Over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for an end to President Donald Trump's live briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.
The petition, which has been published on the website MoveOn.org, is asking American news outlets such as CNN, ABC, CBS NBC, NPR, and Fox News to drop their coverage and broadcasts of Donald Trump's live COVID-19 briefings, accusing the Republican leader of using them as a platform to campaign for his re-election.
Watch this embarrassing gaffe from one of President Trump's recent coronavirus addresses:The petition, which has already garnered 110,045 out of 200,000 signatures in just three days, states: "Please stop covering the President’s daily live campaign rally. There is no need to do so. News organizations can monitor the briefings in real-time and have your anchors and correspondents quickly share appropriately edited valuable, accurate parts, which will come from medical experts."
The petition adds: "President Trump is blatantly using the news organizations’ extensive, live coverage to freely campaign for a second term. It is wrong and dangerous to provide so much unfettered airtime to someone who is happily, shamelessly spreading terrible, damaging misinformation that is already costing fellow Americans their lives."
In an interview with Newsweek, Julie Rochman, who kickstarted the campaign, stated: "This is the first time I've done something like this. I thought I'd get 100 people to sign it... And then it just sort of blew up."
She continued: "This is not a time for politicking ... What people need right now is to feel well-informed and safe and not have somebody, anybody, spreading fear and misinformation and minimizing the impact of the virus."
She added: "When the president is shouting down reporters or insulting governors, or whoever, why do we need to hear the insults?" she questioned. If the president or vice president wants to bring their gravitas and introduce people, fine, but the people giving us the actual information should be experts. And there are plenty."