Whats To Be Done About Donald Trumps Constant Tweeting?

[HAB911]

A handy guide for journalists.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-twitter-journalists_us_586c037fe4b0eb58648ad66a

Since it would appear that President-elect Donald Trump is not going to give up using his Twitter account ― which is probably the one good thing the social media company’s share value has going for it ― it would seem that journalists have a new problem: figuring a way to keep Trump’s insomniac utterances from making a complete hash of their work.

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Back when Washington Post reporter David Weigel was writing for the Washington Independent, he faced a similar conundrum with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who by the end of 2009 had taken to using Facebook as her communications medium of choice. As Weigel pointed out in a piece titled, “Why I Don’t Write About Sarah Palin’s Facebook Posts,” it was a key ingredient in a rather shrewd media strategy:

The problem is that Palin has put the political press in a submissive position, one in which the only information it prints about her comes from prepared statements or from Q&As with friendly interviewers. This isn’t something most politicians get away with, or would be allowed to get away with. But Palin has leveraged her celebrity — her ability to get ratings, the ardor of her fans and the bitterness of her critics — to win a truly unique relationship with the press. She is allowed to shape the public debate without actually engaging in it.


snip

Of course, at some point Trump will gain access to “@POTUS,” the legacy Twitter account established by the Obama administration. No matter how Trump uses it, It’s going to become tempting to view tweets from that account as the real deal ― the authentic voice of the White House. You might be inclined to accord that account full faith and credit. Don’t do this! As I said back when the Obama White House first built this infernal contraption, it doesn’t produce authentic events, either:

Anyone who thinks that this new outlet is going to be a venue for the president’s unvarnished, sincere opinion needs to get his head examined. And yes, that cute little exchange between Obama and former President Bill Clinton was absolutely a tidy bit of Oval Office kayfabe. Anything that gets posted to the @POTUS account will be vetted [by White House communications staff] within an inch of its life, and anything remotely interesting will be stripped out and watered down.

[global1]

1. The Patriotic Thing For Twitter To Do Is To....

close Trump's Twitter account.

[RobinA]

2. Call Me Old

but I do not think Presidents should tweet. Its silliness degrades the office. Tweeting is for teenagers and celebrities. However, in Orange Don's case, it does give us a rather candid look into his psyche, so his continued tweeting may be a good periodic reminder of what we're actually dealing with.

[HAB911]

3. Double edged sword syndrome

Thing is, we can't be certain it is him tweeting like a demented child, more likely an underling

[Dustlawyer]

4. Ignore the damn tweets and practice real journalism!

With this administration there will be plenty of real stories that the tweets will try to distract you from. Do your job and investigate! Which Republican(s) brought out the get rid of the ethics investigators vote? How many and who were the foreign actors buying in fluency with Trump since the election? Who is booking his hotels around the world? So much real stuff to investigate!

[cheyanne]

5. The tweets serve an important purpose for Trump; the way to stop is to expose that.

Goal One for demogogues: induce fear.

Tweets about individual companies: "I can blow your stock price with one tweet, so be very nice to me."

Tweets about individuals: " I can incite death threats to anyone who disagrees with me, so be very nice to me."

We already see the results of this fear-mongering in the the WSJ's fear of calling Trump a liar and hiding it under the cloak of "objectivity".