The national press is not doing its job.
We continue to witness the same press false equivalency that let Trump defeat GOP opponents in a fact-free primary.
Trump says ‘Estonia is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. Why should we defend them if they don’t pay their fair share to NATO?’ You cannot be “fair and balanced” with this:
Hillary knows and points out that Estonia was one of two NATO nations to pay 100% of their financial commitment to NATO, and she knows and points out that we have a treaty commitment to an organization that has prevented world war for nearly seven decades. That is not an ordinary contract negotiation.
A responsible journalist who is more interested in the truth than in appeasing both sides, would state clearly that Trump, yet again, is wrong, and, yet again, did not apologize for it, and, yet again, said something bright, shiny, and absurdly wrong the next day, yet again distracting the public from his own ignorance. Think Edward R. Murrow.
What should they do instead? On the one hand, on the other hand?
Generally these days, they spend any time on Hillary rehashing the same old email and hacking stories, seemingly out of a need to ‘say something bad about her if we said something bad about him’. It’s embarrassing to watch.
We Americans are not giving in to this. This great country will emerge proud after this paroxysm of paranoia over both Obama and the demographic change occurring in the US that Trump is so skillfully exploiting at the moment.
I completely agree the press could be doing more (read Jay Rosen if you don’t already) but it feels like blaming the refs for the other team acting crazy.
Call out bad journalism, but it’s up to Democrats to stop Trump. Sign up to volunteer here: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/forms/volunteer/
They covered Trump rallies live, but did not do likewise with other candidates in either party. Why do you think Trump hasn’t spent a red cent on TV ads? It’s because the media are giving him all this free exposure. Blue Nation Review is on the case. (The three words are each separate links.)
The media enabled Trump’s ridiculous nonsense every step of the way. They treated the most serious political contest there is like a season of The Apprentice, and this is the result.
I don’t think anyone can reasonably dispute that the media (especially cable news) paid WAY too much attention to Trump.
But on the flip side, the GOP has been telling itself for as long as I can remember that the media can’t be trusted. So it should have been immune in some ways.
Also: I used to think (projecting, I know) that we are angry. I really underestimated GOP anger. They are apoplectic and absolutely refused to listen to any “mainstream” alternative. They wanted to raise the middle finger that Trump represents.
And also … Trump really is sui generis. The media certainly didn’t fail to cover his criticism of McCain, or his mocking of the handicapped reporter. His numbers just kept going up, despite that.
Thanks thegreenmiles I was already on some lists but I just did for that volunteer list.
As for the refs, refs matter. Lets all sing it together kids: Roger Goodell!
What say is indisputable jimc, but your most important paragraph remains paragraph one of your comment. Their tendency to find entertainment over policy irresistible in recent years was laid bare this year by the Trumplette.
how bizarre and traitorous is it that Trump gives aid and comfort to the enemies of democracy i.e. Russia vis a vis Ukraine ?
Article 5 of our 70 year old NATO treaty states that when one member nation is attacked it shall be considered an attack on all members of the Alliance. It has only been invoked ONCE. After the 9/11 terrorist attack on America all civilized nations of the world rallied to our defense including every one of our NATO allies.
And these tyrants and madmen would threaten the peace of the world with nuclear Armageddon ?
They must be stopped NOW !
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Jeff Zucker is head of CNN. He’s the guy who approached Trump about doing “The Apprentice.” They are friends.
Les Moonves is head of CBS. He is quoted as saying Trump may not be good for the country but he’s great for the ratings of CBS.
Fox News is Fox News. Enough said.
Ain’t just the working journalists. It’s all the way up the line into the executive suites. All they care about is ratings and the ad books. Ghouls, all of them.
The structure of the news media is completely broken. The incentives are not towards accuracy, relevance, and an informed public at all. (I once asked Chris Matthews about how he would produce a news show for an informed citizenry and he got visibly annoyed saying he would not “answer such a goo-goo question!”)
James Fallows in Breaking the News back in the 1990s had some prescriptions which may still work.
…to go back to the time when news divisions were not profit makers? Was it regulation that kept them honest, or just different mores?
The early broadcasters believed in social responsibility. Many modern broadcasters still do, but the business realities overwhelm those principles easily.
The early broadcasters came of age in the print medium.
Broadcast values have always been different. In particular, the separation between news and advertising was MUCH higher in print.
our society was much more socially responsible in the early days of broadcasting.