This week’s Liberal Media Scream features concerns in the media about being dragged down by the BuzzFeed report on President Trump and his lawyer subsequently called “not accurate” by special counsel Robert Mueller.
At the end of Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Chuck Todd despaired at how Mueller’s characterization of the story as inaccurate might be exploited by media critics.
“We’ve got to remind people, though, there are people who want to exploit this. They want to see us be put this way. And they’re just doing it for exploitation purposes. So let’s not give them the ammunition,” he said.
But Todd did not note that he and NBC, among many media outlets, promoted the story before the Mueller slam.
On Friday, Savannah Guthrie opened NBC’s “Today” show: “Breaking overnight: Bombshell. The new report that says President Trump himself ordered his lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, a potential game-changer with claims that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has e-mails, documents and testimony to prove it. What the president’s side is saying this morning.”
In the subsequent segment, Todd added some analysis, “You can’t overstate how significant this development is, with the caveat of the ‘If true.’”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our weekly pick: “Memo to Chuck Todd: If you don’t want to provide ‘ammunition’ to media critics to ‘exploit’ an erroneous news story in order to discredit the whole media, including your network, then don’t allow your network to so enthusiastically promote that story in the first place when you aren’t sure yourself whether it’s true or not. It’s that simple.”
Rating: Five out of five screams.
