More journalistic standards:
This One Screenshot Captures Everything Wrong With Media Coverage Of Trump
MAY 11, 2017 By
Bre Payton
Today much of the media have spent the day freaking out over a
Time magazine feature on how President Donald Trump spends his time “after hours.”
A portion of the
3,803 word-long article that’s been getting so much attention from Twitter accounts with blue check marks describes Trump dining in the Blue Room of the White House.
The waiters know well Trump’s personal preferences. As he settles down, they bring him a Diet Coke, while the rest of us are served water, with the Vice President sitting at one end of the table. With the salad course, Trump is served what appears to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish of sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. The tastes of Pence are also tended to. Instead of the pie, he gets a fruit plate.
CNN’s coverage of the dinner was anything but calm. The network
known for its snarky chyrons had this to say about ice-cream-gate.
“PRESIDENT GETS 2 SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM, EVERYONE ELSE 1,” the chyron reads.
This brings me to the obvious question: WHO CARES? Who cares if the president’s waitstaff are able to anticipate his preferences and have a Diet Coke or a second scoop of ice cream ready? That’s called good customer service! The White House waitstaff serve Trump nearly every day, so of course they know what kind of dressing he likes on his salad or what his beverage of choice is. And why are we all assuming that the other dinner guests couldn’t just ask for another scoop of ice cream if they wanted it? I have a hard time imagining the White House kitchen staff denying someone more dessert.
But that’s not how the inside-the-Beltway folk see it.
Earlier today,
The Atlantic‘s David Frum tweeted a screen grab of the aforementioned portion of the article, and the thread that follows is enough to make one’s head explode.
Jennifer Rubin chimed in with this gem.
Really? Eating two scoops of ice cream is “a man unable to restrain his urges”? If that’s the case, cart me off to a loony bin, because I’ve polished off a pint of Ben and Jerry’s by myself more than once!
Slate’s Daniel Summers had this to say.
http://thefederalist.com/2017/05/11/one-screenshot-captures-everything-wrong-media-coverage-trump/