President Trump governs by reaction to media reactions to his reactions.
How to provide adult supervision to such destructive pre-pubescence? The answer comes from former Nevada State Assembly Majority Leader Gene Evans, D-Elko. (Yes, Virginia, there was a time when Democrats were not shot on sight in Elko County.)
Bill Harrah found Evans impressive and hired the Elko Independent-News editor.
One day in the booming 1970s,”Fun & Gaming” magazine publishers Phil Olsson and John Cronan visited Evans in his Mapes Hotel office and lamented that they could not get Harrah’s to advertise.
Evans advised them to “print one edition in which the name of Harrah’s is not mentioned once.”
Harrah’s immediately became a regular Fun & Gaming advertiser.
The late, great Evans’ advice provides insight about handling Tsar Donaldov Vladimirovitch Trumpsky. Some network needs to summon the courage to exercise what used to be called news judgment. That means some stories belong on page one, some on page six, some don’t run.
That’s hard to do with Trump because he provides pictures, even if only Twitter pages. Former Reagan media maven Michael Deaver set the standard.
“We felt like television producers,” he once told Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes. Every day, White House staff engineered a photo op featuring Ronald the Vague which gave the media two choices: Run what we give you or nothing. So they swallowed whatever Deaver fed them.
Reagan was even able to perpetrate the fraud of caring about black ghetto blight by standing in front of a burned-out Harlem apartment building on the same day his administration announced major cuts in urban housing programs.
“They didn’t hear you,” Deaver told Stahl, who stated that CBS noted the disparity in its story. All viewers retained was Reagan jovially showing how much he cared.
Our petulant current president cannot be controlled but can be contained if anyone has the guts. Such treatment will cause Trump to constantly attack the offending medium for censoring his wonderfulness — which will bring more viewers to that network.
TRAVUS T. HIPP, 1937-2012. This Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Tribune columnist and legendary west coast talk radio host Chandler Acheson Laughlin, Jr., aka Travus T. Hipp. He is a member of the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Columniator HOF. The latter is extremely exclusive with only seven members. His impact on this region when he ruled local airwaves in the early 1980s has never been equaled. He was my friend.
GUBERNATORIAL CHESS MOVES. Perhaps Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak reads the Barbwire. Since last week’s suggestion that his commission colleague Christine Giunchigliani would be a much more viable Democratic candidate for governor next year, he’s been making moves here in the north. He has reason to worry, having lost an election to her once before. More at BallotBoxing.US/
WTF DEPT. The Sparks City Council has gone mad. Last week, they actually agendized an item to consider turning steel shipping containers into low-cost apartments. Welcome to Tokyo.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 48-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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