The Trump and the Press

He's still whining about the New York Times.

Trump on Monday met with top executives and news anchors and hosts from major television networks.

In its coverage of that meeting, the Times said Trump “let them have it.”

He had planned to next meet with editors and reporters at the Times, which he frequently criticized during the campaign and after winning the election.

The newspaper announced earlier this month that it added 41,000 new subscriptions in the week after the election.

  The Hill

Such a nasty newspaper.

And not just the New York Times.

A glittering array of media stars and network executives made pilgrimage on Monday to the 25th floor of Trump Tower to meet with the president-elect. They all agreed that the discussions would be “off-the-record”: meaning they would conceal from their viewers what they discussed. Shortly after the meeting ended, several of the stars violated the agreement they made, running to The New York Post and David Remnick of the New Yorker to whine about Trump’s mean behavior. “The participants all shook Trump’s hand at the start of the session and congratulated him,” Remnick reported, “but things went south from there.”

[...]

To begin with, why would journalistic organizations agree to keep their meeting with Donald Trump off-the-record? If you’re a journalist, what is the point of speaking with a powerful politician if you agree in advance that it’s all going to be kept secret?

  Glenn Greenwald

Ummmm...to get privileged access?

Whether or not it actually is collusion, whether or not it actually is subservient ring-kissing in exchange for access, it certainly appears to be that.

[...]

[N]obody really believes that a discussion that takes place in a room filled with a couple dozen TV stars and their media bosses is going to be kept private, so the “off-the-record” agreement does not actually foster candor. It’s instead designed to achieve nothing other than creating a cozy atmosphere where [...] media stars get to feel like they’re colleagues and friends with the President rather than his adversaries.

[...]

[A]s was completely predictable, some of the TV stars immediately breached the off-the-record commitment they made – not by bravely reporting what occurred but by slinking around in the dark to anonymously whisper and gossip about what Trump said to them.

[...]

At least two of them ran to David Remnick to whine about how mean and critical Trump was. Remnick himself was outraged on their behalf, and conveyed this pitifully amusing anecdote:

[...] The television people thought that they were being summoned to ask questions; Trump has not held a press conference since late July. Instead, they were subjected to a stream of insults and complaints—and not everyone absorbed it with pleasure.

“I have to tell you, I am emotionally fucking pissed,” another participant said. “How can this not influence coverage? [...] After the meeting today, though—and I am being human with you here—I think, Fuck him! I know I am being emotional about it. And I know I will get over it in a couple of days after Thanksgiving. But I really am offended. This was unprecedented. Outrageous!”

"And I know I will get over it in a couple of days after Thanksgiving." And dutifully drop knee to the Fuhrer.

“I know I will get over it in a couple of days after Thanksgiving.” We believe you.

[...]

Rather than doing their jobs and being adversarial to Trump, rather than responding to this sort of bullying with some dignity and return aggression, it is a very good bet that they will respond with greater submission (the way they all stayed passively in their assigned press pens during Trump rallies).

[...]

[I]f they really believed “that they were being summoned to ask questions,” a form of a press conference, then what remote justification is there for keeping it a secret?

[...]

Donald Trump hates the U.S. media, as does the overwhelming majority of Americans. Even though every pampered star in that room is paid many millions of dollar a year and is flattered on a daily basis by teams of underlings, they are not actually entitled to respect and admiration, especially not from the powerful politicians they cover. [...] Who cares if Trump is nice to Wolf Blitzer and Phil Griffin?

[...]

Remnick writes that “Trump whined” in the meeting and showed how “vain” he is. That may be true, but the same is true of his anonymous friends for whose petty grievances he is crusading. There is much oppression in the world and many serious concerns as Trump heads to the Oval Office; how Trump speaks to Chuck Todd and Jeff Zucker is not on that list.

He's going to have a lot of papers to sue.

UPDATE:

“We will cover him fairly and aggressively, and we will not let his criticism of us sway us or keep us from doing what we have to do,” says Dean Baquet of the New York Times. “In my mind our mission is clearer than it’s ever been: we have to cover the giant story of this extraordinary White House, which is going to change American politics and policy for years to come, as aggressively, truthfully and honestly as we can.”

  Guardian

And no Trump voter will be reading you.

UPDATE: NYPost article with quotes.