Turn Off the Cameras! National Review, Aug 4, 2017, Jonathan S. Tobin
The debate between Stephen Miller and CNN’s Jim Acosta proved that turning the daily White House press briefing into a TV show is a dangerous thing for journalism.
When the Trump administration temporarily refused permission for televising the daily White House press briefing, journalists howled. They claimed that conducting the briefing without the cameras turned on hurt the public and diminished the government transparency that is needed in a democracy. There was some truth to that, especially since the daily presser has become something of an institution in the last few administrations.
But after Wednesday’s televised press briefing, it is now clear the cameras need to be turned off. That’s not because it might aid the Trump administration’s efforts to evade accountability. Rather, it is to protect the press from further damaging their credibility in a way that injures not only journalism but also the fabric of American democracy.
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Take the cameras away and they’d have to go back to just doing the hard and often dreary work of reporting instead of seizing the moment to become media stars. That doesn’t make for good television but it would be better journalism. More to the point, it would also remove yet one more reason for Americans — be they on the right or the left — to no longer trust the press.
Read more at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450152/cnn-jim-acosta-journalism-harmed
