Even the Oscars isn’t safe from US President Donald Trump’s war with the media, with The New York Times taking the opportunity to run a TV advertisement during the award’s show, taking on Trump’s claims over the meaning of “truth” and “fake news”.
Listen to Mia Freedman, Laura Brodnik, Brittany Stewart and Monique Bowley debrief on the 2017 Oscars. Post continues below.
The ad has been described by The Blaze as aiming for maximum impact, beginning with the statement:
The truth is our nation is more divided than ever.
Then a handful of inflammatory statements used by Trump and his supporters flash across the screen and then move to statements about truth by Trump critics:
The truth is the media is dishonest.
The truth is we have to protect our borders.
The truth is climate change is a hoax.
The truth is Obamacare isn’t affordable.
The truth is all lives matter.
The truth is women’s rights are human rights.
The truth is his refugee policy is a backdoor Muslim ban.
The truth is we need a full investigation of Russian ties.
The truth is this country was built on immigrants.
The truth is we need new restrictions on gun control.
The truth is hard to find. The truth is hard to know. The truth is more important now more than ever.
The Oscars crowd is certainly the perfect audience, and the timing is razor sharp with President Trump announcing he will not be attending the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner and Press Secretary Sean Spicer banning CNN, BBC, LA Times and New York Times from Friday’s media briefing.
Top Comments
The tweet that Donald Trump wrote.
The failing @nytimes has been wrong about me from the very beginning. Said I would lose the primaries, then the general election. FAKE NEWS!
Donald Trump did win the Primaries and the Republican nomination. He did win the general election against Hillary Clinton.
He is entitled to ask like anybody else as to what went wrong with their coverage.
The New York Times has got it wrong. Pure and simple.
"Said I would lose the primaries, then the general election. FAKE NEWS!"
That is not 'fake news' - it's poor predictions, or lack of coverage etc etc. 'Fake news' would be if *after* the election, the NYT was saying Trump had lost it. (Lost the election; 'lost it' in the colloquial sense is ... another question.)
'Fake news' is someone saying something happened which did not happen; like, um, massacres in ... Bowling Green or Sweden or wherever.
I am not sure what your point is. People seem to think because he won he should be given a free reign to do or say whatever he wants. That is not democracy. He is not above the law.
How forgiving. These people self describe as the experts, the pundits, the authority on politics. They got it spectacularly and totally wrong. Why has nobody been fired for incompetence? For failing at the most basic level. What value is their so called political expertise?
This not a new phenomenon. There are ample examples of the media getting it wrong throughout the history of presidential elections. Trump needs to stop acting like he's some sort of unique persecuted victim - look at the Truman v Dewey election. He needs to get over himself.
Boy those Democrat supporters are sore losers, and as for those 'celebrities' in their little bubble who imagine the world is interested in their opinions I have a news flash for them - we aren't.
But we're still here, commenting on it, aren't we Annette?
It's hard not to when you observe the absolute vanity and egoism of these people.
They have the megaphones and the platforms; we just have out own little comments page to have our say. 😐
Unless you are billionaire Robert Mercer - manipulating the media to brainwash people into believing this obsecene right-wing media conspiracy that the news is fake.