A few months ago, we got our first taste of what it’s like to not be subjected to the Trump administration’s lies taking over every news network during Sarah Sanders’ so-called “press briefings” when MSNBC flat-out declined to cover what was at that point the first briefing in about a month. Since then, at least one more network has picked up on how nice it is not to have to carry water for a President who plainly propagandizes at every opportunity — CNN declined to cover today’s briefing right alongside MSNBC.
To be sure, there was still plenty of coverage of today’s briefing, the first one the White House has held in 40 days — which is the longest span without one since they began televising them.
But why would CNN and MSNBC show up? The President made clear that he doesn’t care about actually informing Americans when he casually tweeted last week that he’d told his Press Secretary “not to bother” doing the job that taxpayers provide her a salary for.
The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019
If the White House Press Secretary can’t be bothered to show up for work, why should the networks give her lies precious airtime when she finally does get around to it?
None of this is to say that the networks didn’t send reporters from the White House Press Corps to the briefing — they’d be skipping out on their own jobs if they didn’t. But live airtime? Especially given the fact that unless they employ a full-time fact checker like the Washington Post there are likely to be dozens and dozens of false statements that go out live on their networks during a Sanders presser?
Looks like they’ve decided against it. In fact, neither network’s official Twitter feeds had even a single tweet about it, either
It’s refreshing, and honestly, we hope they keep it up!
Featured image via screen capture
