Quote of the day 9th November 2018
"What worries me is the wider question of how Trump and the media interact.
"When you watch the US morning shows - and evening shows come to that - what you notice is how things have changed. Even those who were not originally taking sides are now nailing their colours to the mast. Fox and MSNBC have always played to their own bases. But now CNN, too, has editorialised its evening slot with Chris Cuomo - who gives us an essay, a comment piece, on whatever is getting him fired up.
It's a good watch actually. And makes you engaged.
But make no mistake - it's the same game that Trump is playing. The one they pretend to despise.
If DJT can rally his base - then - goes the logic - why shouldn't TV do it too. It works for viewing figures in the same way it works for electoral success. It works, in other words, for those who like their chambers echoed - but it's an odd place for news to sit.
So yes, those in the media - the enemy of the people - know how the president likes to portray them. We know he picks fights with individuals. We know he may even revoke a White House press pass (that won't last - mark my words).
But we also know this: Never in the history of America has a president so loved the media and the air time we devote to him.
And never in the history of America has the media got so much entertainment from one president."
(Emily Maitlis, BBC Newsnight presenter, conclusion of an astonishingly frank and entertaining - but mildly alarming - article on the BBC website,
"The Acosta Affair - an unpopular opinion."
She means she may be unpopular with her fellow journalists for expressing it, but it made a worrying amount ot sense to me.)
"When you watch the US morning shows - and evening shows come to that - what you notice is how things have changed. Even those who were not originally taking sides are now nailing their colours to the mast. Fox and MSNBC have always played to their own bases. But now CNN, too, has editorialised its evening slot with Chris Cuomo - who gives us an essay, a comment piece, on whatever is getting him fired up.
It's a good watch actually. And makes you engaged.
But make no mistake - it's the same game that Trump is playing. The one they pretend to despise.
If DJT can rally his base - then - goes the logic - why shouldn't TV do it too. It works for viewing figures in the same way it works for electoral success. It works, in other words, for those who like their chambers echoed - but it's an odd place for news to sit.
So yes, those in the media - the enemy of the people - know how the president likes to portray them. We know he picks fights with individuals. We know he may even revoke a White House press pass (that won't last - mark my words).
But we also know this: Never in the history of America has a president so loved the media and the air time we devote to him.
And never in the history of America has the media got so much entertainment from one president."
(Emily Maitlis, BBC Newsnight presenter, conclusion of an astonishingly frank and entertaining - but mildly alarming - article on the BBC website,
"The Acosta Affair - an unpopular opinion."
She means she may be unpopular with her fellow journalists for expressing it, but it made a worrying amount ot sense to me.)
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