Media outlets staged a rare show of unity this week against the Trump administration, with TV pools refusing to air footage of the president’s events and CNN’s Brian Stelter even citing Fox News as an ally.
The Columbia Journalism Review’s Susie Banikarim, writing in Laurels and Darts, was not convinced the solidarity would force the White House to back down. “Whether this incredible display of fellowship will force the White House to stand down remains to be seen,” she wrote. A cynic, she added, might conclude the effort had “less to do with principle and more to do with a recognition that appeasement buys no protection from the Trump administration.”
Townhall and Salem Radio Network host Larry Elder took the opposite view of Trump’s press restrictions. “What took so long?” he asked. Elder said Trump is “angry at the blatantly biased and Trump-despising legacy media,” blames them for poor poll numbers, and that “his bitterness is more than justified.” Even with “a lot of good news” about the administration, Elder argued, legacy coverage “stands in stark contrast with the breathless drum-beating coverage of the Russia-Trump collusion hoax.”
Whether this week’s episode has lasting effect is unclear. The Trump news cycle moves quickly; by next week the media ban may already feel like old news.