NBC and FOX says - no more phone interviews (free airtime)

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by Abner, Mar 25, 2016.

Loading...
  1. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    From the article:

    Chuck Todd: NBC’s Meet the Press will no longer allow Republican presidential Donald Trump to call in – Jewish Business News

    From the article:

    "NBC’s Sunday morning political talk show, Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd, told The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg, he will no longer allow Donald Trump to call in to the show in lieu of appearing on camera. Todd said the Republican presidential front-runner was taking away the media advantage that has been solely granted to him thus far this campaign season".

    Rutenberg mantioned that Fox’s Chris Wallace has also refused to allow Trump to phone in. From the article:

    Donald Trump has dominated the Sunday morning political talks shows since the beginning of 2015. He was such a big surprise that he was interviewing 63 times including 28 interviews by phone — more than any other candidate.

    Media critics claim that allowing him to interview by phone “is a signal of the extent to which the television cable networks contort themselves to accommodate Trump.”

    From the New York Times:

    "Then there are the Sunday morning public affairs programs. For decades they have served as proving grounds where candidates must show up on camera, ideally in person, to handle questions without aides slipping them notes, their facial reactions and body language on full display. It’s why the programs were named “Face the Nation” and “Meet the Press” — not “Call the Nation” or “Phone the Press.”

    And yet, as the campaign began in earnest, all of the shows went along with Mr. Trump’s insistence that he “appear” by phone — all except one, “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace.”

    On Friday, Chuck Todd, the moderator of “Meet the Press,” told me he had only grudgingly allowed Mr. Trump to call in to his show earlier in the campaign, determining that he would rather have Mr. Trump take questions via phone than not at all.

    Now, Mr. Todd said, he will no longer allow Mr. Trump to do prescheduled interviews by phone on the NBC program. And CNN told me it would think twice before giving full coverage to a Trump news conference that devolves into an infomercial
    ___________________________________________________________________________________________

    Trump claims that the media is unfair to him, but it seems he has been granted special privileges others have not been privy to. I got to hand it to the guy, he gets a lot of free air time, without having to sit in the "hot seat", so to speak. It looks like the media is finally slowly catching on, and maybe they will actually start asking him tough questions, and insist on getting actual answers like everyone else.

    He even called Stephen Colbert for some free air time.

    Trump Calls Stephen Colbert On The 'Trump Phone'
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 25, 2016
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Nope, no media bias there.

    Does anyone really think that Hillary Clinton wouldn't immediately be put on the air anytime she called any of the news shows?
     
  3. Davewill

    Davewill Member

    Congratulations for almost making soda come out my nose. So now it's media bias just because you think Hillary Clinton would be allowed to call in? I actually suspect she wouldn't want to call in and probably wouldn't be allowed.

    You might as well face the fact that the Donald has been GIVEN tons of free media coverage... So much that it is grossly unfair to the rest of the Republican field.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 25, 2016
  4. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    It is true. Fox covered a story by an independent source that found that Fox, MSNBC, and CNN have been giving Trump a lot more coverage than the other candidates (it wasn't even close). It is free advertising and biases the elections in Trump's favor.
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Agreed. Who the media decide to cover, and how much, are far more important to the outcome than most people realize. Why was Ross Perot taken seriously by voters in 1992, but Gary Johnson wasn't in 2012? Because Larry King pushed Perot, whereas Johnson suffered a complete news blackout.
     
  6. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    We'll never know, because Queen Hillary doesn't deign to speak to the peons, except in highly regulated and controlled political events.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/05/12/heres-a-clock-that-counts-the-minutes-since-hillary-clinton-answered-a-press-question/

    However, any network would move heaven and earth to put her on the air if she ever called in to answer questions, which will never happen.

    Perhaps they should call in to any show that will have him on? Trump is a semi-regular caller to a local Boston talk radio station, which can't even be heard outside the Boston area. If media shows are willing to put a political candidate on the air for free publicity, why wouldn't they go on?
     
  7. Davewill

    Davewill Member

    So let me get this straight, wasn't bias when they were taking Trump's calls regularly, but it is bias when Clinton doesn't call and they don't answer?

    Pretty funny stuff. It's so obvious the Republicans have completely dominated the news coverage that your comments just make me laugh.
     
  8. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Try reading for comprehension. What I said was that Hillary would never call in anywhere to answer questions, she apparently has an allergic reaction to being questioned about anything.
     
  9. Davewill

    Davewill Member

    I read that part, but just considered it deflection from my criticism of your main point.
     
  10. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Hot seat interviews as opposed to phone interviews

    I can see why Mr. Trump prefers relatively quick phone interviews with the media. In hour long butt in the seat interviews, he doesn't fare to well. Especially on topics like foreign affairs.
    Article below:

    Trump's words lay bare ignorance to be in charge - Orlando Sentinel

    "Donald Trump's ignorance of government policy, both foreign and domestic, is breathtaking. The Republican Party is likely to nominate for president a man who appears to know next to nothing about the issues that would confront him in the job".

    "Such a sweeping condemnation may sound unfair. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump were already busy tweeting that I'm a "dummy" or something. But if you read the transcript of Trump's hour long meeting with the editorial board of The Washington Post, which took place earlier this week, I don't see how you can come to any other conclusion".

    "I've had cordial conversations with him, on the telephone and in television studios, and I agree with those who say he should never be underestimated. So I'm not a reflexive Trump hater. I am, however, appalled at how little he knows — and truly frightened".

    "The editors and writers at the Post were not playing "gotcha," as the transcript clearly shows. They asked straightforward questions".



    Unless he starts studying up on the issues real soon, he is going to have a very hard time when he faces off with Clinton.
     
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Maybe. But being economically illiterate didn't stop Sanders from beating Clinton in three states today, so who knows what the majority of American people are really looking for?
     
  12. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    LOL. You always go hard on Bernie Sanders. I think he's more politically ignorant than anything else. Even if the Democrats did win back the House and Senate, a lot of what he wants wouldn't get passed. Also, I believe his free public college proposal depends on state cooperation. He's not going to get that from a lot of states. He attracts a lot of naive, young people.
     
  13. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    The major political TV shows are arranged and planned prior to screening. I doubt that the telephone discussions are not coordinated in advance between the show producers and Trumps campaign folks.
     
  14. Davewill

    Davewill Member

    He's not naive at all. He knows he'll have to compromise and has been doing so his entire political career. Only someone who knew little about him would think otherwise.
     

Share This Page