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dajoki

(10,678 posts) Wed Jan 1, 2020, 10:28 AM Jan 2020

2019, the Year the Press Tried--and Failed--to Stand up to Trump

2019, the Year the Press Tried—and Failed—to Stand up to Trump
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/88099

With Donald Trump becoming the first American president to be impeached in his first term, while holed up in the White House tweeting endless attacks around the clock like some internet troll, 2019 should have been the year the Beltway media finally shed its signature timidity and forcefully stood up to him. This should have been the year the press worked up the courage to disband the pointless protocols newsroom had established for covering Trump (he's not a "liar," he's not a "racist" ), and simply started telling the hard truths about him. And while there were some welcome flashes of truth-telling, especially surrounding the Ukraine scandal and impeachment, for the most part the D.C. press still hasn't signaled that's it's ready, or willing, to take the necessary steps needed to cover Trump.

There continues to be a collective reluctance to grapple with today's difficult reality. Unfamiliar with covering authoritarian regimes or how to respond to them, many news outlets remain committed to treating Trump's spectacle as a reality TV show.

Trump remains the most deeply radical player in American politics, yet the press corps is still trying to cover him as a traditional political figure, which means if the president of the United States makes some sort of public statement on a pressing issue of the day, you quote him under the assumption that he's telling the truth and not just making stuff up. But he's not, and he is. Trump in 2019 continued to benefit from press coverage that obediently pretended that he's an honest broker. Wash, rinse, repeat. This, while Trump maintains his dangerous campaign to paint the press as the "enemy of the people."

Oddly committed to normalizing Trump by scrubbing off his hateful and dangerous rough edges, many in the Beltway press continue to play a strange game in which they refuse to describe what they clearly see in front of them. Whether it's the fear of Trump Twitter attacks or the nearly five-decade-long GOP campaign to demonize the "liberal media," newsrooms today nearly uniformly refuse to address the mounting, obvious signs that Trump is a deeply unstable man. Journalists watch Trump hole up in the White House spamming Twitter on some weekends with hundreds of illogical posts and then politely look away.

<<snip>>

The key to covering Trump isn't some deep mystery for news organizations, and it doesn't require much sacrifice. It simply demands honesty and a willingness to be clear about what's happening in this country. Sadly, that was lacking in 2019.

6 replies

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2019, the Year the Press Tried--and Failed--to Stand up to Trump (Original Post) dajoki Jan 2020 OP

Like when dotard says: "He is a man of his word" talking of Kim 5X Jan 2020 #1

They are afraid to lose access dhol82 Jan 2020 #2

snark on: Yes, the U.S. press is very trying! snark off abqtommy Jan 2020 #3

They aren't trying very hard. Hugin Jan 2020 #5

In my experience the press is as trying as a step-mother or an ex-wife... it all depends on the abqtommy Jan 2020 #6

Kick dalton99a Jan 2020 #4

5X

(3,972 posts)

1. Like when dotard says: "He is a man of his word" talking of Kim

Reply to dajoki (Original post)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 10:33 AM

Jan 2020

and he isn't asked: You aren't a man of your word, why do you think Kim should be?

dhol82

(9,353 posts)

2. They are afraid to lose access

Reply to dajoki (Original post)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 10:39 AM

Jan 2020

That’s the bottom line in this 24/7 news cycle.
Money is the only important part of the news business these days. Integrity appears to have gone by the wayside.

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)

3. snark on: Yes, the U.S. press is very trying! snark off

Reply to dajoki (Original post)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 12:31 PM

Jan 2020

Hugin

(33,222 posts)

5. They aren't trying very hard.

Reply to abqtommy (Reply #3)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 12:57 PM

Jan 2020

Editorial cartoonists, exempted.

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)

6. In my experience the press is as trying as a step-mother or an ex-wife... it all depends on the

Reply to Hugin (Reply #5)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 02:59 PM

Jan 2020

perspectivication.

dalton99a

(81,637 posts)

4. Kick

Reply to dajoki (Original post)

Wed Jan 1, 2020, 12:51 PM

Jan 2020

Incredibly, as I noted in August, this represented one 48-hour period in 2019:

He quoted a rabid conspiracy theorist radio host who declared that Israeli Jews love Trump as if he were the “King of Israel” and “the second coming of God,” while Trump himself accused American Jews of "great disloyalty" if they voted for Democrats. He attacked the prime minister of Denmark ("nasty" ) because she will not sell him Greenland and she mocked the very idea as “absurd.” He suggested he might serve more than two terms in office. He slurred his words while reading a speech off a teleprompter. He accused journalists of trying to ruin the U.S. economy. He claimed Google had "manipulated" millions of votes in Hillary Clinton's favor during the 2016 election. He suggested giving himself a Medal of Honor. He said doctors in El Paso, Texas, left their operating rooms mid-surgery in order to greet him during his visit there following a local gun massacre. And he referred to the NRA as if it were a co-equal branch of the federal government.

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