Does no good to fact check T after the interview. Folks will remember the interview and believe the lies, and they don't stay around for the fact checking. T gets away with far too much.
Yes, employ the Stephanopolous Method. Or the Swann Method. Stay on one question like a bulldog on a bone and come with facts to push back against every dodge and misstatement. If that ends up being the interview, so be it. Mission accomplished.
I remember an interview George Stephanopolous did with Gov. Sununu, I think…. George did not move on to the next question. He kept rephrasing it and although Sununu would not change his response, George made his point. But Kristin Welker seems weak by comparison and not capable of standing up to Trump.
What else would you expect from Kristen-but-what-about-the-emails?!-Welker? She's no journalist that's for sure, never has been. She's always been an opportunist and is now being rewarded by having this job. She's only going to complete the demise of Meet the Press that Chuck Todd started.
Why do we have a free press? Because the audience (voting public) needs to be accurately informed. How do you make voting decisions based on lies? You make them badly. Erroneously.
The point isn't about fairness to the interviewee. The point is fairness to the audience.
Without fairness to the audience - aren't you close to being as useless as propaganda? (Hint: the answer is yes.)
David: your theory sounds very good but there is one flaw in it. Trump will just get up and walk out and his minions, who believe every lie he bloviates, will be crying mean interviewer. What happens then? He did this to Leslie Stahl and others. Nothing will stop the lies and the people who enable him. Just ignore him. Don’t interview him. That is what really gets a demented narcissist. Or laugh and redicule him. He hates that. But don’t sit there and “Sir” him.
He will walk out, or put on the injured party act. Then he will never agree to be interviewed by that program again.
If everyone did what you suggest, it would work. But there is an endless supply of shows willing to do whatever it takes to get the eyeballs that will watch whatever show Trump goes on instead of Meet the Press. Another three hours with Joe Rogan, or a friendly chat with Tucker Carlson or one of the Fox News personalities he will tap for his next round of Cabinet appointments.
Your strategy will work in the short term, but we need a strategy that calls out the lies without giving Trump the opportunity to grandstand and act put-upon. Something that flatters him (so he agrees to come back) while giving the truth to the audience in real time. I don't know what that strategy is, but in the long run it's the only thing that stops Trump from having journalists interested in exposing the truth from being completely cut out of the conversation.
You are correct that it requires a long term strategy. But I started to wonder why Trump even bothers to go on any news program that does not belong to Fox or those other faux news networks, and I remembered that Trump craves attention. He also craves the admiration and and recognition of (at least formerly) esteemed news like the NYT and Meet the Press. He complains about them but keeps going back. If these news sources would only decide that truth is more important than access and getting through their list of questions, (I'm not holding my breath), what is left for Trump? Fox is like the mother he never had, who is always there to praise him and stroke his ego, and while he will always need that, how much does he really respect them deep down? As many of his Magas are beginning to realize, the echo chamber of Truth Social is boring. Trump is seeking a surrogate father's praise, something he only received from Roy Cohn and never from his own father. He is a black hole of need and the more people and organizations that deny him ego gratification, the more unhinged he'll become.
The corporate media is complicit, compliant, irresponsible and worthless, to my mind. They exhibit sociopathic behavior that has no value whatsoever. As the months pass, less and less people will be tuning into listening to their “news” narratives. They deserve to crash and burn. More of us are turning to new voices, as in your Substack, that bring us depth, clarity, truth and transparency.
Trump stipulates a coercive compliance to his rules which the media submits to in order to maintain a market share. The interviews packed with half truth, lies and pure fabricated political fiction become sound bites for selective repetitive media exposure, typically driving his perverted positions across the airways saturating the public conversation with his shock stock in trade. Media is trolled willingly for market interests and rationalize the ulterior motives as politically essential journalism. Trump poisons incentives with controversies, but he is always 'rolling out' dangerous ideas to breech civil protocol and desensitize public reactions. Trump surveys his followers under text messaging feedback and repeats what he hears, which in turn shows up repetitively on C-span's Washington Journal as populous opinion, and the public manipulation spirals on while intelligent critics repeat the obvious as if its insightful: Trump is not held accountable either by markets, media journalism, or the Justice Department and law. The best way to destroy institutions, is to do nothing so you don't threaten them. The Justice department has proved that true, and the free press will soon find Trump's version of Putin's media in their own failed history.
I totally agree with your assessment. I would also add there was an issue with her phrasing on the first topic. Anytime you say “I think” someone like Trump will roll right over you.
Over and over we hear it! I want smart media/journalism! Too often they are assuming they are sticking their chin out ( note Welker posture), but if they don’t force acknowledgement of fact, all that has occurred is reaffirmation of the lie.
An excellent critique, but a pointless one.
Cable hosts have little interest in journalism, even less in "improving".
At best, it's infotainment. At worst, it's intentionally enabling propaganda.
The real question is why anyone still watches cable news, or bothers to listen to any interview of Trump...in any medium.
The former provides little in the way of news, the latter provides a firehouse of predictable propaganda.
I just heard Thom Hartmann say "multimillionaire tv anchors being paid by corporations IS oligarchy!" As we already know.
Meet the Press is not cable news.
absolutely right. That's the only strategy that works if the objective is to get to the truth, which used to be a mission of the news media.
Your analysis is why I no longer watch corporate media of any kind. They allow the lies and false equivalence as you show here.
Does no good to fact check T after the interview. Folks will remember the interview and believe the lies, and they don't stay around for the fact checking. T gets away with far too much.
Yes, employ the Stephanopolous Method. Or the Swann Method. Stay on one question like a bulldog on a bone and come with facts to push back against every dodge and misstatement. If that ends up being the interview, so be it. Mission accomplished.
I remember an interview George Stephanopolous did with Gov. Sununu, I think…. George did not move on to the next question. He kept rephrasing it and although Sununu would not change his response, George made his point. But Kristin Welker seems weak by comparison and not capable of standing up to Trump.
What else would you expect from Kristen-but-what-about-the-emails?!-Welker? She's no journalist that's for sure, never has been. She's always been an opportunist and is now being rewarded by having this job. She's only going to complete the demise of Meet the Press that Chuck Todd started.
The last point needs to be emphasized more.
Why do we have a free press? Because the audience (voting public) needs to be accurately informed. How do you make voting decisions based on lies? You make them badly. Erroneously.
The point isn't about fairness to the interviewee. The point is fairness to the audience.
Without fairness to the audience - aren't you close to being as useless as propaganda? (Hint: the answer is yes.)
David: your theory sounds very good but there is one flaw in it. Trump will just get up and walk out and his minions, who believe every lie he bloviates, will be crying mean interviewer. What happens then? He did this to Leslie Stahl and others. Nothing will stop the lies and the people who enable him. Just ignore him. Don’t interview him. That is what really gets a demented narcissist. Or laugh and redicule him. He hates that. But don’t sit there and “Sir” him.
Then let him walk out.
Exactly!
He will walk out, or put on the injured party act. Then he will never agree to be interviewed by that program again.
If everyone did what you suggest, it would work. But there is an endless supply of shows willing to do whatever it takes to get the eyeballs that will watch whatever show Trump goes on instead of Meet the Press. Another three hours with Joe Rogan, or a friendly chat with Tucker Carlson or one of the Fox News personalities he will tap for his next round of Cabinet appointments.
Your strategy will work in the short term, but we need a strategy that calls out the lies without giving Trump the opportunity to grandstand and act put-upon. Something that flatters him (so he agrees to come back) while giving the truth to the audience in real time. I don't know what that strategy is, but in the long run it's the only thing that stops Trump from having journalists interested in exposing the truth from being completely cut out of the conversation.
You are correct that it requires a long term strategy. But I started to wonder why Trump even bothers to go on any news program that does not belong to Fox or those other faux news networks, and I remembered that Trump craves attention. He also craves the admiration and and recognition of (at least formerly) esteemed news like the NYT and Meet the Press. He complains about them but keeps going back. If these news sources would only decide that truth is more important than access and getting through their list of questions, (I'm not holding my breath), what is left for Trump? Fox is like the mother he never had, who is always there to praise him and stroke his ego, and while he will always need that, how much does he really respect them deep down? As many of his Magas are beginning to realize, the echo chamber of Truth Social is boring. Trump is seeking a surrogate father's praise, something he only received from Roy Cohn and never from his own father. He is a black hole of need and the more people and organizations that deny him ego gratification, the more unhinged he'll become.
"A balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality."
& all who hear lies not confronted by media needs to write Welker & others directly to give them this feedback about how they are failing.
The corporate media is complicit, compliant, irresponsible and worthless, to my mind. They exhibit sociopathic behavior that has no value whatsoever. As the months pass, less and less people will be tuning into listening to their “news” narratives. They deserve to crash and burn. More of us are turning to new voices, as in your Substack, that bring us depth, clarity, truth and transparency.
Trump stipulates a coercive compliance to his rules which the media submits to in order to maintain a market share. The interviews packed with half truth, lies and pure fabricated political fiction become sound bites for selective repetitive media exposure, typically driving his perverted positions across the airways saturating the public conversation with his shock stock in trade. Media is trolled willingly for market interests and rationalize the ulterior motives as politically essential journalism. Trump poisons incentives with controversies, but he is always 'rolling out' dangerous ideas to breech civil protocol and desensitize public reactions. Trump surveys his followers under text messaging feedback and repeats what he hears, which in turn shows up repetitively on C-span's Washington Journal as populous opinion, and the public manipulation spirals on while intelligent critics repeat the obvious as if its insightful: Trump is not held accountable either by markets, media journalism, or the Justice Department and law. The best way to destroy institutions, is to do nothing so you don't threaten them. The Justice department has proved that true, and the free press will soon find Trump's version of Putin's media in their own failed history.
I totally agree with your assessment. I would also add there was an issue with her phrasing on the first topic. Anytime you say “I think” someone like Trump will roll right over you.
Exactly right!!!
It isn’t journalism to just get your list of questions- STOP after the first lie until it’s clear to viewers that it is a lie. Facts matter
Over and over we hear it! I want smart media/journalism! Too often they are assuming they are sticking their chin out ( note Welker posture), but if they don’t force acknowledgement of fact, all that has occurred is reaffirmation of the lie.
Do better! Or quit giving free exposure to liars.
I sent this to NBC News. You should too! No, ALL OF YOU! And maybe send a copy to CBS, ABC, PBS, even FOX. Let them ALL know how badly they are doing.
My suggestion to interviewers has been: Make him define the terms he is using and explain how they function. Tariff is an appropriate example.