Critiquing the Media's Questions during Coronavirus Task Force Press Conferences

The national media missed out on the opportunity to educate the public about the Coronavirus by not asking more informative questions of President Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force during their press conferences. From mid-March to the end of April, Trump and the Task Force had almost daily hearings for up to two hours per day with seemingly unlimited questions. Many Americans, however, still have questions about the Coronavirus and how the federal government is addressing it. This lack of knowledge, in part, has led to protests over shutdowns and people doing seemingly unsafe activities such as crowding onto beaches or not wearing masks in public. Most of the press' questions accused the President of wrongdoing or were attempts to "trap" him. Rather than focusing solely on this type of inquiry, the press should have asked other questions to which the public wanted answers. For instance, the press could have asked about the miscalculations in the IHME Model, the recovery rate from Coronavirus, and the need for shutdowns in areas with low rates of infections. The public depends on the press to ask these questions because individuals are not able to do so.