Taking a cue from Trump, state officials, like Kentucky's governor, attack the media - Entrepreneur Generations

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin criticizing
the media on Facebook Live

Perhaps taking a cue from President Trump's approach to the media, other politicians have followed suit with attacks on stories that don't show them in a favorable light. One such politician is Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican elected in 2015 who had never held a political office. Bevin has been ramping up his attacks on journalists, on Tuesday on Facebook Live referring to some as bugs, saying, "They make a lot of noise. They're like cicadas," Morgan Watkins reports for the Courier-Journal.

"In recent months, the governor's office has largely ignored requests for comment from some of Kentucky's major news outlets, including the Courier-Journal, the Lexington Herald-Leader and WAVE 3 News, choosing to go on social media or do radio interviews with friendly hosts instead," Watkins writes. "Reporter Joe Sonka of Insider Louisville has even started a running tally of how many emails he and his colleagues have sent to Bevin's spokespersons without getting a response."

Bevin "also has publicly criticized several individual reporters after they wrote stories he disliked. He didn't name names in his Facebook video on Tuesday, but he did single out the Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader as newsrooms that 'don't actually seem to care about Kentucky,'" Watkins writes. "The reporters whose requests aren't returned 'are not serious journalists,' Bevin said, adding that Courier-Journal subscribers are throwing their money away."

Joel Christopher, the Courier-Journal's executive editor, told Watkins, "Anytime a politician tells you not to read the work of watchdog journalists, it should raise a red flag. It's like the circus magician telling you to watch his hands."

Bevin "said voters are capable of making their own decisions about the information he and his administration provide without the filter of the media," saying of Facebook Live, "There is nothing more transparent than live video, me talking straight to you. There is plenty of access. You will always be able to hear directly from me."

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2rhvjfY Taking a cue from Trump, state officials, like Kentucky's governor, attack the media - Entrepreneur Generations

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