Life

Grab your popcorn for Donald Trump vs. the ‘crooked’ news media

Grab your popcorn for Donald Trump vs. the ‘crooked’ news media
Update: Donald Trump changed his mind and met with The New York Times Tuesday afternoon for an on-the-record conversation. Details below.

What a week to be in the business of covering the looming presidency of Donald Trump! And it’s only Tuesday.

The unmandated victor of the 2016 election launched a new tirade of targeted tweets against the news media, as well as face to face attacks.

Tuesday morning Trump tweeted he was canceling his face to face showdown at The New York Times.

According to the Associated Press, the newspaper denied the charge and said Trump’s aides tried to change the rules. He’d been scheduled to meet Times reporters, editors and columnists and did not give details of his complaint in his tweet.

Eileen M. Murphy, the newspaper’s senior vice president for communications, said in a statement: “We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to.”

The Times quoted her as blaming Trump’s aides for trying to alter the conditions, asking for a private meeting only, with nothing on the record, “which we refused to agree to.

“In the end,” she said, “we concluded with them that we would go back to the original plan of a small off-the-record session and a larger on-the-record session with reporters and columnists.” And that’s when Trump canceled and turned the tables on The Times.

But in just a few hours, the president-elect changed his mind and visited The Times for an on-the-record conversation. Times reporters live blogged and tweeted some of the more surprising statements:

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/801138733454073856

On Monday, the president-elect met with both executives and top anchors who represented the major U.S. television networks.

Quoting a source, Politico reported one of Trump’s complaints was how NBC chose unflattering photos:

The source said the meeting started with a typical Trump complaint about the “dishonest media,” and that he specifically singled out CNN and NBC News for example as “the worst.”

He also complained about photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering, the source said.

Trump turned to NBC News President Deborah Turness at one point, the source said, and told her the network won’t run a nice picture of him, instead choosing “this picture of me,” as he made a face with a double chin. Turness replied that they had a “very nice” picture of him on their website at the moment.

In addition to Turness, the hour-long meeting was attended by NBC’s Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC’s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz, CBS’ Norah O’Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and King, Fox News’ Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC’s Phil Griffin and CNN’s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett.

Although the meeting was off the record, another source provided sensational details to the New York Post:

“It was like a f–ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter.

“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said.

“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added.

A second source confirmed the fireworks.

“The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks,” the other source said.

“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.

Later that night, Trump tweeted to say it was “well-known” that he has properties across the globe. He blamed the “crooked media” for raising questions about them.

He has said repeatedly that he will leave his company to his children and have no interest in it — but three of his adult children are also playing key roles in his transition, a clear conflict of interest.

Also on Monday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo noted in an interview with Trump top aide Kellyanne Conway that most of the president-elect’s tweets don’t draw attention to his plan for the country, and Conway responded: “Why do you care?”

Just another day covering the looming presidency of president-elect Donald Trump.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

White supremacist alt-right leader: ‘Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!’

Previous article

Chris Evans on supporting his gay brother and human rights during ‘tricky times’

Next article