Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson, who previously served as Chairman and CEO of CNN and as TIME Magazine’s Editor, stated that the number of on-camera White House press briefings could be reduced and that it’s good to have off-camera discussions because people perform when they’re on-camera.
Isaacson began by saying, “You know, it’s really important for people to just think carefully and say, I know the difference between fake news and real news, and I know the difference when somebody makes a mistake. CNN made a mistake recently, and then corrected it. And if we start deciding that anything we disagree with is fake news, you lose the trust, the whole thing breaks down and that’s really one of the really bad things we are facing as a society.”
He later added, “I think the on-camera briefings could be cut back. I ithink it’s really good to have sort of off-camera, people discussing things, some for the print press, even if it’s not on camera. I think on-camera, everybody performs.”
Isaacson concluded, “And also, the jousting with the press secretary done on-camera doesn’t really get us that far to understanding things better. … A once a week presidential press conference makes total sense. … That would be good. And then I’d say, background briefings for an hour or two, really long briefings where people actually tell the truth from the white house, the press, and — instead of trying to joust on-camera.”
(h/t WFB)
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