THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Jake Tapper

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took a whole of criticism today for his comments proposing a ticker-tape parade for health care workers when the city can reopen.

In remarks Tuesday on New York City going back to normal after the pandemic, the mayor said, “When that day comes that we can restart the vibrant, beautiful life of this city again, the first thing we will do is we will have a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes for our health care workers and our first responders.”

This was met with a great deal of online criticism, including such phrases as "smug, dumb, and incompetent."

But it was CNN's Jake Tapper, whose commentary was delivered in a dry, matter-of-fact tone on Tuesday, who really sealed the deal. 

“Having a parade in New York City is one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard," said Tapper.

The mayor's entire record on coronavirus response has been fraught with errors, bad judgment, and (forgive us) an early blasé attitude. Though one might not know that from the warm and un-challenging interviews he often gets on CNN.

Tapper breaking the mold, and breaking de Blasio's ridiculous idea in half, makes a winner for today for sure.

MEDIA LOSER:
Katy Tur

MSNBC’s Katy Tur tweeted and then deleted a claim on Monday night that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had become “brain dead” after slipping “into a coma” following surgery.
 

Tur's tweet went crazy viral in between posting and deletion, and credited both NBC News and CNN for the "scoop."

After deleting the tweet, Tur sent a new tweet as a type of explanation. 

"I’ve deleted that last tweet out of an abundance of caution. Waiting on more info. Apologies."

As Spectator USA contributor Stephen Miller said on Twitter, it was a "pretty big deleted tweet there." 

Tur did not, however, address the tweet and delete on air on Tuesday. Nor did her colleagues. In fact, the moment was largely uncriticized by her fellow members of the press.

With the last few years of hyperfocus in the media on the legitimacy of news and information shared on social media, and controlling what content can be shared as news, particularly by more liberal outlets like MSNBC, it ought to be seen as a bigger error in judgment than it was.

But all other reactions aside, this may not have been "plain dumb," but it was a lapse enough for the media loser spot on Tuesday.

The A-Block

GRONK

New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski has come out of retirement and is being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he’ll be reunited with his longtime teammate Tom Brady.

Yes, 2020 is going to be like this all year.

CNN vs FNC vs MSNBC vs Coronavirus

President Donald Trump's coronavirus approval rating among Fox News viewers stands at 69 percent in a new NBC/WSJ poll. That number towers over his approval on the crisis from the overall electorate.

But the difference is even more staggering when you compare Fox News watchers to those who prefer CNN or MSNBC. 

IT'S A DEAL (reportedly)

The Democrats and President Donald Trump have reportedly reached a deal for the coronavirus relief bill, Tuesday.

According to Politico, which obtained “a summary of the deal,” the bill would deliver “nearly a half-trillion dollars to small businesses, hospitals, and for testing,” and “includes $321 billion for the depleted Paycheck Protection Program, of which $60 billion is set aside for underbanked businesses, a priority for Democrats.”

This will no doubt be a primary topic at Tuesday's briefing, which you can watch live or in full here.

'A very good conversation'

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called into MSNBC following his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump regarding coronavirus testing and claimed it was a “very functional and effective” conversation.

“The meeting went well. And I think it was productive,” Cuomo told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. 

He went into a lot of details about what he and the president have agreed on regarding New York's battle with Covid-19.

Joking?

A White House hot mic picked up someone — whom Mediaite has learned was New York Times photographer Doug Mills — apparently joking with Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts that “We’ve all been vaccinated” against the coronavirus “around here.”

As conspiracy theories abound, the hot mic exchange from Monday’s White House briefing could contribute to a surge in tinfoil protective headgear if taken seriously.

Ice Cream Dreams

The co-hosts of The View warned politicians against appearing on comedy shows during the coronavirus Tuesday, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became the subject of a Trump campaign attack ad for showing off her expensive ice cream and refrigerators on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

“A little piece of advice to Nancy and all these Democrats, don’t go on comedy shows. They’re traps. They’re traps,” they advised.

The second wave

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about a second wave of coronavirus hitting in the winter that could potentially be worse than what the country is currently going through.

Robert Redfield said this week that "there’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through… And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”

Must-Watch Clip of the Day

Pay Cuts?

A CNN viewer asked financial journalist Jean Chatzky if it’s legal for an employer to cut a worker’s pay based on the fact that the worker received a coronavirus stimulus payment, and is therefore “still breaking even.”

"It is legal as long as you satisfy a few ground rules," said Chatzky, who went on to explain in detail.

This is information worth knowing.

Links We Like

This Earth Day, we should repent
via New York Times
Coronavirus kills more Americans in one month than the flu kills in one year
via National Review
China’s weaponization of racism: Communist Party exploits Western political dysfunction
- via American Spectator
De Blasio’s social distancing tip line flooded with Hitler memes
- via New York Post
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