Comforting rituals show in media's depiction of inauguration
(David Tulis/Pool Photo via AP)NEW YORK – After Air Force One took Donald Trump out of Washington, an unusual Inauguration Day quickly felt more traditional — even comforting — for people watching at home. "What we're seeing today is an ejection of insurrection.”Trump skipped the inauguration of his successor, the first president to break that tradition since 1869. “If Democrats need thousands of troops to occupy the Capitol on Inauguration Day, then it seems possible that their candidate wasn't actually elected by the people,” Sharp said. “He said that there is truth and there are lies, lies that are told for power and lies that are told for profit,” Wallace said. The Washington Post updated its count of lies and misstatements by Trump: 30,534 heading into his last day as president.
After waiting game, media moves swiftly to call Biden winner
Because votes are counted state by state, verdicts by the media outlets' decision desks serve as the unofficial finish line for the presidential race. The closeness of the race in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina proved another challenge. “We just have to be certain before we call a winner in the presidential election,” said Sally Buzbee, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP. Heading into Saturday, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC — which coordinate their vote counts and exit polls — had Biden at 253 electoral votes. All know that calling a presidential election wrong is a career-wrecker.
Some New York news shows back, but many hosts work remotely
Monday represented a key phase in New York City's reopening, with many offices bringing employees back for the first time. Despite the CBS and Fox moves, most news employees continue to work remotely, and the television programs that originate here have a patchwork of approaches that have quickly become familiar. A majority of the show hosts on MSNBC including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist of Morning Joe work remotely. Other morning shows have varied approaches. Hoda Kotb of NBC's Today show has worked out of that show's Rockefeller Center studio, but most of her colleagues are at home.
Protests eclipse pandemic, but White House fears resurgence
WASHINGTON For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage mass protests over the death of George Floyd may bring about its resurgence. The White House coronavirus task force, which has dramatically scaled back its operations as states reopen their economies, is scrambling to track the potential impact on infection rates. Dr. Deborah Birx, the administrations coronavirus coordinator, has been monitoring the protests since they began, looking for indicators of potential resurgence in cases, a White House official said. White House officials are warily watching metropolitan areas where the protests have ignited, hoping that the outdoor settings reduce the risk.
Twitter fact-checks Trump; he threatens new regs or shutdown
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, May 27, 2020, after traveling to Florida. !Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Trump would sign an executive order relating to social media companies but provided no further details. Trump and his campaign had lashed out at the company Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots fraudulent and predicted that mail boxes will be robbed, among other things. Trump and his allies have long accused the tech giants in liberal-leaning Silicon Valley of targeting conservatives on social media by fact-checking them or removing their posts. The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny.
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley asks Twitter if fact checks are meant to target Trump for 'political reasons'
The move by the president's favorite social media platform to slap warning labels on his tweets "raises serious questions about whether Twitter targeted the President for political reasons," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in a letter to Dorsey. The staffer's widower asked Dorsey to remove Trump's tweets on the matter. On Tuesday evening, Twitter for the first time branded two of Trump's tweets, neither about Scarborough, with warning labels, alerting readers to "get the facts about mail-in ballots." Trump had tweeted that morning that mail-in ballots would be "substantially fraudulent" if their use was widespread in the 2020 presidential election. However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud."
cnbc.comTrump threatens Twitter over fact checks: What's next?
QUESTION: Twitter has resisted taking action on Trump's tweets for years, despite the president's history of spreading misinformation and abuse on the platform. Twitter began flagging tweets that spread disputed or misleading claims about the virus with get the facts links to more information, including news stories and fact checks. Those tweets met specific Twitter criteria for misinformation on certain topics, including the coronavirus, how to vote in elections and the census. QUESTION: How does Twitter decide which tweets get flagged with the warnings? ANSWER: Trump's tweets got flagged after someone reported them.
Twitter gives Trump a pass on unfounded 'murder' allegations
The husband of a woman who died accidentally in an office of then-GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough two decades ago is demanding that Twitter remove President Donald Trumps tweets suggesting Scarborough murdered her. Twitter, which has tried to devise penalties for such situations, has so far done nothing about Trump's tweets. My request is simple: Please delete these tweets, Timothy J. Klausutis wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. At Tuesdays White House briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly refused to say why Trump was pressing the unfounded allegations or whether he would stop tweeting about them. Trump, however tweeted this month: When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida.