As Twitchy reported, President Trump kicked off his press conference Thursday with a direct strike at the reporters sitting right in front of him, declaring that “the press is out of control” and escalating from there.
Not surprisingly, the news media did not appreciate that introduction. Fox News’ Shepard Smith was “near-apoplectic” on air that afternoon, and journalists like Ron Fournier declared that they are #NotTheEnemy after Trump followed up with this Twitter broadside, which racked up more than 125,000 likes in the space of 24 hours.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
In fact, there was enough of a backlash on social media to spawn a Twitter Moment:
Members of the media explain why they are #NotTheEnemy.https://t.co/m5ltt8AZff
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) February 18, 2017
Anthony De Rosa, digital production manager for The Daily Show, is no Trump fan, but he’s offered some of the best advice we’ve seen.
The best response is a well functioning, aggressive press that ignores a debate about themselves.
— Anthony DeRosa? (@Anthony) February 18, 2017
And the chance of that is … ?
is there really that much coverage of trump's enemy tweet? I haven't seen much/but maybe I missed it. CNN didn't even write a story
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 18, 2017
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I'm not just referring to his tweet, but his continuing effort to move the focus off himself and on the press
— Anthony DeRosa? (@Anthony) February 18, 2017
the press has engaged him on that debate, hopefully less as we go on
— Anthony DeRosa? (@Anthony) February 18, 2017
sorta… I just think there's a lot less real news coverage of this issue than twitter chatter implies
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 18, 2017
Has there really been that much coverage of Trump’s tweet? CNN’s Brian Stelter, host of Reliable Sources, hasn’t seen much, but never fear, news outlets are on it … including CNN. Trump’s Twitter targets, including CNN, were a hot topic on “The Situation Room” Friday.
Here are President Trump's Twitter targets this month pic.twitter.com/SbhkJYAXjl
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) February 17, 2017
CNN’s Michael Smerconish offered a commentary on Trump’s tweet on his show Saturday morning.
.@smerconish critiques Trump's attacks on the press, says "this is the golden age of journalism," https://t.co/eTJ39iQQnf
— CNN (@CNN) February 18, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump wrong to call media 'enemy' @CNN https://t.co/SuuD4meHci
— Michael Smerconish (@smerconish) February 18, 2017
CNN.com also hosted an opinion piece on the president’s tweet by the Miami Herald’s Frida Ghitis, herself a former CNN producer and correspondent.
Why Trump wants you to hate the media https://t.co/7GwhICqXwm via @CNNOpinion pic.twitter.com/2QHmmSmH9B
— CNN (@CNN) February 18, 2017
And forgive the long screenshot here, but Trump’s tweet about the press certainly seems to loom large in the latest newsletter from “Reliable Sources,” CNN’s show about the news media itself, hosted by Stelter himself. Expect plenty of discussion about Trump’s tweet on Sunday.
A @WhiteHouse correspondent reached out tonight to say this (https://t.co/1dYypvcXZg) pic.twitter.com/XHyeKDnAdT
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 18, 2017
It might sound flippant, but the best way to counter the fake news tag would be not with hashtags on social media but with real news on TV screens and in print.
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