The Donald Trump Show: Where "Fake News" Meets "Alternative Facts"
Ah, the White House press room, where the Fourth Estate meets the Fifth Avenue ego. It’s a match made in… well, not heaven, exactly. And now, Donald Trump Jr. has announced that his dad, the President-elect (again, because America loves a good rerun), is considering reducing the weight of traditional press in the White House press room. Why? Well, it seems that the Trumps think the traditional media has been a bit too… traditional.
According to young Donald, the plan is to give access to "independent" reporters, because, you know, the ones with the largest audiences and most followers are always the most credible. I mean, who needs journalistic integrity when you’ve got a million Twitter followers, right? It’s like the Trumps are trying to create their own version of the press, where "alternative facts" are the new norm.
Now, I’m not saying that the traditional press is perfect. I mean, have you seen the state of some of those old hacks in the press corps? They look like they’ve been there since the Reagan administration… oh wait, some of them have. But, you know, at least they’ve got the experience and the know-how to ask some decent questions.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which assigns seats in the briefing room, must be quaking in their boots. I mean, who needs a bunch of stuffy old journalists when you can have some young, plucky YouTubers asking the tough questions? "Hey, Mr. President, what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?" or "Can you explain your policies in 280 characters or less?"
Of course, this move is all about Trump’s ongoing feud with the media. He’s still got a bee in his bonnet about the way they’ve treated him, and this is his way of sticking it to the man. Newsflash, Donald: the press is not the enemy of the people; it’s just the enemy of your ego.
The New York Times, in particular, has been in Trump’s crosshairs. According to Don Jr., they’re "averse to everything and functioning as the marketing arm of the Democratic Party." Ah, yes, because nothing says "marketing arm" like a newspaper with a long history of Pulitzer Prizes and rigorous fact-checking.
The irony, of course, is that Trump’s own relationship with the truth is, shall we say, flexible. I mean, who needs facts when you’ve got a great tweet? But hey, at least he’s consistent. And by consistent, I mean consistently wrong.
In the end, this move is all about Trump’s desire to control the narrative. He wants to create a press corps that’s more… shall we say, "sympathetic" to his views. But here’s the thing, Donald: the press is not there to be your cheerleader; it’s there to hold you accountable.
So, go ahead and try to shake things up in the White House press room. But at the end of the day, you’ll still be the one looking like a laughing stock. And that’s no alternative fact.
Washington, Nov 26 (EFE).- In a move that could redefine the traditional notion of press coverage, President-elect Donald Trump is contemplating a significant reduction in the influence of conventional media outlets in the White House press room, according to a statement made by his son, Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday.
Speaking on his own podcast, Donald Trump Jr. argued that merely maintaining the presence of traditional media due to their long-standing history doesn’t appear to be an effective approach, given the current media landscape.
Donald Trump Jr. proposed an alternative, saying, “Why not open it to people who have a much larger audience, who are able to reach and influence more followers on social media and other digital platforms than many mainstream media outlets can?” He further stated that his father views this change as a “great idea.”
According to his son, the New York billionaire is considering this possibility largely due to his strained relationship with the media, whom he perceives as being unfairly adversarial.
Donald Trump Jr. specifically singled out The New York Times, accusing the publication of being “de facto adversaries” to his father’s campaign and going so far as to function as “the marketing arm of the Democratic Party,” rather than maintaining their role as objective, impartial journalists.
However, traditionally, the White House itself doesn’t determine press room seating assignments. The responsibility for allocating seats to media outlets falls to the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), an organization composed of journalists who cover the White House and have governed the seating arrangements in the briefing room since the Reagan Administration (1981-1989).
The room, limited to just 49 seats, each assigned to a specific media organization, significantly impacts the order and priority of questioning directed at the White House spokesperson during press conferences. Under this system, even though having an assigned seat offers advantages, any accredited journalist can attend the briefings as a member of the general press corps, albeit usually from a standing position.
The seating chart follows a hierarchical pattern, with major networks, such as NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, and CNN, occupying prominent positions in the first row. Specifically, by tradition, The Associated Press agency consistently secures the first question during press conferences. The second row is usually reserved for the nation’s most prominent and influential newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Press conferences under the Biden Administration, as well as during the Obama (2009-2017) and George W. Bush (2001-2009) presidencies, have tended towards greater regularity, often taking place nearly daily. Conversely, during Trump’s first term in office (2017-2021), during which the president frequently clashed with the press, labeling them as “enemies of the people” and denigrating them as “fake news,” the president ordered a departure from this norm.
This led to an increasingly sporadic schedule of press conferences, with their frequency varying greatly depending on which press secretary was serving at the time. In fact, under Trump, a record was set for the longest drought without a press conference appearance by the spokesperson – a staggering 300 days between March 2019 and January 2020.
