Tag Archives: media

A Defeated Media

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This past Friday was a great day for two men. First, it was special for President Barack Obama. The day signified a wrap on his eight years of faithful service to the United States. He was able to hold his head high as he boarded a helicopter to take him off on a well-deserved vacation. It was also a triumphant day for President Donald Trump. The man launched an against-all-odds campaign for the presidency and emerged victorious. His Inauguration was a textbook example to kids on what it means to never give up.

However, Friday wasn’t a good day for everyone. In fact, it was a downright lousy one for the national media.

If the media thought nothing could be worse than Election Night when national networks were humiliated for bad reporting and for the reliance on inaccurate pollsters, this past Friday proved them wrong. It was a gloomy day for an unapologetic left leaning national media forced to report all day long on the man they despise taking the reins of the office they tried so desperately to prevent him from taking. It was a bitter pill to swallow. The look of awkwardness, disdain, and anger was clearly visible on the faces of many anchors and reporters all throughout Friday.

Resiliency is a desirable characteristic, however, and there was no doubt that folks working at such networks as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. were not going to take their medicine peacefully. Throughout Friday, many from the national media predictably focused less on President Trump’s unlikely and historic rise to the highest office in the land and more on stories they thought would take away from the moment they hoped they would never see. Throughout the day, viewers could turn on the TV and hear about…

The awful weather. The rain and the gloom seemed to speak to the mood of the country. Mother Nature sent the dark weather to prove a point that Trump is an illegitimate president. I mean, why else would it rain right when President Trump started to deliver his Inauguration Address?

Speaking of that Inauguration Address, it was another hot topic for the press. A speech that gave power to the people and pledged for the end of “all talk, no action” politicians must be something we never let our children hear. Never mind that President Trump spoke in a clear and powerful manner that contrasted with the philosophical and vague addresses of past presidents. While many neutral citizens with an interest in public speaking and relevant content thought the speech was well-done (including this blogger), the media didn’t quite think so.

How about those Friday protestors? The national media gave a lot of coverage to the people who converged on Washington D.C. to incite violence, destroy property, and impede the progress of service men and women whose job it was to line the parade route. On a day when hundreds of thousands of American citizens gathered to mark the peaceful transition of power, the media seemed to give an unproportionate amount of coverage to the small group of people who arrived in our nation’s capital for the sole purpose of causing damage.

Then there was the crowd. How embarrassing for President Trump that, according to the media, the amount of people gathered for his Inauguration fell short of satisfactory? It was almost as if that since the press thought the amount of American citizens was not adequate for the occasion, it made President Trump’s dominiating Electoral College victory invalid.

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With the last storyline mentioned, the media registered a small victory. The Trump Administration seemed offended by the constant Inauguration attendance talking point, causing White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to come a bit unglued. He lectured the media on inaccurate and biased reporting.

Here is the thing, Mr. Spicer: It is not realistic to think that the media is going to do you any favors. Get over it.

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The Trump Administration needs to relax and realize one major point: On Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, President Trump won. Despite every obstacle thrown his way, he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Conversely, the media lost. Although the press pulled out every stop to derail his campaign and to sour his Inauguration, Trump survived. So, until his term concludes or until he is impeached (I won’t be surprised if it happens), the media must wake up each morning knowing that someone they can’t stand is the president. Trump is the winner and he should act like it. Don’t Blink.

Bad Time For Twitter to Crash

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At work, I live for days like these. Yesterday, we announced a press conference for 10am the following morning (making it today!). With people outside the department not knowing what to expect from the mid-morning announcement, speculation was rampant. Media and fans alike wanted to know what was going down and everyone wanted to be the first to break it.

One of the duties I love best about my job centers around working with the sports information department to relay information to the general public. Because we work inside the organization, we are the first ones to learn, and then distribute, information. I get an adrenaline rush out of the buildup that comes with a major announcement and then I bask in the awesome feeling of the weight lifted off our shoulders once we deliver the announcement and the baton is passed onto the media to take our info and make their stories.

As I have mentioned several times in previous posts, Grizzly Athletics is king in the state of Montana. Because of this, our department attracts an enormous amount of media attention. This is both a blessing and a curse for obvious reasons. When the times are good, the coverage is favorable….when times are challenging, the coverage is not favorable.

But that is the nature of the beast and the press has to do their thing. Yesterday I said I have a high degree of respect for teachers. My level of respect is at the same level for people in the local media business, especially the broadcasting realm. Talk about a tough, cut throat business. Competition is high, hours are crazy, and pay is less than satisfactory. I have become friends with several of the former and present news personalities in the state of Montana and I root for them. There is an immense amount of pressure to cover the story and, very crucial here, to be the first to report. In this day and age, many depend (and rightfully so) on social media.

Remember that press conference I told you about that was held today? Well, our special announcement could not have carried with it much more good news. Our interim head football football coach signed a two year contract to become THE head coach of our program. Come early this morning, most people knew that the announcement was going to relate to a contract of some sort for our football coach but no one knew specifics. At around 9:15am, a reporter’s worst nightmare occurred: Twitter crashed.

Up in the Canyon Club where we held the press conference, basically all of the news media in the area were starting to gather. The minutes edged closer to 10am and Twitter was still down. So much for any tweets that these journalists wanted to send out regarding the atmosphere or attendance of the impending press conference. Five minutes before 10am there was no miracle, Twitter was still down. At around that time, we sent out the breaking news. The details of the contract signing hit our website, our social media outlets (besides Twitter of course), and the inboxes of all the reporters cramming the podium where Mick Delaney was about to chat about his sweet new deal.

As the media sat up in the Canyon Club when we broke the news, they had little chance to relay the information as they only had their phones on them. Besides posting to Facebook, they were unable to send out any 140 character messages summarizing the contract stipulations. A reporter’s best friend in this day and age had viciously disappeared when they needed it most.
After posting everything, I hustled up to the press conference just in time to see our interim athletic director announce Mick. His words were short and to the point and by the time he had finished and the press conference was over, Twitter was still down. About an hour later, the service was finally resurrected from the dead and tweets started flying left and right. I got a kick out of the good natured tweets that many members of the media sent out regarding the unfortunate time that Twitter decided to take a break. They had a good laugh at it after the fact but you know at around 10am this morning you were not finding many smiles.

It is amazing how much we depend on social media to get by these days. Not that it is a bad thing at all, I love social media and make a career out of it. It is just fascinating to see how the times can change so much over the years. Twitter will crash again and it will come at an absolutely terrible time for groups of people elsewhere around the world. However, I feel it is safe to say that the state of Montana paid their dues in the bad luck department this morning. Tweet on! Don’t Blink.