THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2020 

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Chris Wallace, Jonah Goldberg 

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace called out White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Sunday for, among other things, telling reporters what questions they should be asking.

McEnany last week went after reporters, putting up questions "that any serious journalist would want to answer about why people were unmasked" in a chaotic briefing. It's a full-blown feud, and on Tuesday, McEnany continued it, saying that  journalists who fail to ask those questionsare committing malpractice.

Wallace played the clip and said, “I spent six years in the White House briefing room covering Ronald Reagan. I have to say, I never — and in the years since too — I never saw a White House press secretary act like that.”

He wasn't alone. The Dispatch's Jonah Goldberg likewise gave McEnany a bad review, calling her overall performance "indefensible and grotesque.” Goldberg and Wallace both have been the object of intense scorn from the Trump right on Twitter since it aired.

In the feud between the press and the press secretary, Wallace, unlike the New York Post, stood with the press. And not without context.

"Let me just say, Sam Donaldson and me in the Reagan White House, we were pretty tough on the White House press secretaries and we never had our religious beliefs questioned or were lectured on what we should ask," he said.

Which kind of says it all.

MEDIA LOSER:
Brit Hume

Back in March, Fox News Channel senior political analyst Brit Hume told Shannon Bream that what the president says during the coronavirus pandemic should be precise, not "vague talk" or "bragging." In fact, that everyone should be careful and responsible with what they say.

Since that time, Hume has himself shared content that was at the very least less than fully vetted on more than one occasion. This weekend, Hume made fun of former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing a mask in public, 

And President Donald Trump joined in.

This mockery took place just a day after Trump's own Surgeon General released a public service announcement advising Americans to wear masks. "Wearing a face covering has always been more about protecting your neighbor than protecting yourself. But the more people who wear them, the lower the likely spread and burden of #COVID19 in YOUR community, he explained in an informative thread.

On Tuesday, Hume responded to the tidal wave of criticism that came after Trump retweeted him by arguing that, since these leaders have been apart from the public, have not been exposed, that the gesture protects no one. CNN's New Day was not convinced.

So it seems that between March and today, Hume has decided it's not so important the President or other leaders put out a clear message. Instead, he and the president can make fun of someone following the guidelines put out by Trump's own administration.

The A-Block

‘Deeply Sorry’

President Donald Trump once again waded through sewage in order to take a cheap shot at MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, by indulging a lurid conspiracy theory about the death of a former intern. 

Scarborough called the president's actions "unspeakably cruel."

Timothy Klausutis, the widowed husband, said even more, pleading with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to remove the tweets.

"I’m asking you to intervene in this instance because the President of the United States has taken something that does not belong him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain," he said, in part.

A Twitter spokesperson told Mediaite this morning, “We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family.”

The tweets, however, have not been removed.

'Viral' video

Viral video (pun intended) of a jam-packed pool party at the Lake of the Ozarks has prompted a travel advisory and a call from health officials for attendees to self-quarantine for two weeks.

GOP Convention

President Trump has threatened to move the 2020 Republican National Convention from its planned location of Charlotte, North Carolina if Gov. Roy Cooper of the state does not promise the venue will be at full capacity in August.

Flouting safety guidelines

“The history books will show that the president modeled the worst practices instead of the best practices,” said CNN's Brian Stelter this week. "Historians will also address why so many Republican leaders just sat there silently while the president’s conduct went from alarming to appalling and beyond.”

'But are we willing to kill people?'
 
“We have to say, ‘Yes,'" said Adam Smith, husband of the leader of the Reopen North Carolina group.

"No, it’s not terrorism," he added. 

Oh.

“I’m not a racist."

A white woman named Amy Cooper has apologized after a viral video showed her calling police on Christian Cooper — a black man — and falsely claiming he was threatening her life.

Childish president

Conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter absolutely shredded Trump in a podcast Tuesday for his attacks on former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling the president an “ego-maniacal baby,” a “childish president,” the “easiest person to play I’ve ever, ever seen,” and a “p*ssy."

Diddly squat

Joe Biden’s statement that voters who have a hard time choosing between him and Trump "ain’t black” will not mean “diddly squat” in the 2020 election, Democratic strategist James Carville said this weekend interview ON MSNBC.

Media criticism
 

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams appeared on CNN Sunday to discuss the site’s publication of an op-ed by Matt Lauer which criticized the reporting of Ronan Farrow — whose book included an allegation of rape against the former Today Show anchor.

Speaking with Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources, Abrams billed Lauer’s examination of Farrow’s work as a crucial piece of media criticism.

Watch the interview here.

Links We Like

Socially distanced circles in parks, hugging through plastic; Our new normal, in pictures.
via CNN
Balance may be commercially unviable. 'Liberal' media might need to just embrace bias.
- by Van Gordon Sauter, via Wall Street Journal

They, too, gave all: American war deaths from disease
- via National Review

He experienced severe reaction to Moderna’s vaccine candidate. He’s still a believer
- via STAT News
Just how important are political conventions?
- via The Morning Jolt
No seriously, Joe Biden is running on a transformative policy agenda
- via Vox
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