Pres.-Elect Donald Trump held a private meeting with a group of TV news power players yesterday. The invitees included the likes of Wolf Blitzer, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, and CNN President Jeffrey A. Zucker, among others. But it ended up as an ambush where Trump was given the opportunity to harshly berated his guests for their so-called biased coverage of his campaign.
Here is a quote from The Times:
It had all the trappings of a high-level rapprochement: President-elect Donald J. Trump, now the nation’s press critic in chief, inviting the leading anchors and executives of television news to join him on Monday for a private meeting of minds.
On-air stars like Lester Holt, Charlie Rose, George Stephanopoulos and Wolf Blitzer headed to Trump Tower for the off-the-record gathering, typically the kind of event where journalists and politicians clear the air after a hard-fought campaign.
Now, why did this meeting come together in the first place?
Judging from The Times quote, this is a regular event after presidential campaigns, and it’s all off-the-record!
The White House and the news room may be the two most powerful institutions in today’s America. You have one as the executive branch of the government, and the other as the gate-keeper of knowledge. But what happens when they are in cahoots with one another?
That’s what this meeting looks like: the elite of the elite are coming together to work out differences so they can work hand-in-hand to address common interests.
But what about the concept of the press as the “Fourth Estate”? The media should be the adversary of power instead of its collaborator.
We need to fight collusion between powerful groups such as these, especially when one is supposed to be the watchdog over the other.