***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
Wednesday night would be only the second time in his presidency that Donald Trump would deliver an address to the nation with the full weight of the Oval Office around him. Despite the seriousness of the topic, the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., CBS Evening News dismissed it as just an attempt at “damage control” for the administration’s image. They also elevated the screeching of raging House Democrats as CBS declared the address needed to be more than “just words.”
Even though anchor Norah O’Donnell noted that the Oval Office backdrop “underscores the gravity of today's developments,” bitter White House correspondent Weijia Jiang declared it was “damage control at the White House.” Her evidence was that “top health officials were summoned to a last-minute meeting with President Trump as he prepared to address the nation and reassure the public the government has a handle on the coronavirus.”
Or, perhaps, he wanted to get a briefing from his top people so they could write an accurate address and run it by them. She also invoked economic depression-like language and claimed the “the market crashed once again over fears of the virus, closing down nearly 1,500 points.” No other broadcast network described the market volatility in that way.
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