"It’s
tempting to take Friday’s petty decision by the Trump
White House to bar certain news organizations from a briefing — something
no administration of either party has ever done — as a backhanded compliment to
the reporters whose honest work provoked the president’s latest foot-stamping
tantrum.”
Yep, Donald T went after the media big time again yesterday, while his press
spokesman barred some outlets including the New York Times from a briefing, a
first. (Times editorial below.) But you know, this is hardly a catastrophe. In
some ways (in my opinion), much of the media would be far better off if their
complete operations inside the White House, hanging on every word and twitch
there, were dismantled and they had to start reporting on the present nightmare
from the rest of the world, our world, instead. Much of the media edifice
in Washington has long been, in its own way, part and parcel of how our
governmental world operates. A shake-up won't hurt this mind-numbing process at
all. — TomDispatch
