Michael Cohen outed MSNBC’s Katy Tur as one of the journalists with whom he had a close relationship and fed Trump stories.
The courtroom exchange during Cohen’s cross-examination:
Cohen agrees that yes, if it was a “NYT-style” story, he would give Haberman tips, scoops.
Why did you record convos w/ reporters? asks Blanche.
For note-taking, Cohen says. For later reference to craft responses. Simple as that.
— Tyler McBrien (@TylerMcBrien) May 16, 2024
Earlier in Cohen’s testimony, Maggie Haberman was outed as a puppet/stenographer for Trump, and according to Cohen, Katy Tur was also someone who he had a close relationship with.
Michael Cohen later explained that he wanted close relationships with journalists because it would help him to shape coverage in the most pro-Trump way possible.
What Cohen described in court was corporate media access journalism. Cohen would feed scoops and information to favored reporters in return for positive coverage about Trump.
During a recent interview, Nancy Pelosi called Tur a Trump apologist.
Tur rose to prominence at MSNBC by covering Trump’s 2016 campaign, and Michael Cohen’s testimony makes it seem like Nancy Pelosi was correct.
Journalism should not be a quid pro quo. Journalists should research and report information but not build relationships with sources that influence their coverage. Exchanging scoops or information for positive coverage is not journalism, but this practice does explain why so much of the corporate media still tilts its coverage toward Donald Trump.
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