The other day I noted thatRachel Maddow and others call on networks not to broadcast Trump coronavirus press conferences.I pointed out that the claim by Maddow and others is that Trump presents a false or misleading view of the health problem, but in fact it is Maddow and other liberal talking heads who present the misleading view of events:
Here’s Maddow using prime time to call for the media to censor Trump:
“I know we ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now, but I’m not. President Trump today, again, just flat-out wrong in public about this malaria drug that has gotten stuck in his mind, quite some distance from the facts,” Maddow said on her show.“If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape but if he keeps lying like this every day on stuff this important, all of us should stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it’s gonna cost lives,” she added on the program….Notice Maddow is the one lying. The malaria drug can be used for coronavirus off-label, there is anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, but the FDA requires more systematic testing before off-label use could become on-label use.Anyone watching the press conference would understand all this context. Anyone watching Rachel Maddow would not….I hope Trump does the briefings and takes questions 7 days a week. These are the most transparent sessions I’ve seen in any president in my lifetime.
I noted that the pressers were must-watch TV, and that likely was contributing to Trump’s surge in the polls. That presents a problems for the media and Democrats.
But I didn’t have any information on the ratings. Now we do, and they are a big hit.
NY Times reports:
Since reviving the daily White House briefing — a practice abandoned last year by an administration that bristles at outside scrutiny — Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of “The Bachelor.”
And the numbers are continuing to rise, driven by intense concern about the virus and the housebound status of millions of Americans who are practicing social distancing. On Monday, nearly 12.2 million people watched Mr. Trump’s briefing on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to Nielsen — “Monday Night Football” numbers.
Millions more are watching on ABC, CBS, NBC and online streaming sites. (Because of the way Nielsen ratings are measured, reliable numbers are available only for cable news.) And the audience is expanding….
Fox News has been a particularly popular venue for those who want to hear from the president. The network regularly accounts for roughly half the overall cable news audience for Mr. Trump’s briefings.
On Monday, Fox News alone attracted 6.2 million viewers for the president’s briefing — an astounding number for a 6 p.m. cable broadcast, more akin to the viewership for a popular prime-time sitcom. This past weekend, Fox News recorded its highest weekend viewership since its 2003 coverage of the gulf war.
Of course, the Times says this success is actually “a dangerous thing” because Trump “Mr. Trump has repeatedly delivered information that doctors and public health officials have called ill informed, misleading or downright wrong.”
That’s complete BS, Trump is challenged by reporters during the press conferences, and the overall mix of information provided by health and other officials is balanced and informative. The only thing these press conference endanger is Joe Biden’s campaign, and that is the real problem.
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