January 8, 2019

"The challenge that the media faces is you don’t want to give a platform to somebody who is known to lie a lot, but at the same time, this is still the president of the United States..."

"... who has a lot of power and continues to use that power. The challenge the press has is to call the president out for what I expect will be the lies he will tell, because he tells them all the time, and to call them out in real time."

Said Mike Ananny, "an expert in media and technology at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism," speaking to The Washington Post, quoted in "'This president lies daily': Critics demand networks fact-check Trump’s live immigration speech."

How do you fact-check in real time without risking making mistakes yourself? You could have pre-written statements of fact and then simply display them in text at the bottom of the screen when it seems appropriate. If the text of the speech is available beforehand, the statements could be fine-tuned. Maybe different networks should do different things, and let viewers decide how they want to watch the news. One network could display a Pinocchio with a growing and shrinking nose. Another could have "Mystery Science Theater" style silhouettes at the bottom of the screen and voiced-over wisecracks.

87 comments:

rhhardin said...

It would just produce a press-against-Trump meme in real time.

Trump's supporters know how to read him. It's not lies, it's performance; part of the performance being annoying the media.

rhhardin said...

Annoying the media means annoying the audience that the media is aiming for for itself.

Paul said...

But but but... the media lies a lot to? So why do we give them a platform?

Big Mike said...

The media mostly ignored gross lies by Obama, but sniffs out nits in what Trump says.

Hunter said...

How many of these outlets ever fact-checked the last president's fabulous claims about what the Affordable Care Act would accomplish?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The media lie a lot. twist and spin and omit for The Party.

Sebastian said...

"How do you fact-check in real time"

Not a problem. They could keep a list handy of all Americans killed by illegal aliens.

Wince said...

Trump is truthful about his intentions.

That measure of honesty, however, is a danger to the entire political establishment.

Politicians need the "flexibility" to say one thing before their election, and do another after their election (see Obama to Medvedev).

Thus the establishment's focus on "lying" and the process of "fact checking" that is malleable in the hands of the media anointed fact checkers.

William said...

Why don't we hold a vote at designated intervals to determine if the President is too big of a liar to continue in office?

CJinPA said...

Lies? Here is the truth: Immigration is among the top issues Americans care about. It will be a huge part of budget and policy debates for years to come. It's a policy debate, and currently a budget issue. These are legitimate topics of a national address.

Fun Facts:

* An Associated Press poll taken just before the shutdown shows that border security is among the top five concerns for the American people.

* A recent Gallup Poll -- seen as the gold standard in polling -- also reported that border security had moved into the top-two concerns for Americans just after the 2018 midterm elections.

* A Rasmussen Poll shows that nearly one-fourth of Americans would contribute their own money to build a border wall.

* An Economist/YouGov poll shows that a whopping 62 percent of Americans view illegal immigration as either a "very serious problem" or a "somewhat serious problem" -- with only seven percent of Americans believing that illegal immigration is "not" a problem.

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/379055.php

Democrats and the media want to deny Trump a platform on this, not because of chin-stroking concern about "lies," but because of the real fear that the people side with him.

stevew said...

I'm offended that this guy and "The Media" just know that without them I could not possibly discern truth from lies.

CJinPA said...

Why don't we hold a vote at designated intervals to determine if the President is too big of a liar to continue in office?

YES. We can hold this vote every year. No, every five years. No, every three years. Three or five years, something like that, it really doesn't matter.

traditionalguy said...

The actual SOBs that are in need of instant Fact Checkers are the Media scum who are all political spinners all of the time.The only time these Globalist owned TV stars gives us any smidgen of the truth is when they run a live video feed of a breaking event. But within 20 minutes after it's over the Media Stars have re-written all you saw into passionate, totally false narrative.

Ergo: they want to eliminate Trump's live video feeds altogether so they can stop the Communicator Extrodinaire's message from ever being heard.

You can watch a live Press encounter done by our President on the White House lawn headed to the Marine One and then you can compare that with the strange hit piece being run by the EnemyMedia 20 minutes later using selected sound bites that re-make his message into a Fake News story.

The brand Enemy of the People has been proven correct over and over again. But Trump calmly acts like Gary Cooper in High Noon and destroys the bums every time.

gilbar said...

you don’t want to give a platform to somebody who is known to lie a lot, but at the same time, this is still the president of the United States...""

if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"

Mike Sylwester said...

The press constantly gives Elizabeth Warren a platform to tell her lies about being a Cherokee. The challenge for the press is to call her out for the lies that she tells on that subject.

Henry said...

How about focusing on what the government does instead of what the government says.

The media likes to report on what the government says because it's easier than investigating what it does.

CJinPA said...

How about focusing on what the government does instead of what the government says. The media likes to report on what the government says because it's easier than investigating what it does.

Exactly. And on this issue, most people approve of what Trump is trying to do, if not what he says. Which is more motivation to focus on words not policy.

Mary Beth said...

A nanny.

zipity said...

Odd. They didn't seem to care when Obama lied about Obamacare.

Or when he lied about the real cause of the Benghazi attack. He and Hillary stood in front of the caskets of four dead Americans, and lied to their families about what happened.

Or that he gave billions of dollars to the Mullahs in Iran for nothing.

Jersey Fled said...

Funny that the guy who supposedly lies all of the time has kept more of his campaign promises than any President that I can recall in my lifetime.

Still waiting for Obama to close Gitmo in the first 100 days of his administration.

roesch/voltaire said...

No problem here as Trump mostly lies and exaggerates and everybody already knows that.

Mary Beth said...

Live fact-checking, like that done by Candy Crowley when she was supposed to be moderating a debate.

Or just have a pop-up of Nancy Pelosi with a balloon caption saying, "I reject your facts." That way, they don't really need to know any facts, they just have to know what they don't like the sound of.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Gee I don't remember any agony, except from TV viewers, who endured 150 interruptions of regular programming in 2009 and 2010 as Obama serial-lied about keeping doctors and plans and how surgeons remove limbs unnecessarily to the profit of insurance companies. How? Who knows! He just lied all the time. I think a lot of the "Trump is an extraordinary liar" crap is simply a reaction to Obama. The DNC-Media just take what they do and project it onto Republicans and then point the finger.

However, there is a difference. My wife and I would despair when Obama came on, change the channel, but also laugh because the support for ACA went DOWN after every Obama sales job. It was amazing to watch. He drove support so low they had to vote in secret in the middle of the night to pass it. And use tricks. Boy, if Trump urged Congress to use such "tricks" the Media surely would use the term "unprecedented" because they hate us and believe we have no memory of their past sins. So the difference this time is we enjoy Trump's public moments for their entertainment. I hope he is also persuasive.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Yeah but Obama lying was OK because it was for your own good.

chuck said...

Oh, look at that, the media pretends that it is honest. That's a lie :)

Howard said...

Msm can't lose the kick me sign

RobinGoodfellow said...

Blogger CJinPA said...
Why don't we hold a vote at designated intervals to determine if the President is too big of a liar to continue in office?

YES. We can hold this vote every year. No, every five years. No, every three years. Three or five years, something like that, it really doesn't matter.

—Theodoric of York, medieval politician

Seeing Red said...

The media lies every day. They don’t choose to clean up their act.

Seeing Red said...

Pelosi kept repeating something like Obamacare would free people to start their own businesses.

CJinPA said...

RobinGoodfellow said...
"—Theodoric of York, medieval politician"

Sir, I doff my cap.

Seeing Red said...

I remember that skit! Lolololol

wendybar said...

“The challenge that the media faces is you don’t want to give a platform to somebody who is known to lie a lot, but at the same time, this is still the president of the United States, who has a lot of power and continues to use that power,” Ananny said in an interview with The Post. “The challenge the press has is to call the president out for what I expect will be the lies he will tell, because he tells them all the time, and to call them out in real time.”

The same media kissed the ground the last President walked on, and never reported ANYTHING (He lied and covered up quite a bit!) that would show him in a bad light...WHICH is one of the reasons why President Trump got elected.

rehajm said...

“The challenge the press has is to call the president out for what I expect will be the lies he will tell, because he tells them all the time, and to call them out in real time.”

If Trump is your problem this is not your solution.

Achilles said...

The oligarchs spend a lot of money maintaining their MSM megaphone.

It is only working on the truly stupid people now.

Nonapod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nonapod said...

I keep hearing about how Trump lies all the time as if that's something new or untenable in the Universe of US politics. To anyone with concern, I've got some news for you: Every president, every successful national level politician has lied. Shocking, I know. The lying isn't significant, it's what they lie about.

For anybody who makes the assertion that Trump's lies are a point of concern, I'd like them to actually choose a lie that Trump has told that they think is extremely bad and explain why they believe it was so bad. I'm fairly confident I could make a decent argument that any specific lie he has told wasn't in fact really that bad or destrutive. And what's more, I could also detail a lie from another President or powerful pol that I believe was actually very destructive and explain why it was so bad.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So Nonapod, you're saying Trump's imprecise speech produces alternate facts or mis-statements that are not material to the issue at hand, whereas a lie like "The video caused a riot" is material and causes damage. I can agree with that!

Unknown said...

I'm waiting for a certain commentator to come in and tell us how Trump's unending parade of lies is horrible and impeachable.... but Obama was just dandy and oh, look at the crease in his pants.... how could anyone not just happily accept Obama as Lord God Emperor of all and never, ever disagree with him?

It could be any one of a number of our commentators, actually. The worship of Obama is strong on some people's minds... far more cult like than it should be.

--Vance

GRW3 said...

If MSM had ever seriously, and routinely, called out Obama's blatant lies, more people might be interested in their opinion. They didn't. O's lies were in service (MSM opinion) of a greater good so they were OK. What gets called a lie is too often a difference of opinion on what the cumulative facts mean. Lot's of situation have a lot more facts associated than can be put into a single cogent story. Trump works from a different set of facts that don't support the media narrative and his interpretation is called s a lie.

Nonapod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nonapod said...

To be clear, I don't actually approve of Trumps lies. I wish presidents and politicians wouldn't lie. I wish more people in general wouldn't lie. I believe the world would be a better place if people were just more honest with each other and also themselves. But I also know that none of that is likely to happen unless our ability to lie is completely negated with universal telepathy or something.

So given that lies are a pretty immutable fact of life, all we can do is try to recognize when people are lying. And when we find out someone told a lie, act accordingly by asking some basic questions like: Why did this person lie? How bad is the lie really? This is all really just simple reasoning, but for some reason people seem to get hung up on the details.

Seeing Red said...

I just want stuff done. I have my own life, not concerned about the jaw-jaw.

hstad said...

So Trump lies like no other President before him? LOL! The Media are poster-boys for the number 1 candidates who lie. Now who check's them in real time? We do and found them lacking in every category. So a story like this is just more lying by the MSM.

Brian said...

If the president is going to lie, and those lies can be provably false later, wouldn't the media WANT to give him a platform? If only to throw it in his face later?

The hand wringing over "should we or shouldn't we" really means that they are scared of the effectiveness of Trump's persuasion skills. His persuasion can't be better than theirs so they instead construct the defense mechanism that he only persuades because he lies.

Rigelsen said...

They just want the media to substitute their own political choices and priorities for Trumps.

After all, you regularly see this in the “non-partisan” fact checks from the three main groups/people who do them:

1. Republicans are regularly pilloried as lying when it is merely a matter of opinion or political choice.
2. Even when they acknowledge that the Republican didn’t lie, they give pinnochios because the Rep emphasized the wrong thing or had the wrong priorities.
3. Democrats are graded on curve.

Remember that the fact checkers were routinely calling out Republicans for saying during its drafting and passing that ObamaCare would force a substantial number of Americans to lose their current health care plans and options. They did so at least partly on the basis of Obama’s “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” as if it were gospel and what the bill then law actually said. They kept doing so until even they couldn’t avoid acknowledging that most Americans on individual policies had been forced to change their health care plan.

Winnie said...

I'm interested to find out if the new standard at the nerworks will be to let the opposition party leaders rebut all Presidential addresses now. I would prefer a full on debate between the sides on this issue. I've yet to hear what border security plans the Democrats are offering. Or any counter offer. Is there one?

Mark O said...

It amazes me that the networks still think people take them seriously.

This, on Twitter, from wrechardthecat:

To the question : how can we rebuild trust the probable answer is never. The need for trust is driven by the economics of rational ignorance. As information became more available the level of rational ignorance required decreased. We had too much trust and are now offloading.

Media credibility did not survive Twitter.

rehajm said...

The challenge that the media faces is you don’t want to give a platform to somebody who is known to lie a lot

I eagerly await the media refusing a platform to those who say people who disagree with a climate related policy solution are science deniers, or that say there is a gender pay gap, or that say those who are opposed to illegal immigration are racist or opposed to immigration, but I won't hold by breath.

Yancey Ward said...

How many people pulled for Clemson last night? I suspect everyone who wasn't a dyed-in-the wool Bama fan, right?

Trump is Clemson, and the media still don't get that.

Yancey Ward said...

Just remember the 2016 Republican primaries- it was Trump against everyone else. He was literally the target of every other candidate, to the exclusion of all other targets.

Yancey Ward said...

And you had the media, after election day, wondering how Trump won with the withering attacks of relentlessly anti-Trump and pro-Clinton media. I mean, it takes immovable stupidity to not understand the dynamic- Trump plays to this constantly, and they just jump at his command.

Otto said...

Dwelling in the basement.

stlcdr said...

It’s pointless trying to point out Obama’s lies - which actually had material effect on people. The issue at hand is Trumps lies: the meeting was Huge! We are winning bigly! These kind of lies or exaggerations are typical hyperbole - it just hasn’t been seen in politics, before, coupled with their hatred of Trump.

mccullough said...

The TV media could just play old clips of Obama supporting a crackdown on illegal immigration. And then call his statements lies since Obama didn’t actually support as crackdown on illegal immigration.

Neither did W.

I’d be all for illegal immigration if we could stuff 50 of them each into every residence W and Obama own. Put them up in Pelosi’s houses as well.

They need to sleep every night in a residence with 50 illegals in them.

alanc709 said...

Have Obama fact check the speech, assisted by Hillary. They know a thing or two about lying.

Scott said...

The site Politifact is much friendlier to liberals. But comparing their tally of lies uttered the current and former presidents, Obama scores worse than Trump, at least in the truth department -- Trump got some statements true or partially true, while Obama got nada.

Indeed, Trump's bullshit is usually borne out of the passion of the moment. Obama, however, was a cold and calculated liar, with his lies written in advance and read from a teleprompter.

Achilles said...

Otto said...
Dwelling in the basement.

I understand the point of your posts and your goal.

But the media needs to be dwelled upon. It is a tool for the globalists and must be brought down.

And I agree that means building up some honest journalistic institutions.

Static Ping said...

A knowledgeable and impartial fact checker would be a wonderful thing, even better with immediate results. There are two main problems with this:

1. Such a thing does not exist and almost certainly could never exist.
2. If any group of persons is not the least bit qualified for the job, it is journalists.

alanc709 said...

Since we are chatting about politicians lying, I seem to have missed the death of the internet after Net Neutrality was repealed. Can someone clear that up for me?

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I love the Mystery Science Theatre idea. That's something I would watch.

Kevin said...

It's so cute when the media pretend to have an ounce of reputation left and the will to use it to benefit the country as a whole.

Michael K said...

Trump is Clemson, and the media still don't get that.

He is also Ross Perot without the summer meltdown.

FIDO said...

Translation: We don't want Trump to have a bigger platform but we can't justify not covering him.

Jim at said...

No problem here as Trump mostly lies and exaggerates and everybody already knows that.

If you like your lies and exaggerations, you can keep your lies and exaggerations. Period.

Gretchen said...

This is a simple issue. Walls work. If they didn't we wouldn't live in houses and rich people including members of congress and entertainers wouldn't erect them around their homes.

The Democrats have no workable plan for border security, they want open borders. Most Americans don't.

A wall isn't 100% effective, the only strategy that would stop people from coming to America is complete socialist control for about 6 years, Venezuela has no illegal immigrant problem, nor does Cuba.

buwaya said...

The mass media system is a centrally managed operation with a central clearinghouse for messaging themes and work assignments.

In other words, it is a propaganda ministry.

This is obvious to anyone who has considered its behavior over time. The precision of timing and the coordination of messages is just the beginning of the inductive reasoning chain. An analysis of ownership, of the common system of training and career advancement (see the USC Annenberg school mentioned in this article as just one case), as also the closed system of the management ranks.

The common error, made over and over again by nearly all its opponents, even by Trump, is to assume that it is NOT a propaganda ministry. People are fooled into thinking of its bits and pieces as humans, with independent thought or free will. But they aren't. Organizations do not consist of individuals who can be persuaded. They are human components performing their duties as directed.

The only persons in this system who can be persuaded, in any useful sense, are its owners, whose tool it is. And ownership of these media conglomerates is very usefully obscured beyond the very high corporate conglomerate level. CNN for instance is on paper owned by a chain of organizations - Turner->Warner->AT&T. Who really calls the shots at AT&T? Not their Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. Wouldn't we all like to know.

I have repeated this over and over. But old habits and old world views are difficult to break.

wholelottasplainin said...

Nonapod said...
I keep hearing about how Trump lies all the time as if that's something new or untenable in the Universe of US politics. To anyone with concern, I've got some news for you: Every president, every successful national level politician has lied. Shocking, I know. The lying isn't significant, it's what they lie about.

For anybody who makes the assertion that Trump's lies are a point of concern, I'd like them to actually choose a lie that Trump has told that they think is extremely bad and explain why they believe it was so bad. I'm fairly confident I could make a decent argument that any specific lie he has told wasn't in fact really that bad or destrutive. And what's more, I could also detail a lie from another President or powerful pol that I believe was actually very destructive and explain why it was so bad.
********************

Somewhere in the last twenty years or so, the term "lie" replaced the words "exaggeration" or mis-statement. Around the time the Left started chanting, "Bush lied, people died."

Yet a lie, according to the dictionary, is a "false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood."

It seems the "deliberate intent to deceive" is blithely assumed to be present in every statement where Trump exaggerates or makes a mis-statement. Or event statements the hearer simply disagrees with.

How conveeenient for NeverTrumpers and Proglodytes!!!

How about asking for evidence that Trump knowing made false statements with an intention to deceive? IOW that he KNEW what he was saying when he said it, and intended to deceive by saying it.

rcocean said...

Good Sarcasm at the end Althouse.

Here's my question:

We GIVE the networks the airwaves for free,and in return we expect some "public service" out of them. Like carrying the POTUS' speech.

Nobody elected them to anything. If they want to give Pelosi some rebuttal time - that's fine. But NOBODY elected CBS/NBC/ABC to rebut or FACT CHECK the POTUS.

bagoh20 said...

Simple question the President should ask the American Public tonight:

Why do you lock your doors? Is it so you can decide who enters your house and when? Imagine not doing that. What would happen once everyone knew your door was unlocked? That's how our border works today.

FullMoon said...

Fun Facts: (Spin added)

* An Associated Press poll taken just before the shutdown shows that border security is among the top five concerns for the American people.

Border security no longer among top three concerns!

* A recent Gallup Poll -- seen as the gold standard in polling -- also reported that border security had moved into the top-two concerns for Americans just after the 2018 midterm elections.

Border security no longer nuber one concern!

* A Rasmussen Poll shows that nearly one-fourth of Americans would contribute their own money to build a border wall.

75% would not fund wall!

* An Economist/YouGov poll shows that a whopping 62 percent of Americans view illegal immigration as either a "very serious problem" or a "somewhat serious problem" -- with only seven percent of Americans believing that illegal immigration is "not" a problem.

Many Americans do not veiw security as serious problem!

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/379055.php

bagoh20 said...

If they did fact check, what percentage of truths spoken would they acknowledge?

narciso said...

Yes but they present themselves as balanced

https://mobile.twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1082708578040012802

BJM said...

stlcdr said...

The issue at hand is Trumps lies: the meeting was Huge! We are winning bigly! These kind of lies or exaggerations are typical hyperbole - it just hasn’t been seen in politics, before, coupled with their hatred of Trump.

Political hyperbole/colorful speech is hardly new. Cicero was a master at using hyperbole in Senate debates:

"What Charybdis is so greedy? The Ocean could hardly have swallowed up so many things, so widely scattered, in such distant places, and so quickly!" - Re Mark Antony’s greed (Philippics 2.67)

Thomas Paine's pamphlets, William Jennings Bryan and Theodore Roosevelt were masters of
political bombast and hyperbole. JFK and Reagan excelled at turning a phrase or exaggerating a stump speech too.

Pity we lost the passion to focus grouped pap.

Sam L. said...

The enemedia KNOWS that Trump is lying and tells us so. Many of us don't believe a word the enemedia writes of says.

narciso said...

Well their lips are moving:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/tucker-carlson-health-of-nations-markets/

bagoh20 said...

Little fingers are typing away in newsrooms all over the nation right now. They anticipate what Trump will say, and they will have counter "facts", unchallenged studies from leftist professors, and anonymous sources saying the exact opposite, or arguing with some straw man version of what Trump says. We have all seen this over and over for two years now. They won't later concede that they were wrong either when it surfaces. They will drop it for a while, and it will resurface and be reused after everyone forgets they were wrong. I'm not saying Trump always tells the truth, far from it, but I'm saying he not any worse than his critics.

Caligula said...

This is what happens when critics start thinking they're more important than the work they're criticizing.

Like it or not, Trump is POTUS. And what a POTUS says is news, simply because he's POTUS.

Therefore, if you're a news organization you cover it. Without trying to mock it or fact-check it in real time. Because, there will be plenty of time to editorialize about it tomorrow, but, for now it's your job to just cover it.

dreams said...

There is a reason we know all about fake news and it isn't Trump lying.

walter said...

So..live onscreen "fact checking" for Trump..then the Chyron locks to "What she said" when Pelosi responds.

funsize said...

basically the entirety of social media is lies. Pretty ones, wrapped up in pretty packages. It's just the culture of it. And it makes great news-fodder, apparently.

funsize said...

glad to see you back, buwaya.

iowan2 said...

I swear I saw this upthread, but can't find it, to properly give credit.

President Trump is the master persuader. That is why the media is going apoplectic. It means they know the President is going around their narrative setting. The President is going to make them irrelevant...all in 8 minutes.

Darrell said...

The "lie" lie.
The Media is shameless.

iowan2 said...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Verified account

@RepAOC
Follow Follow @RepAOC
More
I just had a furloughed worker come visit me in my office.

“I work for HUD,” he said. “My family is hurting now that I’m three weeks without a paycheck,”

Since not a single paycheck has been missed yet, AOC is lying.
Gambling at Ricks, and Politicians lying. Shocked I am.

cf said...

Meh.

They cannot Stand that President Trump is a triumphant, free expression of 21st Century America.

They are twisted sour at his real-time, real self, communicating genuinely and constantly with the whole wide world -- from Russia to aunt Bee -- through the intimate, infinitely available 21stC communications system: Twitter. Logging on to wide-open Twitter, there are no levels of availability, nothing you can hide, nothing private, no levels of availability. what you park on twitter is simply available to any and all.

President Trump is the lion-hearted master of this Era, and we get to witness it in the moment. 25 years from now, we will look back on this with such astonishment, no matter how it turns out, history will gasp in amazement.

(must note a Fine Sign: @npr the @nytimes evening blogger with the ultra hushed voice, @annalthouse mentioned liking him last year. wow. that program last night actually, & not even grudgingly, acknowledged recent actions by the president in Syria are sound. excellent shift)

<>

SGT Ted said...

This isn't any sort of free press. This is simply totalitarian style propaganda gatekeeping on behalf of one political party.

Chuck said...

The media must think that the American public are nothing but morons. We can pretty much think for ourselves, you know. Just shut up and debunk later if you think it's worth the effort otherwise please go away.

The Media is the most annoying part of the media.