More than 100 newspapers will publish editorials decrying Trump's anti-press rhetoric

By artappraiser on Sun, 08/12/2018 - 2:49pm |

On Thursday, more than 100 newspapers will publish editorials decrying Trump's anti-press rhetoric. The # of participating papers keeps growing. Here's my full story https://t.co/OAGkQqtzTp
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 11, 2018

URL:

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/11/media/boston-globe-free-press-editorial/index.html

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Jack Shafer thinks it's a bad idea:

America’s Newspapers Just Played Right Into Trump’s Hands @ Politico.com, Aug. 14

Nothing flatters an independent journalist less than the sight of him forming a line to drink from the same fountain as his colleagues. Such a spectacle will unfold on Thursday, August 16, as 200 or more editorial pages will heed the call sounded by Boston Globe op-ed page editor Marjorie Pritchard to run editorials opposing President Donald Trump’s unrelieved press-bashing. Participating dailies include the Houston Chronicle, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Miami Herald and the Denver Post, as well as the Globe. Joining the movement are the American Society of News Editors and the New England Newspaper and Press Association. Dan Rather is on board, as is the Radio Television Digital News Association [....]

by artappraiser on Wed, 08/15/2018 - 1:04am

Jack Shafer thinks income taxes are a bad idea, drug laws are a bad idea, gun laws are a bad idea, social security is a bad idea, along with any federal program to aid the poor or those with low income. Jacks Wiki page, Jack Shafer:

"I agree with the Libertarian Party platform: much smaller government, much lower taxes, an end to income redistribution, repeal of the drug laws, fewer gun laws, a dismantled welfare state, an end to corporate subsidies, First Amendment absolutism, a scaled-back warfare state. "

by NCD on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 5:10pm

lol! thanks, I didn't know all of that about him, I just knew about him as a commentator on journalistic issues

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 6:35pm

In 3 minutes 80% of the not the usual regulars/well known,.... "opinion havers".... on the internet can often be discovered to be delusional wackanoodles with all sorts of crazy ideas and opinions.

Lulu had one last week, to a guy with an awesome sounding membership on the Task Force on the Americas.org...!! Posting at....drum roll....Counterpunch..!!

It was praising Maduro, blaming US. The Task Force turned out to be a bunch of lefties in California whose claim to Task Force fame was sending an old lady to Caracas in 2016 with bags of seeds for the poor to grow food on balconies to avoid starvation. They called it.... Seeds of Solidarity.

by NCD on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 6:57pm

Another great video by John Oliver on astroturfing.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/08/john-oliver-on-astroturfing-on-last-we...

by ocean-kat on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 8:28pm

Thanks, amazing, this was predicted by Orwell of course, The Ministry of Truth etc, except he didn't foresee capitalist oligarchs running things.

I like Elizabeth Warren's new ideas on making corporations legally responsible to workers and the community and nation, and requiring a 75% vote of shareholders/boards before any campaign money spent. Of course, the Roberts court would probably say any such plan is property siezure and unconstitutional.

by NCD on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 9:12pm

imo John Oliver is perhaps the greatest political satirist of our time. When ever I read a bizarre story like the Seeds of Solidarity I immediately think astroturfing. it's not always the case but pretty often that's what's happening.

Warren is coming up with a lot of good ideas like this. Novel solutions to problems we're facing that seem to bypass standard right left fights. I wonder if she's planning on running in 2012,

by ocean-kat on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 10:52pm

I have enjoyed Oliver's satire too. Maybe if I disagreed overall with his stand on some issue I could search for some single mistake in his presentation and claim it discredited everything he has said or might say in the future. Maybe I would even find a couple mistakes he had made. Here is an examination of an entire episode satirizing the Venezuelan government. It is funny. It is entertaining. It is satire. Is it accurate in its ridicule?

by A Guy Called LULU on Fri, 08/17/2018 - 6:43pm

Jay Rosen is simply "skeptical"

I'm skeptical. Happy to be proved wrong too. But skeptical. https://t.co/UtXarBQuoT
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) August 13, 2018

That said, it is interesting that he had a lot to say on Twitter about Sara Sanders press briefing today and after watching it, strongly reiterated his belief, originally stated right after Trump's inauguration, that media should "send the interns" to White House press briefings:

"We will insult them. We will misinform them. We will visit upon them acts of contempt. We have the power and we can do this." Whatever she's saying, that is what she is always doing. And that is why I have said, from the beginning: "Send the interns." https://t.co/BtTIkbiw2x END
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) August 14, 2018

by artappraiser on Wed, 08/15/2018 - 1:13am

The White House press room is the closest thing in the US to Prime Minister's question time. And however ridiculous the latter is in theatricality and diversionary tactics and opportunism, it remains a half-decent expression of democracy and public accountability and debate. The US on the other hand has a press-flack deflecting a bunch of grandstanding attention-seekers. Presidents themselves are no longer expected to face hostile or skeptical questions at all, much less respond earnestly and respectfully. Nor ever explain or justify policy. Why send the interns? Just send whatever passing group of White House tourists if Sanders needs an audience to bounce her act off of.

by Obey on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 4:26pm

More than Jack Shafer and Jay Rosen, I'd like to hear what Artappraiser thinks about this situation

by Obey on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 4:29pm

But...Jack Shafer.....?

by NCD on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 5:11pm

I dunno precisely because: we have a troll in the office of president and he is unabashedly proud of his trolling skills! I still believe that the rule not to feed trolls works but that's only when they are pseudonymous commenters on the internet! When one has a Troll Uncle Rudy at the annual Thanksgiving dinner, that's a different, notoriously tough situation, precisely because he still feels free to troll even though he doesn't have the protection of anonymity. (I.E., he's an asshole.)

But when one has a troll occupying one of the most powerful offices in the world, it's vastly beyond my skill level to suggest anything. And the rules are being made up as we go along, what else can be done about it?

All that said, as first amendment fan (to the point of membership in PEN) I love being able to read and compare a lot of these essays, it's like the best competition evah with some of the best minds on topic. I don't know if it helps or hurts the immediate situation, but it's sure good for the history books.

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 7:21pm

thinking back now to this May story about another fired "dog" who he didn't dare name call back with the dog thing, didn't call him a dog, just fired him, as if he didn't want to draw much attention

Rex Tillerson just majorly trolled Donald Trump by Chris Cizzilla @ CNN, May 16

Rex Tillerson may be gone, but he hasn't forgotten.

Speaking to soon-to-be graduates of the Virginia Military Institute on Wednesday, Tillerson dropped this truth bomb:

"If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom."

Woof.

Double woof.

You may remember that Tillerson was removed as Secretary of State by President Donald Trump after a remarkably tempestuous year in office -- a period of time during which relations between the two men grew badly strained.

Things were never really the same after reports surfaced last fall that Tillerson had called Trump a "moron" in a Pentagon meeting in the summer of 2017. Tillerson didn't deny using that word, although he sought to shame the press for even covering it. Which means, of course, that he said it [....]

An alpha thing is clearly involved as well. He feels free to troll beta males and women with name calling. But Tillerson called him a moron and he didn't name call back. Learned bully lessons long ago that you only pick on the weak? But it gets confusing because he's not that good of a judge about who is weak, he's often delusional about that?

Edit to add: he's real simplistic about who he thinks is weak. I.E., short guys like Sessions and Corker, he picks on them. Sooo not impressed with the idea of the NYTimes as the fourth estate. After all, back in the day, he liked using the NYPost Page Six gossip column for his own P.R. purposes and probably cackled in glee at the results. As if it mattered in the scheme of life...him, that's all that matters?

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 7:48pm

NY Post joins outlets publishing anti-Trump editorials

By Justin Wise @ TheHill.com - 08/15/18 10:47 PM EDT

but as the story notes, they are also going to do the "both sides are doing it" and bash some Dems on the same thing, most notably Mayor DeBlasio, who really has been tinkering on the edge of first amendment issues with his constant screeds about them...some of those have been quite questionable, mho.

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 1:44am

Yes, Virginia, it's frustrating having a troll for president and it's hard to decide what to do about it:

Hundreds of Newspapers Denounce Trump’s Press Attacks, Which Is Just What He Wants

By Adam K. Raymond @ NYMag.com, Aug. 16

Hundreds of newspapers across the country teamed up to send a message to Donald Trump today: Journalists are not the enemy of the people [.....]

At least one major newspaper decided not to participate in the show of force. In an editorial explaining why, the Los Angeles Times said that Trump is likely to use the coordinated criticism to fan the flames of discontent.

The president himself already treats the media as a cabal — “enemies of the people,” he has called us, suggesting over and over that we’re in cahoots to do damage to the country. The idea of joining together to protest him seems almost to encourage that kind of conspiracy thinking by the president and his loyalists. Why give them ammunition to scream about “collusion”?

They may have been on to something.

Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump

The Boston Globe, which was sold to the the Failing New York Times for 1.3 BILLION DOLLARS (plus 800 million dollars in losses & investment), or 2.1 BILLION DOLLARS, was then sold by the Times for 1 DOLLAR. Now the Globe is in COLLUSION with other papers on free press. PROVE IT!

10:00 AM - Aug 16, 2018

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 2:57pm

I would especially note the use of COLLUSION in all caps. Lately his technique strikes me like this: he projects like a 2 yr. old who has a lot of practice being caught at doing naughty things.

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 3:01pm

After having a minute to think on the TrumpTweet retort, one thing that stands out: it's all about ratings to him. That is: good information has high ratings and monetary success. So what hurts him most is criticism from those who are "popular," though he won't admit it. So especially from something like a Murdoch media entity, a WSJ for the elites and a Fox News for the masses, that is what freaks him out the most, even if he tries to cover it with bravado. Also keeping in mind he thinks like this: liberals are a minority and that it's always about him, the narcissism, not an ideology of any kind. I think celebs like Schwarzenegger, who are both popular and not far left wing, really know how to get his goat and possibly even inspire him to rethink certain things, though once again he won't deviate from what he thinks is good for the adoration of #1. And to complicate it more, he is often self-delusional.

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 7:18pm

Bomb threat made at Boston Globe after editorial condemning Trump

By Justin Wise @ TheHill.com, 08/16/18 05:17 PM EDT

[....] Officials from the Boston police told Boston 7 News that they do not believe the threat was "super serious" but that they have increased patrols around the building.

The station noted that the FBI is conducting an investigation.

A building manager at the Globe's headquarters said the paper received "several threats via phone call" on Thursday, according to an email obtained by Axios. [....]

by artappraiser on Thu, 08/16/2018 - 10:39pm

This should be here, I missed it; you can read PDF of full Res. at link:

Senate unanimously adopts resolution declaring "the press is not the enemy of the people"

@ CBSNews.com, Aug 16, 2018 11:39 PM EDT

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Thursday affirming that "the press is not the enemy of the people." The resolution, introduced by Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, passed by unanimous consent.

President Trump has repeatedly declared that the "fake news" media is the "enemy of the people."

Unanimously adopted today. https://t.co/QuJ3bNfZqO
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 16, 2018
"Resolved, that the Senate affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people; reaffirms the vital and indispensable role that the free press serves to inform the electorate, uncover the truth, act as a check on the inherent power of the government, further national discourse and debate, and otherwise advance the most basic and cherished democratic norms and freedoms of the United States; and condemns the attacks on the institution of the free press and views efforts to systematically undermine the credibility of the press as an attack on the democratic institutions of the United States...." the resolution reads. [....]

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/19/2018 - 12:59am

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