Seems Marty Baron and other editors got caught up in the theory of lying promulgated by George Costanza: It isn't a lie if the liar believes it. Media tiptoeing around Trump's pathological lying enable (encouraged?) Trump to lie even more. If editors thought Trump was delusional enough to believe his own BS, and therefore, per the Constanza Theorem, wasn't lying, shouldn't that have prompted investigation into his mental health?
Wouldn’t it have been great if WaPo screamed in each headline, “Trump lies about vote count;”. “Trump lies about election results;” “Trump lies about ....” fill in the blank. Four years of these accurate vs mushy headlines might have changed the focus of reporting on his presidency from the use of obfuscation to a consistent drumbeat of FG’s mendacity. Asymmetrical warfare happens in print too and the press has been trying to play catch-up using polite language with a party/admin that cheats and never plays fair, ala in the image of their idol, the FG; the press has been exploited by the Rs using this impotent type of shadow boxing.
The Republican coordinated coup is the number one story in America. Infrastructure, the environment, voting rights, health care, and other important things simply will not happen if the press continues to sugarcoat what these Republican insurrectionists are attempting to do. We know we can't count on the press to accurately expose the truth but now we can't even count on the Democratic Party that is being sabotaged by Joe Manchin. The Republican Party is dying. The attempt to sew doubt in the election results is the only thing they have left to survive. Sadly with the help of WPO, Fox News, and others, it just might be enough.
I wonder how much of this is related to Trump's attacks on the Washington Post's owner: Jeff Bezos. The WP may be trying to avoid getting Trump riled up (a futile quest) to keep Trump from claiming Bezos is using the Post in a personal vendetta against him. I wonder if they are trying to avoid having people question just what Bezos is doing with the Post if Trump starts drawing attention to it again.
Although Bezos supposedly keeps the Post's management separate from Amazon, and isn't seen to be skewing Post news coverage to benefit him, the richest man in the world's ownership of a premier press outlet at a time when taxation of the rich, worker pay, and inequality is very much in the news ought to raise some concerns.
For example, the richest man in the world may be getting $10 billion from the Federal Government to keep his rocket company Blue Origin in the Moon return mission after losing out to Elon Musk and SpaceX. Welfare for the rich is still on the table.
There was some pretty good sports going on this weekend but when I switched over to news channels there was that "he's about to speak, he's speaking, here's what he said" coverage that drives me crazy. The story was never "he lied again today so we're not going to give it our air."
Something that Mr. Boehlert actually might have fun analyzing. We've seen stories about the Trump Justice Department seeking reporters' phone records. I noticed that they're all people who cover national security. Why wouldn't that Justice Department, with those people in charge of it, seek the records of the likes of "The Habes" and other so-called political reporters? Maybe because they know what lousy reporters they actually are?
Trump is a private citizen and can successfully sue for defamation because all his statements are his opinion, a very widely-held opinion. He's not going to sue PressRun, but he sure would sue the Washington Post.
As is well known that Trump is/was the unnamed source of many blind items, I suppose it is poor form to call him a liar. It would call into question the veracity of the WaPo’s own reporting.
DC is a one-industry town. The local paper has to be careful not to offend their readership.
Seems Marty Baron and other editors got caught up in the theory of lying promulgated by George Costanza: It isn't a lie if the liar believes it. Media tiptoeing around Trump's pathological lying enable (encouraged?) Trump to lie even more. If editors thought Trump was delusional enough to believe his own BS, and therefore, per the Constanza Theorem, wasn't lying, shouldn't that have prompted investigation into his mental health?
Wouldn’t it have been great if WaPo screamed in each headline, “Trump lies about vote count;”. “Trump lies about election results;” “Trump lies about ....” fill in the blank. Four years of these accurate vs mushy headlines might have changed the focus of reporting on his presidency from the use of obfuscation to a consistent drumbeat of FG’s mendacity. Asymmetrical warfare happens in print too and the press has been trying to play catch-up using polite language with a party/admin that cheats and never plays fair, ala in the image of their idol, the FG; the press has been exploited by the Rs using this impotent type of shadow boxing.
The Republican coordinated coup is the number one story in America. Infrastructure, the environment, voting rights, health care, and other important things simply will not happen if the press continues to sugarcoat what these Republican insurrectionists are attempting to do. We know we can't count on the press to accurately expose the truth but now we can't even count on the Democratic Party that is being sabotaged by Joe Manchin. The Republican Party is dying. The attempt to sew doubt in the election results is the only thing they have left to survive. Sadly with the help of WPO, Fox News, and others, it just might be enough.
I wonder how much of this is related to Trump's attacks on the Washington Post's owner: Jeff Bezos. The WP may be trying to avoid getting Trump riled up (a futile quest) to keep Trump from claiming Bezos is using the Post in a personal vendetta against him. I wonder if they are trying to avoid having people question just what Bezos is doing with the Post if Trump starts drawing attention to it again.
Although Bezos supposedly keeps the Post's management separate from Amazon, and isn't seen to be skewing Post news coverage to benefit him, the richest man in the world's ownership of a premier press outlet at a time when taxation of the rich, worker pay, and inequality is very much in the news ought to raise some concerns.
For example, the richest man in the world may be getting $10 billion from the Federal Government to keep his rocket company Blue Origin in the Moon return mission after losing out to Elon Musk and SpaceX. Welfare for the rich is still on the table.
https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-nasa-funding-amendment-moon-2021-5
There was some pretty good sports going on this weekend but when I switched over to news channels there was that "he's about to speak, he's speaking, here's what he said" coverage that drives me crazy. The story was never "he lied again today so we're not going to give it our air."
Something that Mr. Boehlert actually might have fun analyzing. We've seen stories about the Trump Justice Department seeking reporters' phone records. I noticed that they're all people who cover national security. Why wouldn't that Justice Department, with those people in charge of it, seek the records of the likes of "The Habes" and other so-called political reporters? Maybe because they know what lousy reporters they actually are?
Trump is a private citizen and can successfully sue for defamation because all his statements are his opinion, a very widely-held opinion. He's not going to sue PressRun, but he sure would sue the Washington Post.
As is well known that Trump is/was the unnamed source of many blind items, I suppose it is poor form to call him a liar. It would call into question the veracity of the WaPo’s own reporting.
DC is a one-industry town. The local paper has to be careful not to offend their readership.