New York Times 'cancels editor's contract' after she tweeted she had 'chills' watching Biden land at Joint Base Andrews as America's media competes to suck up to new president
The New York Times reportedly canceled an editor's contract after she tweeted that she had 'chills' watching Joe Biden land at Joint Base Andrews the day before the inauguration and slammed Trump for not sending him a government plane.
Lauren Wolfe tweeted on Tuesday: 'Biden landing at Joint Base Andrews now. I have chills.
'The pettiness of the Trump admin not sending a military plane to bring him to D.C. as is tradition is mortifying.
'Childish,' she wrote.
HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali tweeted later that he had been told by two sources Wolfe had her contract ended over it.
Wolfe was a senior editor at the Times and edited stories that appeared on its Live page, Ali said.
After posting her first tweet, she was roasted by fellow journalists.
Wolfe hit back angrily, saying she was merely excited and 'interested' in historical moments like the transition of power.
She has since deleted all of the tweets.
The New York Times did not immediately respond to inquiries about her contract on Friday morning and Wolfe is yet to confirm that it was terminated.
Her comments are among the enormous outpouring of love for Biden from the media since the start of the week.
Wolfe tweeted that she had chills watching Biden Land at Joint Base Andrews the say before the inauguration, and that it was 'mortifying' and 'childish' Trump did not send a plane for him
Since Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday and even before then, some media outlets have relaxed their impartiality to welcome him and his administration with open arms.
Unsurprisingly, many belong to the organizations that President Trump made enemies of throughout his presidency.
But there was a huge amount of gushing over Biden on Wednesday, the likes of which Trump's team - specifically his combative press secretaries - could only have dreamed of.
The outpouring will do nothing to restore any kind of trust in the media among Republican voters who have become turned off by the relentlessly anti-Trump coverage of the last four years.
Politico columnist Jack Shafer on Thursday called for 'a little sobriety' from his colleagues in the media.
'CNN glowed almost as brightly about the event as a state media would have.
'MSNBC worked from the same script, going gaga for not just Lady Gaga but the whole schmear.
'Everyone can all appreciate that the coverage was minted at the honeymoon pressworks journalists fire up for most new presidents, so in that sense the outbursts came as no surprise.
'But this doesn’t excuse the rhetorical overkill that the press flung so profligately,' he wrote.
WEEPING ON AIR AND MAKING FUN OF TRUMP STAFFERS
News anchors barely kept it together throughout the day.
Rachel Maddow, a well known Trump critic, confessed on her show that she worked through half a box of Kleenex while watching the day's events.
'I'm a faucet that can't turn off!' she said.
ABC News’ Byron Pitts drew criticism for calling Biden the nation's 'papa in chief' after listening to his inaugural address.
Rachel Maddow told Joy Reid she was like a 'faucet' who couldn't stop crying and had worked through half a box of Kleenex
CNN's David Challian said on Tuesday night that the long stretches of lights at the Lincoln Memorial to honor COVID-19 were like 'almost extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America'
Al Roker first bumps President Biden as he makes his way towards the White House on Wednesday
'I thought from Joe Biden today, certainly he was commander in chief, but he was also papa in chief. He gave a speech to comfort the nation,' he said.
Joy Reid added: 'I have to tell you, I was a bit worried about this inaugural having a feeling about just being the resistance to what we saw on 1/6, just an answer to that.
'But what the organizers of this event managed to do is they gave us that but they gave us joy.
'They gave us fashion. They gave us celebrity. They gave us hope.'
CNN's David Challian said on Tuesday night that the long stretches of lights at the Lincoln Memorial to honor COVID-19 were like 'almost extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.'
He gushed: 'It was a moment where the new president came to town, and sort of convened the country in this moment of remembrance, outstretching his arms.'
ABC News’ Byron Pitts drew criticism for calling Biden the nation's 'papa in chief' after listening to his inaugural address
Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe laughed with the Press Secretary Jen Psaki. They made fun of Sean Spicer by Scarborough saying: 'I must say we were all disappointed that there were not overhead photos of crowd sizes'
CBS's John Dickerson called the election result 'America's happy ending'.
Even Fox - which was notoriously pro-Trump - hosted thoroughly starry-eyed contributors.
Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen said: 'We're a country has that been wounded by rancor and division. He was like a soothing balm.'
Jake Tapper said while Biden visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: 'I cannot imagine that President Biden was not thinking of his favorite soldier, Beau Biden, his son, who died of cancer, who was a major in the Army Reserve, and for whom he mourns greatly,' he said.
Al Roker fist bumped Biden as he walked past him on the Mall.
'SOFTBALL' QUESTIONS FOR NEW PRESS SECRETARY WHO USED TO WORK AT CNN
Jen Psaki, the new White House Press Secretary, who used to work at CNN and who has been embraced with open arms by the press after vowing to work collaboratively with them at her first briefing
New White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki started on the job by promising not to attack the media - as Trump's reps did - and by charming them at the end of the briefing, saying at the end of her press conference, 'let's do this again tomorrow.'
It was a far cry from the unpredictable press schedule the Trump administration worked off of and the media ate it up.
Psaki worked at CNN for three years as a political commentator.
On Wednesday, her first question was from The Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller.
'Do you see yourself--your primary role as promoting the interest of the president, or are you there to provide us the unvarnished truth so that we can share that with the American people?' he asked.
Spicer did not take questions at his first press conference in January 2017 but he complained about the coverage of the inauguration and the fact the media said the crowd size was small.
When he did take questions for the first time three days later, his feet were held to the fire.
Other questions Psaki was asked included;
'Could you just give us some color about what it was like for him going into the Oval Office?
'He's been waiting for this for so long. What was his reaction?'
'How does President Biden plan to recover the United States' image around the world, and what is his priority globally?'
There were other questions about COVID-19, the death penalty and what Biden's relationship with the Senate will be like.
At Spicer's first briefing - three days after Trump took office - he was asked first if he would tell the truth, then;
'Of all the policy actions that the president could have taken, [he] chose to reinstate the Mexico City policy [banning U.S. funding for groups that provide abortions overseas].
'What message is he sending here? Does he see the elimination or reduction of abortions as American value?'
'On government spending, there have been reports that you might be looking at $10 trillion over the course of 10 years? Is that accurate?
'And would you be willing to wrap up entitlements to get there?'
'There’s some discrepancy between what the Russians are saying and what the Pentagon is saying in terms of some potential joint action? Can you clarify that?
'And generally, is the president open to joint action in Syria with the Russians?'
On Thursday morning, Psaki went on Morning Joe on MSNBC where Joe Scarborough made fun of Sean Spicer and his first briefing - where he complained about the coverage of the crowd size.
'I must say, we were all disappointed that there were not overhead photos of crowd sizes,' Scarborough said, which won a laugh from Psaki.
SOCIAL MEDIA FAWNING OVER 'INSPIRING FIREWORKS' AND THE REST
Journalists gushed on their social media accounts about the occasion.
CNN’s head of communications Matt Dornic went as far as to call the fireworks from the inauguration something that will 'inspire our friends and shake our foes'.
CNN’s head of communications Matt Dornic went as far as to call the fireworks from the inauguration something that will 'inspire our friends and shake our foes'
He was ridiculed for the dramatic remark.
CNN's Jim Acosta posted a throwback photo to Sean Spicer's aforementioned briefing where he refused to take questions and said: 'Exactly four years ago...people tend to remember only Spicer's obvious lie that Trump had the biggest inaugural crowd size.
'But it was also the day the Trump admin began attacking members of the press from the WH briefing room.'
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