This is how you show a government that press intimidation doesn't work

[kpete]

Political journalists boycott No 10 briefing after PM's aide tried to ban selected reporters

Political journalists walked out of No 10 Downing Street this afternoon in protest at the government planning to give a briefing on the EU only to selected reporters – banning the Mirror, i, HuffPost, PoliticsHome, Independent and others from attending.

Reporters on the invited list were asked to stand on one side of a rug in the foyer of No 10, while those not allowed in were asked by security to stand on the other side.

After one of Boris Johnson’s most senior advisers, Lee Cain, told the banned reporters they must leave the building, the rest of the journalists decided to walk out rather than allow Downing Street to choose who scrutinises and reports on the government.

Among those who refused the briefing and walked out included the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, ITV’s Robert Peston and political journalists from the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Financial Times, and Guardian.

The briefing was due to be given by government officials, who are meant to be neutral rather than political.

The tactics from No 10 mirror those of Donald Trump in the US, who has been known to try to exclude journalists from reporting on his activities, and represents an escalation of Johnson’s tensions with the media, which have been growing in recent weeks.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/feb/03/brexit-news-boris--johnson-speech-barnier-cabinet-ministers-claims-uk-does-not-need-trade-deal-with-eu-ahead-of-pms-speech-live-news

[58Sunliner]

1. That was a trial balloon that got blown up. Thankfully the journalists pushed back.

[Sherman A1]

2. I wish the WH Press Corps would have walked out on Day 2

of this administration and never walked back in after the BS about crowd size at the briefings by Spicy.

[lagomorph777]

7. Really there's no reason to cover anything the Turd administration says

unless it's under oath, in which case it's to report the perjury.

[Oldem]

11. The media,

even the liberal cable TV channels, shares responsiblity for mess we're in, now. We got wall-to-wall coverage of dump's outrages in the 2016 primaries, debates, etc., when ignoring him would have deprived him of the attention he craves: It's his oxygen. We've gotten the same coverage, sometimes with new outrages every hour. During a break in the show trial coverage, one day, one of MSNBC's legal analysts said he didn't know why "we're even covering this." Nobody responded. Here's why. Their coverage of every outrage isn't news, any more than it's always "breaking news." It's to sell products for their advertisers. We could all learn from those reporters who walked out of 10 Downing St.; we could turn off our TVs or watch Property Brothers instead of being customers of cable news--then write and let them know what we're doing, and why. Try shutting off their oxygen and see how they like it.

[lagomorph777]

13. "Breaking News" vs Property Brothers

Funny you mention those things. I have drifted almost completely away from political TV, and toward HGTV, DIY, etc. There's so little useful content in political TV; it just depresses me, and when "Breaking News" typically consists of the latest mad rant from Mafia Don, or some dweeb expressing an opinion, how long can I continue to give a shit? I still care about the situation (i.e. I vote and if I wasn't trapped in a bad situation with family illness etc I'd be an activist), but cable politics just doesn't engage me when it's all so depressing - all focused on the problem instead of empowering the viewer to make it better.

[Oldem]

14. Political TV

isn't interested in "empowering the viewer." If we felt empowered, who knows what we might do? We might elect Bernie Sanders. We might throw out all the repugs in Congress, the very people corporate bosses and advertisers have bought and paid for. Political TV is only interested in those corporate bosses and advertisers--who, in turn, are only interested in maintaining their power--and those guys would be horrified, not to mention SOL, if we began thinking for ourselves.

[Amaryllis]

15. I would love a little more detail about what you are watching instead. AGree with you about

political TV. Not only depressing but anxiety producing. "all focused on the problem instead of empowering the viewer to make it better" - you nailed it.

[lagomorph777]

17. I like to learn stuff.

Political TV isn't really teaching me stuff. So I'm watching Science Channel, History Channel, and the home improvement channels. They are generally uplifting and remind of who we can be when we put our minds and hands to it.

[Ilsa]

18. HGTV is what's on at psychiatrists' offices and

other places where there tends to be higher than typical stress levels.

Once, at my son's psychiatrist, I had to ask the staff to change the channel because it went from kids programming to Maury Povich-ish "who shot my baby-daddy?" programming. Really traumatic stuff, at a dr. office.

[lagomorph777]

19. HGTV is unlikely to offend or stress anybody; great for waiting rooms.

My wife loves to watch that toxic crap like Maury and Dr. Phil. I don't get it.

[Ilsa]

20. Oh, I know! You can feel the tension in the room

go down when the channel was changed! And our psych takes BP after checking in, before the visit.

[Pantagruel]

3. This is where the free market fails

Fox would love all but them boycotting a Press briefing, they enable the emasculation of a free press.

[Rainbow Droid]

4. The British press has a spine, knows the enemy, and won't be intimidated.

Our press, by and large, only cares about ad revenue and the bottom line.

I'm starting to see a common theme to all of our problems.

Haha just kidding, I knew unchecked capitalism was the root cause of our problems all along.

[NewJeffCT]

5. and, i remember the White House press corps did similar

when Obama was president and they tried to block Fox News from attending...

With Trump, though, nothing

[blueinredohio]

6. Our press could learn a few things.

[Nay]

8. Our 'press' already knows those things -- they are just paid well to be the

propaganda arms of the oligarchs. Any individual rabble-rousing journalist will have his story spiked and he'll get a talking to.

[rickyhall]

9. Exactly

[blueinredohio]

16. That's true, thank you.

I had never paid much attention to the media before Trump. Now I notice they highlight everything he does and says. When he takes someone's press pass, only lets certain journalists ask questions, locks them out of places and they don't stick together they deserve what they get.

[spanone]

10. trump would love to get it down to just faux.....

[Delphinus]

12. Bravo!