4 ms·

Can you support the viewpoint that such preferences are abnormal for a presidential administration?

XaspR8d 10y ago
I don't think such preferences are abnormal, not at all. It is a natural desire for an administration to want softball questions. However I don't think most administrations would attempt to achieve them by disrupting the press corps. That claim probably can't be tested or evaluated fairly, partially because it's a fairly novel action, and partially because it's a complex hypothetical. I must admit it is just my political leanings driving me to this conclusion. I guess another (unfair) way to look at is: I would rather have someone appear not to attempt to manipulate public opinion, regardless of if they actually are, because when you are at that level of power, I at least want you to ave your act together enough to keep halfway-decent PR. Thus the fact that it appears to me that they are making such weak attempts to manipulate says something, independent of the ethics of the action itself.
losteric 10y ago
Obama preferred liberal news organizations, and that was OK because he still answered questions he didn't like from the right. Trump goes beyond preferences... he only wants favorable questions from organizations that will cover him favorably.
- makomk 10y ago
  If he only accepted questions from organizations that cover him favourably, that'd exclude most of the media. From what I've seen so far he only seems to refuse questions from media that delve into conspiracy-theory tier reporting - Russian piss orgies, "secret communications with Russia" that somehow look in every way like junk email about Trump hotels from an outsourced service he doesn't even control, that kind of thing. (Which is probably still a little ironic given his role in birtherism.)
- jlarocco 10y ago
  Obama spent 2122 days as president. Trump has been president for less than 3 full days so far. It may turn out that you're correct, but there's not enough data to make a meaningful comparison yet.

I don't think such preferences are abnormal, not at all. It is a natural desire for an administration to want softball questions. However I don't think most administrations would attempt to achieve them by disrupting the press corps. That claim probably can't be tested or evaluated fairly, partially because it's a fairly novel action, and partially because it's a complex hypothetical. I must admit it is just my political leanings driving me to this conclusion. I guess another (unfair) way to look at is: I would rather have someone appear not to attempt to manipulate public opinion, regardless of if they actually are, because when you are at that level of power, I at least want you to ave your act together enough to keep halfway-decent PR. Thus the fact that it appears to me that they are making such weak attempts to manipulate says something, independent of the ethics of the action itself.

losteric 10y ago

Obama preferred liberal news organizations, and that was OK because he still answered questions he didn't like from the right. Trump goes beyond preferences... he only wants favorable questions from organizations that will cover him favorably.

makomk 10y ago
If he only accepted questions from organizations that cover him favourably, that'd exclude most of the media. From what I've seen so far he only seems to refuse questions from media that delve into conspiracy-theory tier reporting - Russian piss orgies, "secret communications with Russia" that somehow look in every way like junk email about Trump hotels from an outsourced service he doesn't even control, that kind of thing. (Which is probably still a little ironic given his role in birtherism.)
jlarocco 10y ago
Obama spent 2122 days as president. Trump has been president for less than 3 full days so far. It may turn out that you're correct, but there's not enough data to make a meaningful comparison yet.