Howard Kurtz:
An outrageous lead in the Washington Post captured the animus that underlies much of the coverage of Donald Trump:
“A group of environmental activists pulled off a daring act of defiance.”
And what was this “daring” act? They snuck into Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. and carved six-foot letters into the green (“NO MORE TIGERS. NO MORE WOODS.”) In other words, they broke the law and defaced private property.
Someone realized the blunder, posted an editor’s note “to more accurately reflect” what happened, and the new lead said that “a group of environmental activists pulled off an elaborate act of vandalism at one of President Trump’s premier golf courses early Sunday morning.”
Try to imagine protestors vandalizing a property belonging to Barack Obama or Bill Clinton and having it initially hailed as an act of “defiance.”
Some of the coverage of this president takes relatively routine actions—firing the U.S. attorneys, who are political appointees, or trying to change or abolish regulations—and portrays them as being suspicious or nefarious. And then there’s the war with the press.
A lengthy piece in the New Yorker, noting the way Trump ripped news organizations at his marathon press conference, calls him “the world’s most gifted media troll.”
Much of the article is devoted to criticism that such conservative outlets as the Daily Caller, LifeZette and One America can ask questions at briefings (along with a profile of a blogger for the highly controversial Gateway Pundit). I don’t recall the magazine agonizing over President Obama granting questions and interviews to the left-leaning Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. But now the White House pressroom is packed because of the, well, undesirables.
An unnamed network reporter is quoted as saying: “At what point does it start to delegitimize the whole idea of what happens in that room? When does it cross the line into pure trolling?”
The New York Times has an upbeat, well-reported piece on the resurgence of liberal shows, including an interview with Rachel Maddow:
“Left-leaning MSNBC, after flailing at the end of the Obama years, has edged CNN in prime time… Traditional television, a medium considered so last century, has watched audiences drift away for the better part of a decade. Now rattled liberals are surging back, seeking catharsis, solidarity and relief.”
If they ever catch the jerks who did this they should be put on a highway clean up duty and make them clean up all those granola bar wrappers and the big big mess left behind by a bunch of idiots celebrating Earthday
As these persons praise illegal acts put this on TV it does encourage more idiots to pull this crap. These rioters and vandals must be prosecuted to the maximum punishments allowed.
Is MSNBC “gaining” on CNN or is CNN failing?
A MESS NBC the lying dirty peacock needs its tailfeathers yanked out these journalists praising acts of vandalism are no better then the vandals and belong on a street corner selling pencils or waiting on the unemployment line while a hard working american is working to feed their family
Next month is EARTHDAY when we see these green nuts falling from the nut tree and leaving a big big mess behind them just like they did at Standing Rock