world

Access denied: COVID-19 pandemic complicates journalists' work

23 Comments
By Thomas Urbain

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2020 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


23 Comments
Login to comment

he reads the answer from a teleprompter right after being asked the question.

How can he and his staff not know the question in advance? or are you telling his staff hears the question and then immediate types in the answer real time while Biden is reading it?

why does he have a "list" of journalists to call on if anyone can ask anything spontaneously?

Republicans have accused Biden, without evidence, of knowing the questions in advance.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

That's common practique in Japan.

The government choose the Journalists and the questions beforehand.

You can google Kisha Club to get an idea of what American Journalism is turning into.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"The efforts by politicians and others to control the message have only increased over the past two years,"

A free, for-profit press is one of the enemies of authoritarian regimes around the globe.

Look at countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others where the state has control over media and information, or Russia which has (according to some) 'partial' control over media and information.

Or at the US where Trump uses media outlets supporting him to push 'alt facts' while attacking media outlets that don't present stories the ways he wants them pushed.

As empires like China, Russia and the US (especially under an authoritarian-wannabe like Trump) get stronger, expect to see more restrictions placed on media outlets.

It's 'Brave New World', 'We', 1984', 'It Can't Happen Here' time.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

PTownsend

As empires like China, Russia and the US (especially under an authoritarian-wannabe like Trump) get stronger, expect to see more restrictions placed on media outlets.

So you admit Trump is getting stronger then ?

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Yeah freedom of press does not exist anyone who thinks it does is living in lala land.

Its long been known that in many press situations the journos were hand picked and questions submitted prior to the session.

Adern gave the NZ media $50 million in the guise of covid help , but notice they wont report negative on her its all golden as far as what they report.

Having you Believe in what the news tell you is half the gig, having the media tell you only what they want you to hear or know is the other half.

Spin Doctors!

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

So you admit Trump is getting stronger then ?

No question in my mind Trump's getting stronger. He's backed by some of the US's richest and most powerful factions, has numerous media outlets pushing his agenda, has his own keyboard warriors (Google/Yandex/Baidu "trump keyboard warriors") plus has support from at least one of the other 'rival' empires, maybe both.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Even though Trump knows the questions beforehand, he still can't answer them coherently or correctly. He probably can't even read what's on the teleprompter correctly, or doesn't know the meaning of half the words being shown.

Also, Trump tends to avoid any question he can't understand anyway, which ends up being a lot.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Adern gave the NZ media $50 million in the guise of covid help , but notice they wont report negative on her its all golden as far as what they report.

Having you Believe in what the news tell you is half the gig, having the media tell you only what they want you to hear or know is the other half.

I love this line of thinking. "I think [subject] has done [bad thing]. There is no evidence of [bad thing]. That just proves that the media have hidden [bad thing] to help [subject]."

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The journos by and large stopped reporting news a long time ago and rather these days frequently just fabricate tales that support their pre-conceived narrative. It's no wonder that anyone who has the ability to actually think mostly disregards the content of the press releases since the veracity of the articles is dubious at best.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The journos by and large stopped reporting news a long time ago 

Curious when this 'long ago' was and when it changed. Or is this just another attack on something the alt right call 'the media'.

With the internet there are more people who could be called or call themselves 'journalists', meaning there probably are more individuals fabricating stories.

But since I was able to read I have read headlines proclaiming someone had been abducted by aliens, that a certain politician was really a vampire, and today read tales of alien lizards running pizza parlors. Same as it ever was.

Wack publications have been with us since the printing press was invented. Anyone with the tiniest reasoning skills sees through most fabricated stories.

What's worse to me is governments like China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey and so many others controlling news. With no alternative opinions allowed.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Sneezy its not "Think"at all its actual, as in "Real" media hushes it up though.

Obvious you drink and swallow the gatorade by large cup fulls, which ever gatorade the news and media spin to you.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Conspiracy theory going around at the moment is that the govt cares, it wont over tax you, will always have your best interests at heart and the news and other media only tell the truth.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Sneezy its not "Think"at all its actual, as in "Real" media hushes it up though.

I know, I believe you. I know that Donald Trump went out into the Rose Garden yesterday and said, in front of reporters from Fox News, the NY Post, Breitbart, World Net Daily and OANN that he loves racism and wants all feminists burned at the stake. But they're covering it up because they love him so much. You need proof? None of them have published this real thing that actually happened. Checkmate, media.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

This is the MO of Trump republicans. If there were any evidence that Biden actual knew the questions in advanced, it would be splashed across conservative media 

You mean like the time some media outlets reported that upon hearing a “reporters” question Biden told his staff to move up the teleprompter so he could answer? That evidence? Biden is frail and he is acting like it. But it also serves the purpose of hiding his frequent gaffes whenever he speaks off script. Biden also comes off as mean and lecturing when he speaks.

Given that no one could possibly make more intentional “gaffes” than Trump it makes no sense to hide Biden in his basement from the press. Just yesterday Biden said that if Trump were not so incompetent not a single American would have died from covid. He insisted that there is data to back up this ridiculous assertion.

It is beyond me how the Democrats could select such terrible candidates like Hillary Clinton and Biden to run against Trump. Except for them Trump is easily the worst major party candidate ever to run for president. Could you imagine what the polls would be like if the Dems had candidates like Bill Clinton and Obama running now? Trump is only competitive because of how terrible the opposition is. It is sad to say but their is a good bit of truth to the idea that people vote for the candidate they are most likely to want to drink a beer with. Trump entertains. Biden is a scold.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

“””””””””intentional”””””””””

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The journos by and large stopped reporting news a long time ago 

Media outlets including our beloved Japan Today have a bias. I know this because these organizations are run by people and people can not be perfect even when they try to be. And let’s face it - media stopped a long time ago from pretending they do not have a Leftist bias. The main way they show their bias is in the stories they choose to cover and what about that story the editors choose to focus on. The only way that Fox was able to compete against the established news titans was because there was a glaringly Leftist bias in the main stream media. If ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the BBC, etc were just reporting facts there would have been no space for Fox to move into - it would not exist today.

Journalists see it as their job to improve society. What improvement means to them carries with it a political agenda. But that isn’t their job. Their job is to simply regurgitate the events of the day so that more people are informed of what happened. When they stopped doing that and began functioning as editorial pages for a point of view they became propaganda outlets. The New York Times, CNN, the Washington Post, MSNBC, NBC, the BBC, and Fox are propaganda. If you want to know what is really going on in the world you have very few if any choices to turn to. Watch as many as you can knowing their bias and using critical thinking skills do your best to determine the real story. You aren’t going to get the raw truth from modern media outlets.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Why are Trump supporters itching about media?

Can't say I watch alot of fox News, and I am likely biased but has there even been a time where Trump has exceeded your expectations in his interaction with the media? Maybe with the NK ordeal where he held all the cards.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Maybe with the NK ordeal where he held all the cards.

And he's still leaving America in worse standing with NK than he received.

Once more, his ineptitude is exposed.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's just like this TV movie I saw in the late 80s, where this US vet visits his illegit daughter in East Berlin at The Wall and visiting hours are over. The veteran shouts to the Wall guards in the tower, 'You have this barrier up and you exclude other people because you are SCARED! You try to hide everything because you are SCARED!'.

That was the Communist East Germany. Trumpet America is pulling the same evil stunt because they are SCARED! What do they have to hide?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites