Television networks that broadcast this live risk getting people killed.
Chyrons & large graphics on the screen with key facts *while he speaks.* If ESPN can go split screen to show us a taped segment of @jaybilas talking to someone while a game is in progress, ABC can put facts on the screen while Trump speaks.
Do not broadcast this man’s comments live. You will kill people.
what did I say about broadcasting his comments live?
I keep saying nobody should broadcast this fuckin’ guy live and everybody keeps acting like I’m crazy
Oh. Hey, quick question: why did you put a compulsive liar on live television to bullshit your audience about a pandemic?
I regret to inform you this is not all a goddamn game.
Hey, maybe Reliable Sources should dig into why the fuck television networks keep putting trump on the air live during a pandemic he keeps lying about.
Hey our dumbest, most dishonest, most selfish, most all-around terrible person is talking about a pandemic. Let’s put him on live TV and see if he gets people killed!
And *definitely* stop airing his comments on live television.
Stop airing Trump live, you will get people killed.
The solution is:
1) Don’t broadcast him live, because he’s telling dangerous lies *and you know he will continue to do so.*
2) Fact check the things he says.
3) Report the things that are true.
4) Report that he’s lying about other things.
1) Don’t broadcast him live, because he’s telling dangerous lies *and you know he will continue to do so.*
2) Fact check the things he says.
3) Report the things that are true.
4) Report that he’s lying about other things.
Incidentally, this should not seem like an extraordinary solution, because the news media should have been doing this all along. It only seems extraordinary because media has been irresponsibly privileging the lie for decades.
I’ve kept this tweet, which links something I wrote in 2008, pinned since May 2016. It’s now a matter of life and death, as it was always likely to be.
When I laid out the concept of "privileging the lie" in 2008, the immediate inspiration was a fairly trivial matter--a McCain campaign attempt to create a scandal out of an inconsequential Obama comment. But it crystalized something I'd been thinking...
… and I also knew that news companies that develop habits of privileging the lie on inconsequential matters carry those habits over to serious matters. Like the Iraq war. Or COVID-19.
As some famous athlete probably said: You play the way you practice.
And here we are.
As some famous athlete probably said: You play the way you practice.
And here we are.
Obviously —>
Airing Trump’s lies live, or otherwise passing them along without refutation, has consequences.
Seems really weird to criticize “calling out Trump’s racism” as letting Trump choose the terrain of the battle when there are such stronger examples of letting him set the terrain, like airing his lie-ridden press conferences live.
Media hand-wringing about whether they’re “letting Trump choose the terrain” by calling out his racism *while they continue to give him airtime to lie his ass off whenever he wants* is a *spectacular* case of missing the damn point.
also, a reminder: scapegoating during a pandemic isn't just something that offends soft-headed liberals, it *gets people killed.*
shot / chaser / bonus chaser 
stop airing Trump’s dangerous lies
And if they don’t, some of their viewers will die.
Did not expect Mike Pompeo to join my “don’t broadcast Trump live” campaign, but happy to work with him on this important matter.
This is good.
I’ve yet to see anyone actual make an arguement that Jay and I and others in the “don’t broadcast lies about a pandemic live” camp are wrong. Probably because it’s indefensible. But they do it anyway.
I’ve yet to see anyone actual make an arguement that Jay and I and others in the “don’t broadcast lies about a pandemic live” camp are wrong. Probably because it’s indefensible. But they do it anyway.
It never was. But it isn’t too late to stop.
