Media

WaPo Media Columnist Demands Networks Stop Airing Trump Admin’s Coronavirus Briefings

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan called Saturday for networks to stop live-broadcasting President Donald Trump’s near-daily coronavirus briefings.

“The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings,” Sullivan tweeted along with her column explaining why. (RELATED: Fauci Scrambles To Hide A Laugh At Trump Press Conference, Breaks His Own Cardinal Rule Instead)

Sullivan laid out some of her argument in a follow-up tweet, saying essentially that the president was so far over the line with regard to what could be accepted that it was not enough for the press to simply fact-check Trump after he spoke. (RELATED: Biden Camp Pressures Major Media Outlets To Stop Inviting Giuliani On To Speak About Ukraine)

Her argument, in a nutshell, was that when the networks aired Trump’s statements on the continued spread of coronavirus with no delay, any fact-checking they were able to do afterward would not be enough “to counter the serious damage” already done.

The press — if it defines its purpose as getting truthful, useful, non-harmful information to the public, as opposed to merely juicing its own ratings and profits — must recognize what is happening and adjust accordingly. (And that, granted, is a very big “if)

Business as usual simply doesn’t cut it. Minor accommodations, like fact-checking the president’s statements afterwards, don’t go nearly far enough to counter the serious damage this man is doing to the public’s well-being.

In recent days, President Trump has given near-daily briefings — most of which have included input from the experts and doctors who make up his coronavirus task force or from those working on the administration’s efforts to stabilize the economy while many Americans have been asked to remain at home.