The News media, electronic and print, has one overriding responsibility to the consumer. To bring truth to their viewer/reader. Period. Just because someone is the POTUS or a senator, congressman, governor, mayor, etc. is no cause for "deference". The truth is the crucial issue and it is neither fair nor balanced. Our politicians are not royalty. They are hired help for the American people and it is crucial that we know as much truth about them that can be provided.
From the Republican primary onward the news media failed badly in exposing Trump for his true nature. His lies, frauds, misogyny, cruelty and disdain for any moral foundation were well known and documented over years largely by independent journalists. Readily available to anyone willing to spend a little time and effort. And whether exposing him for what he was and is would have changed his behavior is irrelevant to the news media responsibility....a shabby excuse.
The main stream news media is as responsible for the attack on this country as the Republican party, the corporate Democrats and the Trump enablers.
Editors like Baron and Dean Baquet inadvertently subscribed to the George Costanza theory: It isn't a lie if the liar believes it. Perhaps Trump's mendacity is part of the mental disorder he clearly suffers, but what's the excuse for his enablers? Bob Sommerby (Daily Howler) has long said that when Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk use their platforms to lie to millions of Americans, THAT should be a front page story. Americans should be told when someone is deliberately misinforming them, whether it is a politician or a pseudo-journalist/entertainer.
Took a break from work right now, put on MSNBC because I thought now the focus would be on President Biden and his administration. What are they now trying to get done or focus on with the trial over. Biden just came out with proposed gun legislation, maybe MSNBC would be discussing that.
Nope, instead it was more of "What is Trump going to do now," and what are his plans. They even had a reporter in AZ talking about the conversation they just had with an "independent" voter. And surprise, that independent voter, that said they were a free thinker, fully supports Trump. Shocked, right?
What is driving this non-stop Trump coverage? None of the folks in my circle want more Trump news. We are all mostly run of the mill Democrats, that now want to now hear about Biden, and the administration plans. Unless it's a story about Trump being arrested, we could care less about his plans or what he is thinking, and definitely do not want to hear about any more of these so called independent voters, i.e. Trump supporters.
I turned off MSNBC and just went back to work. I just do not understand how ratings could be high for this non-stop Trump coverage. What else could anyone need to know about Trump that we have not already seen, read, or heard about. He's a one term president, that lost majorities in the House and Senate and the news organizations are still treating him like he's the next great world leader. He's a racist and a bigot and, unfortunately, there are lot of folks that think just like him and that is why they support him. Nothing "genius" about Trump.
"So the Post kept its head down and shelved the discussion until February 2021."
And for all we know, that's only because Trump left office. If he'd won (or "won"), we have no reason to be confident the Post would have crossed this line even now. It's "fun" (not really fun) to imagine what the coverage would have been like if his attempt to kill members of Congress and stop the counting of electoral votes had worked.
"At first, the thin excuse from editors for banning “liar” and “lies” was nobody knew if Trump was telling untruths intentionally. (Maybe he’s just misinformed!)"
He was president of the United States for four years. No one on Earth has more access to more real information. If he didn't want to access it, that's not an excuse. But they swallowed it every time.
I remember back in 2017 or 2018 or so (who knows about time anymore?) when Anderson Cooper called Trump a liar on his show and people freaked the hell out. "Oh, no, you can't call the President a liar?" I even had a conversation about this with a very progressive co-worker, and I said, "Why not, he is? Cooper was just telling the truth." If more news outlets had done that, maybe we wouldn't be in the position we're in right now. I especially hated it when they said he "misspoke." No, that's when you say something that's wrong, but it wasn't deliberate. Trump was lying deliberately. Repeatedly. This is, again, another problem with access journalism. Whatever happened to speaking truth to power? The framers included freedom of the press specifically so that the media could stand up to government officials and tell the truth about them without fear of censorship or being thrown in jail. They've willingly given up that right in favor of access. Ugh.
Let's earmark Baron's interview and see what happens in four years. Unless Trump is mired in litigation by the SNDY, the AG office of Georgia, and perhaps the DOJ, and that his physical and mental health remain somewhat reasonable, the liar and chief Trump will be back. And like the Michael Myers character from the Halloween movie franchise, nothing ever seems to do in this bad guy so count on the sequel. Also the Trump return has already gained support by the overwhelming majority of Republicans who did not vote to impeach or convict. Will the post, come the late fall and spring of 2023-24, be willing to roll out the term liar when discussing Trump then or was this interview nothing more than lip service because now they don't have to. We'll see.
I’m tired of all these redemption tours these rightwing GOP enablers / Trump enablers / Mitch freaking McConnell enablers are embarking on right now. Unfortunately, it has only just begun. By this time next year, people will have forgiven and forgotten all the reprehensible things they’ve done, in no small part because of the media enablers.
And let me just say, Radio Garden is absolutely fantastic!
So if the choice was to correctly call Trump a liar, or to question his mental acuity the Post (and by extension the rest of the political press) they chose curtain #3: to normalize his lying?
And people wonder why I consistently say “our failed political press”?
They could easily have said he lied, and was lying regularly, instead of slapping the permanent label of "liar" on him. Just like they could have talked about how most of his policies were malicious without calling him "evil incarnate." I don't believe the deference to the president excuse. What was really happening was frightened decision-making in the face of being called the enemy of the people, along with fear of a loss of access—which most news outlets know doesn't mean loss of information. No story should ever be held up by someone refusing to comment.
I greatly admire Marty Baron, and we all should. But here's something to ponder: Would he have handled this differently if he still had been at The Boston Globe, or even at The Miami Herald? And if so, what does that say about the climate in Washington that leads even great editors to chicken out on their responsibilities?
Does anyone else suspect that Baron's mea culpa is just a smokescreen designed to obscure the fact that the Post plans to try to make up for all the negative Trump coverage by attacking Biden at every opportunity?
And IMHO, just calling out Trump would be insufficient. The Post (and most of the MSM) also failed to call out his enables throughout the media, in some sort of "gentleman's agreement". Of course, given that Howard Kurtz was their idea of a media reporter/critic for so many years speaks volumes about how the Post feels about bad journalism.
How long has this been a problem? A very long time. If you want a real demonstration of "past as prologue", check out this Paul Krugman comment on IOKIYAR and IACIYAD from all the way back in 2007 that ends:
"...This stuff is truly scary; it’s the sort of thing you didn’t think could happen in America. But it has been happening; one shudders to think where we’d be if the political tide hadn’t turned against the Bushies.
Or as a constitutional lawyer once said to me, “If Bush wasn’t such a screwup, the Republic would already be over.”"
Very convenient for them to come out now, with all this "confession" speak. For me, it is too late. Journalism is not a new "thing". It has been around since the beginning of this country. WaPo had a job to do. They played both sides of the coin, which is meaningless to me. They, like the sitting cowards in the GOP Senate are just that, cowards. They put their fear of truth telling, behind the easy of going with the flow of lies. I am just sick of all of the cowards.
Steve in NC
The News media, electronic and print, has one overriding responsibility to the consumer. To bring truth to their viewer/reader. Period. Just because someone is the POTUS or a senator, congressman, governor, mayor, etc. is no cause for "deference". The truth is the crucial issue and it is neither fair nor balanced. Our politicians are not royalty. They are hired help for the American people and it is crucial that we know as much truth about them that can be provided.
From the Republican primary onward the news media failed badly in exposing Trump for his true nature. His lies, frauds, misogyny, cruelty and disdain for any moral foundation were well known and documented over years largely by independent journalists. Readily available to anyone willing to spend a little time and effort. And whether exposing him for what he was and is would have changed his behavior is irrelevant to the news media responsibility....a shabby excuse.
The main stream news media is as responsible for the attack on this country as the Republican party, the corporate Democrats and the Trump enablers.
Editors like Baron and Dean Baquet inadvertently subscribed to the George Costanza theory: It isn't a lie if the liar believes it. Perhaps Trump's mendacity is part of the mental disorder he clearly suffers, but what's the excuse for his enablers? Bob Sommerby (Daily Howler) has long said that when Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk use their platforms to lie to millions of Americans, THAT should be a front page story. Americans should be told when someone is deliberately misinforming them, whether it is a politician or a pseudo-journalist/entertainer.
Took a break from work right now, put on MSNBC because I thought now the focus would be on President Biden and his administration. What are they now trying to get done or focus on with the trial over. Biden just came out with proposed gun legislation, maybe MSNBC would be discussing that.
Nope, instead it was more of "What is Trump going to do now," and what are his plans. They even had a reporter in AZ talking about the conversation they just had with an "independent" voter. And surprise, that independent voter, that said they were a free thinker, fully supports Trump. Shocked, right?
What is driving this non-stop Trump coverage? None of the folks in my circle want more Trump news. We are all mostly run of the mill Democrats, that now want to now hear about Biden, and the administration plans. Unless it's a story about Trump being arrested, we could care less about his plans or what he is thinking, and definitely do not want to hear about any more of these so called independent voters, i.e. Trump supporters.
I turned off MSNBC and just went back to work. I just do not understand how ratings could be high for this non-stop Trump coverage. What else could anyone need to know about Trump that we have not already seen, read, or heard about. He's a one term president, that lost majorities in the House and Senate and the news organizations are still treating him like he's the next great world leader. He's a racist and a bigot and, unfortunately, there are lot of folks that think just like him and that is why they support him. Nothing "genius" about Trump.
"So the Post kept its head down and shelved the discussion until February 2021."
And for all we know, that's only because Trump left office. If he'd won (or "won"), we have no reason to be confident the Post would have crossed this line even now. It's "fun" (not really fun) to imagine what the coverage would have been like if his attempt to kill members of Congress and stop the counting of electoral votes had worked.
"At first, the thin excuse from editors for banning “liar” and “lies” was nobody knew if Trump was telling untruths intentionally. (Maybe he’s just misinformed!)"
He was president of the United States for four years. No one on Earth has more access to more real information. If he didn't want to access it, that's not an excuse. But they swallowed it every time.
I remember back in 2017 or 2018 or so (who knows about time anymore?) when Anderson Cooper called Trump a liar on his show and people freaked the hell out. "Oh, no, you can't call the President a liar?" I even had a conversation about this with a very progressive co-worker, and I said, "Why not, he is? Cooper was just telling the truth." If more news outlets had done that, maybe we wouldn't be in the position we're in right now. I especially hated it when they said he "misspoke." No, that's when you say something that's wrong, but it wasn't deliberate. Trump was lying deliberately. Repeatedly. This is, again, another problem with access journalism. Whatever happened to speaking truth to power? The framers included freedom of the press specifically so that the media could stand up to government officials and tell the truth about them without fear of censorship or being thrown in jail. They've willingly given up that right in favor of access. Ugh.
Let's earmark Baron's interview and see what happens in four years. Unless Trump is mired in litigation by the SNDY, the AG office of Georgia, and perhaps the DOJ, and that his physical and mental health remain somewhat reasonable, the liar and chief Trump will be back. And like the Michael Myers character from the Halloween movie franchise, nothing ever seems to do in this bad guy so count on the sequel. Also the Trump return has already gained support by the overwhelming majority of Republicans who did not vote to impeach or convict. Will the post, come the late fall and spring of 2023-24, be willing to roll out the term liar when discussing Trump then or was this interview nothing more than lip service because now they don't have to. We'll see.
I’m tired of all these redemption tours these rightwing GOP enablers / Trump enablers / Mitch freaking McConnell enablers are embarking on right now. Unfortunately, it has only just begun. By this time next year, people will have forgiven and forgotten all the reprehensible things they’ve done, in no small part because of the media enablers.
And let me just say, Radio Garden is absolutely fantastic!
So if the choice was to correctly call Trump a liar, or to question his mental acuity the Post (and by extension the rest of the political press) they chose curtain #3: to normalize his lying?
And people wonder why I consistently say “our failed political press”?
It's not as thought he Post's refusal to call Trump a liar gained them either respect or deference from the White House.
They were still frequently attacked and dismissed as "fake news."
They could easily have said he lied, and was lying regularly, instead of slapping the permanent label of "liar" on him. Just like they could have talked about how most of his policies were malicious without calling him "evil incarnate." I don't believe the deference to the president excuse. What was really happening was frightened decision-making in the face of being called the enemy of the people, along with fear of a loss of access—which most news outlets know doesn't mean loss of information. No story should ever be held up by someone refusing to comment.
I greatly admire Marty Baron, and we all should. But here's something to ponder: Would he have handled this differently if he still had been at The Boston Globe, or even at The Miami Herald? And if so, what does that say about the climate in Washington that leads even great editors to chicken out on their responsibilities?
Does anyone else suspect that Baron's mea culpa is just a smokescreen designed to obscure the fact that the Post plans to try to make up for all the negative Trump coverage by attacking Biden at every opportunity?
And IMHO, just calling out Trump would be insufficient. The Post (and most of the MSM) also failed to call out his enables throughout the media, in some sort of "gentleman's agreement". Of course, given that Howard Kurtz was their idea of a media reporter/critic for so many years speaks volumes about how the Post feels about bad journalism.
How long has this been a problem? A very long time. If you want a real demonstration of "past as prologue", check out this Paul Krugman comment on IOKIYAR and IACIYAD from all the way back in 2007 that ends:
"...This stuff is truly scary; it’s the sort of thing you didn’t think could happen in America. But it has been happening; one shudders to think where we’d be if the political tide hadn’t turned against the Bushies.
Or as a constitutional lawyer once said to me, “If Bush wasn’t such a screwup, the Republic would already be over.”"
https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/iokiyar-and-iaciyad/
No, he does not get a pass for waiting.
Very convenient for them to come out now, with all this "confession" speak. For me, it is too late. Journalism is not a new "thing". It has been around since the beginning of this country. WaPo had a job to do. They played both sides of the coin, which is meaningless to me. They, like the sitting cowards in the GOP Senate are just that, cowards. They put their fear of truth telling, behind the easy of going with the flow of lies. I am just sick of all of the cowards.
The truth needs to be told, but the press needs to make money.