It's a bad idea to keep any news organization from press briefings, even though Sean Spicer said "there was no intent to exclude specific news organizations."

Nevertheless, the Trump administration just gave a bunch of media outfits with low ratings, or declining readership, a chance to get a lot of undeserved publicity.

Former speaker Newt Gingrich defended the White House.  My take is closer to that of Dr. Krauthammer, who expressed concern.

I get the point that many in the media are completely irresponsible.  At the same time, it looks as though most Americans get it, too.  In the real world, people express their love or hate of a news organization with their TV remotes or subscriptions.  In this case, the remote is not flipping to CNN in most households.

Americans are not watching CNN, as the ratings prove:    

Total Viewers (Live +SD)
Total day:   FNC: 2.055 | CNN: 824 | MSNBC: 1.067 | HLN: 224
Primetime: FNC: 3.314 | CNN: 1.141 | MSNBC: 2.034 | HLN: 251

I am not an expert on TV ratings analysis.  At the same time, you don't have to be a genius to figure out which network charges more for its time.

Based on this weekly sample, FNC (Fox News) is beating CNN by a factor of three in prime time.  CNN is behind MSNBC, or the baseball equivalent of losing more games than the '62 Mets.

CNN is already failing.  So why turn it into a victim?  I understand the White House's anger about the coverage, and they'd like to always punch back.  But what's the point of hitting your opponent when the ref is already counting to ten?

President Trump should stop talking about the unfair media.  He has won the argument.  The consumers agree with him.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.