conservative outlets.
Cable news networks, who repeatedly criticized Trump’s decision to end the daily briefings, now find themselves torn whether to air the president’s daily exchange with the press live.
On Wednesday, CNN cut away from the president’s briefing only to swiftly return when Dr. Anthony Fauci began speaking.
The president has demonstrated interest in keeping the briefings going. When journalists asked him last week if he would commit to continuing the daily briefing he replied,...
ADIOS! Border Patrol agents expelling illegal aliens to reduce virus risk
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| A Border Patrol vehicle sits along the border fenceline separating San Diego and Tijuana Mexico watching for illegal crossings in March 2016. The border fence between San Diego and Mexico is a deterrent to illegal immigration, drug smuggling and human trafficking. The fence is regularly patrolled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the lookout for illegal crossings. (Donna Burton/Customs and Border Protection) |
In an effort to minimize risks and exposure to U.S. Border Patrol agents and detainees in detention facilities, agents are immediately expelling people apprehended between ports of entry.
During a call with media members, U.S. Border Patrol officials said this change in operations is meant to reduce the exposure its agents and those held in detention centers have to COVID-19.
Officials said agents encountering people attempting to enter the country illegally, between ports of entry, will process them at a mobile processing unit out in the field, and immediately expel them from the country through the nearest port of entry.
The only exception would be for anyone who has a prior aggravated criminal offense, and is deemed to be a “threat to the U.S. and or Mexico,” the officials said. Those people will be arrested, and taken in to be processed at a detention center.
The switch in procedure with regard to how Border Patrol agents approached newly apprehended persons was expected after DHS announced the travel restrictions at the border.
Officials said Border Patrol agents are supplied with personal protective equipment.
On Friday, DHS announced it would restrict travel at the border to only “essential” travelers.
Essential travel includes, but is not limited to U.S. citizens or permanent residents returning to the U.S., people traveling for medical purposes, in the case of receiving treatment in the U.S., people traveling to attend educational institutions, and those returning to the U.S. in the agriculture and farming industries.
Additionally, those traveling as part of an emergency response team, government officials, or emergency responders, and those who work in cross-border trade, such as truck drivers moving cargo between the U.S. and Mexico.
This new restriction is expected to end at...
3 Big Media Misses During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has become a health crisis that’s almost unprecedented in our lifetimes.
As our country and the world race to contain the spread of COVID-19, it’s important that we all stay informed on how to protect ourselves and our families and neighbors.
This is a time for journalists in a free country to demonstrate how they can bring vital and accurate information to the public when it’s needed most.
Many journalists have been doing just that, and at great risk.
Unfortunately, the media has made some serious missteps in recent months and acted unseriously in this serious time.
Here are three big media misses during the coronavirus pandemic.
1. Attacking Travel Bans
While there is certainly more that Americans and the Trump administration could have done in preparation for the tidal wave that has been the coronavirus outbreak, one early decision likely made a big difference in controlling its scope.
On Jan. 31, the Trump administration instituted a travel ban to stop the flow of infected people from China to the United States.
“The travel ban with China made a difference,” Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and current head of the global health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, told USA Today.
“It resulted in a significant delay in the number of people coming in with infection and because of that, that bought time in the U.S. to better prepare,” Frieden said. “And yet, that time wasn’t optimally used.”
However, critics of the Trump administration roundly attacked the China travel ban as ineffectual, anti-science, and xenophobic.
My colleague, Lyndsey Fifield, had an excellent breakdown on Twitter of the media’s coverage of the travel ban.
Took a break to read back and see how the media covered Trump's 1/31 announcement barring entry into the U.S. from China and HOO BOY...
Many in the scientific community beclowned themselves because their hatred for Trump blinded them—and does to this day.
15.1K people are talking about this
Good on the administration not to rely on information that had gone through the filter of the Chinese communist government, which clearly has been dishonest about the outbreak since the beginning.
But media outlets didn’t stop with attacks on the administration’s China travel ban. They also widely condemned the more recent restriction on travel from Europe—some calling this move a product of xenophobia as well.
The fact is, contrary to the idea that viruses don’t recognize borders, borders are an important method to limit contact with people infected in a global pandemic. It’s the transmission between individuals that causes COVID-19 to spread quickly, one of the reasons why our whole country is practicing various forms of social distancing and in some places is in near total lockdown.
The idea that the federal government took precautions and shut down borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is anathema in a media environment in which the concept of borderless societies is taken as a given.
But if this moment demonstrates anything, it’s that border enforcement matters. It matters not just because of issues such as crime, culture, terrorism, and economics, but also in the realm of public health.
2. ‘China Virus’ Language Policing
Working alongside the attacks on travel restrictions is the media’s ridiculous and unserious condemnation of those who call the new coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” “China virus,” “Wuhan virus,” or any other name that links the pandemic to its country of origin.
In January and February, most media outlets had no problem using the terms China virus or Wuhan virus. But suddenly a switch flipped, and prominent journalists began to attack these terms as racist.
This flip-flop followed a wave of Chinese propaganda aimed at attacking the term “China virus” as racist and linking the outbreak to the United States.
It was a jarring reminder of the unserious nature of “woke” culture that at a press conference the day after Trump used the phrase “Chinese virus” on Twitter, he received four questions about it.
Clearly, when the nation is shut down due to the most threatening pandemic since the Spanish flu and Americans are facing mass unemployment and possibly a deep recession, our esteemed press is doing the all important work of language policing.
3. Trump Derangement and Fish Bowl Fluid
Unfortunately, this big media miss may make it more difficult to...
NBC reporter criticized over article touting China as 'global leader' in coronavirus response
NBC reporter Ken Dilanian faced a wave of backlash Thursday after penning an article in which he suggested that China's coronavirus response was helping it overtake the United States as a global superpower.
The article -- titled "As U.S. struggles to stem coronavirus, China asserts itself as global leader" -- starts by highlighting Chinese aid to Italy.
"With Italy in dire need of medical equipment, an economic superpower stepped in to help. No, not the United States," Dilanian wrote. "It was China."
When Dilanian tweeted that intro, many pushed back on social media.
"You mean after they essentially burned down the world and contributed to the deaths of thousands they’re offering up one little care package?" conservative commentator Dana Loesch tweeted.
You mean after they essentially burned down the world and contributed to the deaths of thousands they’re offering up one little care package?
China is a global leader is kicking off pandemics. twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC…
You people are so pathetic with your open cheering for America's greatest enemy: China
Also:
Spain says the coronavirus tests it bought from China only work 30% of the time: businessinsider.com/coronavirus-sp… twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC…
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