The fight against the "wall" of funding that has imposed a partial halt of government is also a struggle for facts. President Donald Trump has repeatedly distorted the situation on the southern border and fueled the fear of immigration. Government agencies shared misleading statistics. And Trump's media allies have created an echo chamber for the lies.
Journalists must always intervene to explain the facts. For example, Chris Wallace, moderator of "Fox News Sunday," anticipated that Sarah Sanders trickery: "We know that about 4,000 known or suspected terrorists are going illegally to our country and that our point of view is that we are in danger. The most vulnerable entry is the southern border. "
Wallace interrupted:" I know the statistics, I did not know if you were going to use them, but I studied the question.Do you know what these 4,000 People arrive where they are captured Airports. "[19659004] Sanders said" not always ", deliberately trying to confuse and scare people. "Airports," said Wallace. "The State Department says that no terrorists have been found at the southern border."
Thanks, Chris Wallace …
The facts and "the emotional appeal"
Interview with Wallace In particular, the other Fox shows have been promoting erroneous statistics to stoke fear. But it is certainly not just statistics. It reminded me of everything while watching "Fox & Friends" this weekend, which contains many segments on violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Emotions outweigh reason.
According to security analyst Adam Isacson, quoted in the Sunday WaPo: "They are stuck on this case because of its emotional appeal."
Fear of the Terrorist in Action
Trump and His Assistants "knowingly lie at the service of their political purpose," Frank Bruni said Sunday in "Reliable Sources" when I pointed to the exchange Sanders / Wallace.
This reminded me of this story of the Post a few days ago. Ellen Nakashima said the Justice Department had "acknowledged mistakes and weaknesses in a controversial report released a year ago that implied a link between US terrorism and immigration," but – for the second and last time – officials refused to retract or correct the document. "
Trump's new advertising campaign warns of drugs and gangs
Fear is alarming in this new commercial for Trump 2020. Advertising began to air on CNN on Saturday, so I'm not sure what's going on. I mentioned at Sunday's show. "Drugs, terrorists, violent criminals and child traffickers are trying to enter our country – but Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are more concerned with the radical left than of our security, "says the announcement." The consequences? Deaths related to drugs. Violent murders. Violence perpetrated by gangs. We must not allow it … "
From Pelosi to Nielsen:" I do not believe your facts "
That brings us back to the battle of facts The other day, the WSJ described a "tense exchange" between Pelosi and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Pelosi interrupting Nielsen's presentation to challenge DHS data Boris Sanchez of CNN had details in this story on Saturday – he said: "Pelosi cut twice Nielsen's presentations to dismiss DHS statistics on border security as inaccurate. "
Pelosi told Nielsen," I do not believe your facts. "An assistant to Pelosi told CNN:" In their presentations, they repeatedly used non-factual statistics. They try to qualify every migrant as a terrorist or a person with a violent criminal history. The secretary proved she was not credible. on these issues. "
– CNN Significant Piece: " Verification of DHS Border Layout "
Where Does Trump Get His Facts?
" State of the Art " 'Union', Jake Tapper raised a related issue – the president 's fragmentary sources of information – in a top – notch interview with the new Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney. that managing the flow of information to Trump has been a problem for two years, Mulvaney responded: "The president gets the best information available. He does so. "
Tapper expressed his concern in the context of Trump's recent expression of support for the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 … J & # I also referred to Trump's revisionist story on "Reliable", with David Frum, who stated that POTUS was direct -up from Russian propaganda.The question of Frum: "How did this misinformation come about? she penetrated the head of the president? You can not talk about it, we can only guess. "
Will the press cover move?
showing the effects of the partial closure of the government – will that make a difference? "Personal stories and images of long lines of security at airports will they influence negotiations?"
→ Title on CNN.com right now: "This family thought their problems were over. The closure of the government left them in limbo. "
Frum says Trump's cover should be even tougher
With Jill Abramson provoking controversy for claiming his old newspaper, the NYT, was" anti -Trump ", we had a very interesting conversation at Sunday's show about its content, meaning to be" anti-Trump. "(Abramson refused our interview requests because his book appears in a month.)
"I do not think we were anti-Trump. I think we were negative. And I think this is the only honest way to cover Frank Bruni, a columnist in New York City, said: "In comparison to the truth, this country's prestige press has a bias towards Trump. the truth, Trump gets coverage easier, that he deserves. "Watch it here.
How Fox Speaks of Indictment
We know what POTUS thinks – "You can not dismiss someone who does a great job". But how do his Fox fans talk about it? Here are three examples …
– Pete Hegseth called David Leonhardt of the NYT "fraud" for writing an article: "The United States has never had such an unpopular President Trump And it becomes apparent that 2019 will probably be dominated by a single question: what are we going to do about it? "Hegseth did not bother to talk about the essential points of the column …
– Jeanine Pirro at Representative Rashida Tlaib: "Show me where in the Constitution, Rashida, it says you can dismiss a president because you hate him?"
– Jesse Watters: "If you accuse Trump, you get the president Pence Now, imagine the kind of judges he appoints to the Supreme Court, they will make Kavanaugh look like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "[19659006] NOW, RIGHT TO LEFT …
We headed the Sunday broadcast with the democrat power change and how Dems is covered by the press e in the Trump era. This tweet from Bill Kristol caught my attention: "As a non-democrat, I am struck by how much the media seem obsessed with the possible divisions between democrats, the narrow lines they will have to go through, the stray words of their deputies, etc. in fact a little more massive than we have a president and a administration in full collapse ". Is it true? Three CNN political commentators, all Democrats, joined me in the "block …"
– Symone Sanders spoke of the disconnect between experts and the public. "It's really important that people go out on the pitch and talk to real people …"
– Karen Finney (in her first appearance as CNNer!) Emphasized the importance of the language. "We can not be afraid to call racist or sexist things …"
– Dan Pfeiffer said: "Trump drives the clatter" for the media, so the Democrats will have to s'. press "alternatives", from podcasts such as his own conversation ("Pod Save America") on Instagram …
In the discussions of Sherrod and Schultz in 2020
Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and the better half of Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, said he will decide in the next two months when he will run for president. I enjoyed her frankness in the decision-making process … We also talked about the primary coaching of 2020, the way that female candidates like Elizabeth Warren are described differently. , and more … The video of our TV interview is now available, and CNN's Devan Cole has a recap …
MORE: The full interview is available on our podcast … Listen via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or your favorite application …
To find out more about Sunday's information letter "Reliable sources" … subscribe here [19659040] to receive future editions of your inbox …
FOR THE RECORD
From Katie Pellico:
– Anne Helen Petersen diagnoses the Millennials like "the generation of burnout …" (BuzzFeed)
– "Grindr's harassment lawsuit could change the legal context of technologies – freedom of expression." (NBC News)
– ICYMI: "Following the Netflix originals is a part-time job," writes Ashley Rodriguez: "According to Quartz measurement, the video giant has spent nearly 90,000 minutes, nearly 1,500 hours – original series, films and other productions "in 2018 … (Quartz)
