Archive for the ‘Media Control’ Category

Trump defends start of his presidency, calls media ‘out of control’ – Charleston Post Courier

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump mounted a vigorous defense of his presidency Thursday, pushing back against media reports that his campaign advisers had inappropriate contact with Russian officials and vowing to crack down on the leaking of classified information.

Nearly a month into his presidency, Trump said in a free-wheeling White House news conference that his new administration had made "significant progress" and took credit for an optimistic business climate and a soaring stock market.

The president denounced media reports of a chaotic start to his administration marked by a contentious executive order now tied up in a legal fight to place a ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

"This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine," Trump declared. He said he would announce a "new and very comprehensive order to protect our people."

Throughout the news conference in the East Room of the White House, the new president delivered repeated criticism of the news media, accusing it of being "out of control" and promising to take his message "straight to the people."

He dismissed recent reports in The New York Times and CNN that Trump campaign aides had been in contact with Russian officials before his election. Trump called Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager who has ties to Ukraine and Russia, a "respected man."

Trump called the reports a "ruse" and said he had "nothing to do with Russia." Trump added, "Russia is fake news. This is fake news put out by the media."

Amid reports of widespread leaks within his administration, Trump also warned that he would clamp down on the dissemination of sensitive information, saying he had asked the Justice Department to look into the leaks. "Those are criminal leaks," adding, "The leaks are real. The news is fake."

The president announced that Alexander Acosta, the dean of the Florida International University law school, would be his nominee for Labor secretary. It came a day after fast-food executive Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination for Labor after losing support among Republican senators.

Trump, a reality television star and real estate mogul who was elected as an outsider intent on change, opened the hastily arranged news conference to bash coverage by the news media. He accused reporters of not telling the truth and only serving special interests.

"The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people," Trump said.

The president said his ousted national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was "just doing his job," but said he was "not happy" with how information about Flynn's phone call to a Russian diplomat was relayed to Vice President Mike Pence.

But Trump said what Flynn did "wasn't wrong" and said he had identified a strong replacement for Flynn, which made the decision to let him go easier.

Trump is said to favor Vice Admiral Robert Harward, a former Navy SEAL, as his next national security adviser, according to a White House official. Harward met with top White House officials last week and has the backing of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He is slated to meet with officials later Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Trump had a breakfast meeting with some of his staunchest House supporters.

The White House has said Trump asked for Flynn's resignation because he had misled Vice President Mike Pence over his dealings with Russia and whether he had discussed sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. Flynn previously had denied those conversations to Pence and other top officials.

On Thursday, he warned in a pair of tweets that "low-life leakers" of classified information will be caught. As journalists were being escorted out of the breakfast meeting, Trump responded to a reporter's question on the subject by saying: "We're going to find the leakers" and "they're going to pay a big price."

Reach Caitlin Byrd at 843-937-5590 and follow her on Twitter @MaryCaitlinByrd.

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Trump defends start of his presidency, calls media 'out of control' - Charleston Post Courier

How Sebi can control ‘tips’ on social media – Economic Times Blog – Times of India (blog)

On October 7, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a consultation paper on amendments clarifications to the Sebi (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013. Though it contained several points, Sebis plan to curb the practice of providing trading tips messages containing buy sell hold recommendations on securities (i.e. point number 4.5.2) got maximum attention.

If this discussion paper is accepted without any change, no person will be allowed to provide trading tips and stock-specific recommendations to the public through short message services (SMSs), email, phone etc or through social media like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc. unless such persons obtain registration as an investment adviser or are specifically exempted from obtaining registration.

Since it was construed as Sebis effort to censor social media, there was a furore against this consulting paper. Instead of expressing their views through proper channel (by replying to Sebi), most on social media decided to troll Sebi. Some of the tweets were repetitive (i.e. same words were tweeted by several twitter handles) giving hints that some of these tweets are done by bots and paid by someone.Several eminent personalities also expressed their opinion against this social-media censoring.

Maybe because of these social media uproar, Sebi seems to have soft-pedalled this without taking any further action and the problem of tips continues unabated.First, this has become a big irritation for investors because most of these tips are unsolicited (eg unsolicited SMSes, emails, tagging investors into their tip posts, etc). Second, some investors or shortterm traders have started believing in these tips and thereby losing money. Since most of these tip providers do front-running (i.e. first buy a stock and then give buy recommendations on it), this also amounts to market manipulation.

WHAT SEBI SHOULD DO We are not suggesting censoring the social media because it is impractical. But definitely , Sebi need to be alert on this front and to create specific mechanisms so that investors can complain immediately. For example, Sebi can create a specific phone number email to which investors can forward all unwanted tips received through SMSs email. Investors who lost money based on some tips also should be allowed to complain using similar method.

Similarly, Sebi can create separate ids for Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc. Since investors will be forwarding this voluntarily , collating data like this will be far easier than scanning social media for manipulation. Sebi can also treat these forwards as complaint and take action without waiting for a formal complaint. What mentioned above is the tips (both solicited and unsolicited) from unregistered entities. But what about the registered ones?

Sebi consulting paper also says research analysts or research entity shall provide the research report to all class of clients at the same time. This is a great move and will stop the current practice of giving the research reports to institutional clients first and then only to retail subscribers.

To clean up stock research and to make more transparent, Sebi needs to force research analysts and research entities to keep their old reports in a common place (some research houses are already doing it by publishing on their sites).

This will help existing client of one research house to know the capability of other houses. To protect the interest of existing clients (i.e.who either pay for reports or accessing reports due to brokerage accounts), this public posting can be done after a week.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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How Sebi can control 'tips' on social media - Economic Times Blog - Times of India (blog)

Editorial Presses Gun Control-Loving Journalists on Firearms Facts – Bearing Arms

Its not surprising. The leftist, gun control-loving mainstream media will do everything in their power to disarm the average Joe. The Richmond Times-Dispatch, a newspaper based out of Richmond, Virginia, recently wrote an editorial mocking this pocket of the press.

As big supporters of the Second Amendment, we have long opposed any suggestion that a license should be required to own a gun.

On reflection, maybe licensing is a good idea at least for journalists. Or at least for journalists at The Washington Post.

David Fahrenthold is an outstanding reporter who should get a Pulitzer for his coverage of Donald Trump. But he should stay away from firearms.

The editorial goes on to call out different scenarios where the media attempts to look like firearms and Second Amendment experts, when in reality, they knowabsolutelynothingabout either one.

Fahrenthold himself compared pulling the trigger of a confetti-loaded gun to that of anactualfirearm. Another Washington Post reporter wrote about how silencers are unnecessary, but uses a .22LR one of the least powerful rounds and their lack of sound as her reasoning, as if to say more powerful rounds would be just as silent.

The best incident of all? A Huffington Post reporter asked if the foam earplugs he took pictures of during the Ferguson riots were rubber bullets.

The editorial can be summed up best by this sentence:

The ignorance is embarrassing, but it does make the medias support for gun control a tad more explicable: People fear what they dont understand.

You got to give it to theRichmond Times-Dispatchfor speaking out against their colleagues. At leastsomeonein the media business sees the hypocrisy of the gun control movement, especially by journalists, who are supposed to be unbiased and report the facts, not their agenda.

Author's Bio: Beth Baumann

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Editorial Presses Gun Control-Loving Journalists on Firearms Facts - Bearing Arms

The media assault on ‘alpha females’ is just a way of putting women back in the kitchen – Telegraph.co.uk

Where to begin? First, it goes without saying in this view that its women who must find peace with men, not vice versa after all, the emotional work of keeping a couple togetherfits with womens in-built compassion, right? Its just natural that its women job to repair relationships.

This is just one tired but remarkably resistant set of poisonous assumptions. Another is the dichotomy between "alpha" and "the feminine" here Venker is regurgitating the deeply-held belief that unapologetically assertive, ambitious, articulate and strong-willed cannot be real women. Then comes the classic kicker: the idea of the "real" power in being feminine, of the naturalness of being the ying to mans yang, with all good things coming to you when just give in and embrace submissiveness. This kind of logic is given regular airing in most ultra-orthodox religions as well.

Once more, the "alpha women are not real women" line is most aggressively used to corner single women. After all, a woman without a mans lust and devotion is the faultiest type of all. Thus Venker admits that being "alpha", "competitive", "too much like men" may be good at work but in "love" its a disaster. Women need to let men dominate more at home no wonder they find themselves alone and miserable. Theyve been bred to be leaders!

Depressingly, similar talk is surfacing in more liberal Britain. Prominent sociologist Catherine Hakim has gone public with the view that men are being deprived of sex. Guess whos to blame? Modern women, of course.

History moves in ellipses, and while we do make progress, old tropes repeat with remarkable persistence. One is that Jews control the world. Another is that women do. In the case of women, while we continue to move towards an equal share of the pie, unfortunately well keep seeing these rashes of old-fashioned misogyny gaining currency. Its an added sorrow that some of them come from women. But this only shows the need for the alpha women of the world to take this rubbish in stride, give a haughty smile, and keep going.

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The media assault on 'alpha females' is just a way of putting women back in the kitchen - Telegraph.co.uk

MSM whines as it loses control over the message – Personal Liberty Digest

With changes in who has front-line White House press access under the Trump administration, a media establishment already embarrassed by the 2016 election is desperately trying to remain relevant.

MSM reporters are claiming that the president is avoiding tough questions by handpicking friendly reporters during press events.

Writing for The Washington Times, columnist Kelly Riddell pointed out a recent exchange between media mainstreamers on Twitter:

By handpicking reporters, Trump manages to get through a news conference without being asked about Flynn, New York Times reporter Peter Baker lamented on Twitter failing to mention that all U.S. presidents handpick reporters.

Bloombergs Angela Greiling Keane helped him clarify.

By *handpicking* friendly reporters. To be fair, the previous WH also handpicked reporters. But it was very different than this, she tweeted.

Mark Murray at NBC News was equally flummoxed.

In response to a tweet from Lizzie OLeary who aptly pointed out that White Houses have been calling on specific reporters they know wont grill them since time immemorial, Mr. Murray responded: But not during bilateral pressers with world leaders, where questions typically go to wire reporters (AP, Reuters).

Hadas Gold at Politico, quoted NBC Journalist Brian Williams, who noted on-air what wasnt being asked at the press conference, adding the New York Times and Washington Post werent called upon.

Deputy Washington Editor of the New York Times, Jonathan Weisman, wasnt pleased.

Biggest papers in the U.S. blare headlines on embattled National Security Adviser Flynn. Trump calls on WJLA & Daily Caller, no Flynn questions, he tweeted.

Greiling is right, the Obama White House certainly handpicked reporters during press conferences. Things were pretty typical: Mainstream media reporters were on hand and the big dogs favored by the Obama White House got to ask the questions.

And the Obama administration did so to the despair of many U.S. conservatives who repeatedly noted that the press had a nasty habit of swooning over the power they were supposed to be checking.

Reason last year that Obama screws, skewers the media, but they do so love him. Its worth a read

With Obama it was worse than simple swooning, though.

Throughout Obamas presidency, the White House trampled on press freedom and continuously sought to control the media narrative by releasing its own highly-polished reports and information. It was in many ways a press release presidency.

Trump, if hes sincere about wanting to open the White House to more outlets, is actually giving both mainstream and alternative outlets a chance to do better.

If the Trump administration demonstrates a willingness to field tough questions by opening the floor to lesser-known liberal or libertarian-leaning outlets critical of his administration, the MSM argument that hes being bolstered by sympathetic conservative media (which, for now, is fair considering how his administration is structured) will slowly fall apart.

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MSM whines as it loses control over the message - Personal Liberty Digest