Journalism’s Failure
According to The New York Times, Donald Trump received $1.9 billion of free media attention, more than twice the amount received by Hillary Clinton.
Trump clearly knows how to play the media and the public. He has no respect or understanding for the role of the press in democracy.
For the most part, journalism covered Trump as though he were a regular politician and a normal person. He isn’t.
The rules of journalism have to change. American democracy is at stake. Journalism can no longer treat people with the etiquette of decades ago. We can’t apply the “he said-she said” rule pretending both sides have credibility when we are covering lies. Journalism can no longer hide behind the easy excuse that to be unbiased means both sides of an issue must be covered and let the reader decide which is the truth.
The classic failure of that journalism principle of balance was early coverage of global climate change when journalists felt obligated to quote scientists who disputed the phenomenon. The result was coverage citing thousands of credible scientists who understood global climate change is a research, fact-based occurrence countered by a few scientists who disputed the notion and likely had ties with partisan funding. The price we paid and are still paying is years lost without implementing critically needed action.
Throughout his campaign, Trump characterized global climate change as a Chinese hoax. He chanted “crooked Hillary” and “lying Hillary,” but his own record of lies and distortion eclipses all politicians in modern history.
He has dozens of active lawsuits against him. Contrast that with Hillary Clinton who has been scrutinized for decades but has not been found guilty of anything except perhaps carelessness. If we issue pardons for carelessness, all politicians can line up.
How disappointing when a local attorney writes a letter to the daily newspaper suggesting that Bill and Hillary Clinton should be pardoned in order to heal the country and move forward. That’s deliberately misleading. Pardoned for what!
Remarkably, people still trumpet the myth that Hillary Clinton committed a serious offense. This notion is pushed by purveyors of fake news, notably on Facebook and other social media sites. FBI director James Comey deliberately manipulated the election by announcing more possibly-incriminating emails were discovered. He was forced to step back from that assertion but only days before the election. Despite the baseless assaults against her, Clinton won 1.5 million more votes than Trump, but he took the Electoral College. Perhaps the system is rigged after all, rigged against Clinton.
Dean Baquet, executive editor at the Times, explained his newspaper would use the word “lie” when covering Trump’s deliberate misstatements.
Baquet said the “Swift Boat” incident successfully used against presidential candidate John Kerry pushed journalism to change. The Swift Boat incident was a lie, but journalism failed to clearly label it and failed in its responsibility. Now the term “Swift Boating” refers to a lie used to sandbag someone.
Pushing journalism further was the George Bush lie about weapons of mass destruction. Stunningly, Colin Powell stood before the United Nations and lied. Fact-checkers labeled Trump’s lies as “pants on fire,” but he just kept repeating those lies throughout his campaign, and journalism kept repeated his quotes.
Trump revoked press credentials, sued journalists and has threatened to end legal protection of the press. He roped journalists into restricted areas during his campaign events and hurled insults at them.
In one sense, Trump’s offensive and dishonest campaign has pushed journalism from its watchdog role to the role of lie detector. Whether journalism accepts this change in role is already hurt by corporate takeover of newspapers and broadcast media. CBS showed us money speaks more than journalistic responsibility when the station president said Donald Trump might be bad for America but he was great for ad revenue at the station. That irresponsibility was apparent again in Lesley Stahl’s interview with Donald Trump for 60 Minutes, airing the Sunday after the election. Trump was given the opportunity in suit and tie to assume a serious demeanor and lob softball questions.
NPR called the Trump appointment of Steve Bannon, former CEO at Breitbart News, to White House chief strategist and senior counsel “controversial.”
But Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota issued this more informative statement:
“Mr. Bannon is adored by white supremacists, white nationalists, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, and the KKK. It’s not hard to see why. If the President-elect is serious about rejecting bigotry, hatred and violence from his supporters, he must rescind Stephen Bannon’s appointment. This man shouldn’t be allowed inside the White House – let alone run it.”
Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under the Bill Clinton Administration, wrote, ”Not only did the media fawn over Trump, but it also failed to subject his assertions, policy proposals and biography to the scrutiny normal candidates receive.”
Dan Rather, former CBS newsman, wrote a guest blog in Scientific American criticizing the lack of press coverage about climate change in the presidential campaigns:
“With just a few mentions in speeches—and, jaw-droppingly, no questions at the presidential debates—this omission marks a singular failure of the press and the political class. But it is indicative of a much broader systemic rot. Make no mistake; science was on the ballot this fall. And almost nobody took notice. But they should now because the Trump Administration is outlining an aggressive policy portfolio that not only puts our global response to climate change in deep jeopardy but that also threatens to radically change the fundamental direction of science in the United States.”
The nonpartisan Committee to Protect Journalism called Trump a threat to press freedom unlike any seen in modern American history.
If our best days as a country are ahead, it’s important to stop characterizing journalists as biased sensationalizing shills and evaluate journalism based on credible facts. It’s equally important for journalists to stop seeking cover in false equivalencies.
Truth: Trump was responsible for the most vulgar, dishonest, divisive presidential campaign in my lifetime, and I hope journalism, Congress and the public can now keep the damage from his presidency to a minimum. (Clare Howard)