In the Age of Trump, White House press briefings have become a time for some reporters to have their fifteen minutes of fame. Reporters no longer try to disguise their own personal political opinions in the name of professional journalism. Few reporters are able to participate without looking like they are more concerned about a gotcha question against the president, his administration, or even the press secretary herself or himself. A prime example of this behavior is CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He’s even written a book about covering Trump though the president is not even finished with his first term. He’s not the only one to do that, he’s just the most obvious example.
During the Great Hunkering Down period of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump and his coronavirus task force have been giving daily press briefings. He’s been so good at it that his approval ratings are up and his harshest critics in cable news, CNN and MSNBC, decided to stop carrying them in their entirety. Imagine that – cable news networks so unhinged about a president that they don’t bother to cover press briefings concerning a pandemic. It is as though they cheer for failure just to be able to say Trump couldn’t handle the crisis. Those networks are only too happy to do puff piece interviews with the likely Democrat nominee Joe Biden, though.
Indeed they are.