When your definition of fake news is something you disagree with or find inconvenient, you don’t have a clue what news, truth, and a free press means.
5
In my six decades of following our political world, I can remember only one president, John F. Kennedy was comfortable with the press...
But remember, too, it was the press that Kennedy feared the most during the Cuban missile crisis as he was well aware that if he made the wrong move that the press would crucify him.
I would also note that there was a particular tension between President Obama and the news media, to the point that he appeared to have a skin far thinner than that which a President should have and needed.
1
It's not just Trump, it's the GOP. If the facts don't align with their preferences, they make up their own. Has a prominent GOP politician rebuked Trump for plainly lying about our +/- trade deficit with Canada when he met with Trudeau? Guys not running for reelection like Flake and McCain don't count.
They flout constitutional originalism, but they're the ones that want to get rid of plenty of our enshrined rights other than the 2nd amendment. Many red states have quietly enacted laws basically repudiating the right of assembly when it comes to political protests.
But remember, corporations are people, my friend.
1
What the author fails to note in this otherwise excellent essay is that Donald Trump was and is a creation of the media, especially the New York Post, which reported on his "exploits'' as a real estate tycoon and supposed "playboy'' on an almost daily basis. He - and his "publicists'' John Barron and John Miller -- loved the media then, didn't they?
4
Fox news is about the only network left who tows his line. How are they going to fare when everything blows up? They'll blame Hillary and Obama. I'm finally starting to see Trump supporters backing away. Hang on, it's going to be a very bumpy ride.
Not quite "the Press". Just the tabloid, highly-partisan press and media represented by the NYT and MSNBC - whose directors and publishers appear to have made it their life's work to destroy him , his administration and all those who voted for him. I sneered at the term "fake news" when Trump first came out with it, but now I accept it. Incidentally, I don't classify myself as either a Republican or a Democrat, and neither black nor white, and an atheist. In other words, I look on this with what I think is an objective eye, and am appalled.
1
Trump and his minions hate the press ? There is a long , long , long list of hate from Trump and his followers . No surprise to me , they even hate one another !
More troubling than Trump's assault on the press is the clear hate/love co-dependency that has become their relationship. The news shows' ratings are up; Trump's daily media coverage must exceed that of any American president since John Kennedy's; his most outrageous tweets make the front page; never have "pundits" had such a field day. (It's a fair guess that during the past two years, Trump has been the subject of at least 75 per cent of what commentators in this newspaper have written about.) The most serious result of this unholy alliance is that Trump has hardened the support of his most ardent supporters and the mainstream news media has experienced an erosion of trust. It's not a healthy scenario for the survival of our democracy.
1
Professor Edsall, I start from a different baseline than you. The Mainstream News Media IS BIASED against Republicans (in general) and POTUS Trump (specifically).
And, YES, ca. 90% of those who today purport to be journalists, these fellow citizens do SWING TO THE LEFT.
I agree with Mr. Baron. Do the work. Whether I agree or disagree with what is written, the end product is reporting the news. The lost professionalism (that today has unfortunately been lost in many outlets) is the failure to do one's due diligence/homework on the topic of the day.
People like me who are ravenous consumers of journalism are appalled at the depths that this formally respected profession has descended.
1
It's kind of interesting reading this. Trump complains about the press but as far as I can see he hasn't tries to prosecute anyone or ordered wiretaps on anyone. Obama constantly derided Fox News, tried to have one of them prosecuted and got orders to wiretap some reporters phones. Yet that's fine. Trump complains, without doing what Obama did and it's a constitutional crisis. Please explain.
Trump got elected as a disruptor. The problem is the definition of the word itself. Did the millions who voted for him expect him to go after and destroy the press, or was this his interpretation of his own mandate as a disruptor?
Trump interprets disruptor as hurling insults, and trying to destroy the press, the so-called perpretrator of fake news. The people who voted for him gave him, in essence, permission to say and do virtually whatever he wants. Since he was primarily elected on a mandate for "chaos," then whatever he says and does with the press is not only justified, it is how he won.
This country, especially the base, gave three branches of the government to Trump et al in one of the most vicious, vindictive electoral contests in history.
1
It is the media who has been doing the assaulting against President Trump since he won the Republican presidential nomination and it has been full speed ahead since he entered the White House. They have just not let up on their barbs and attacks on him about everything. Nothing has been off limits in their criticism of Mr. Trump. They have picked on his appearance (hair and weight), his diet (McDonald's hamburgers and multiple diet cokes) his wife (Mrs. Trump wore heels to board the presidential plane and they were relentless in their ridicule. They are just waiting to pounce on the silliest things that other presidents never had to endure. Is it any wonder why President Trump refers to the media as fake media and is disgusted. Who can blame him.
MSNBC and CNN are as guilty as any network of mocking our president. They hate President Trump vehemently and are just waiting for him to fail. They have been in the forefront of the Russian collusion story and yet have found nothing to involve our president with the presidential election. They would not think to report on his accomplishments which have been many. This is why the viewers are turning off their channels and switching to Fox News. They present a story from two points of view and are not mean spirited.
President Trump sometimes speaks out of turn but this is probably due to his poor treatment by the media. He is angry and justly so. If the media reports fairly, he will treat them them the same way.
1
Unsaid is that, in a democracy, the news media must be fiercely "biased" in favor of democracy, and a free press. That is the conundrum at the root of the conservative vs. liberal attacks on the media. Right-wing conservatism is not based on a free press or a marketplace of ideas, so it's adherents can lambaste the media to their hearts' content without overthrowing their first principles. And of course, they will inevitably be on target: that is, the media IS biased in the sense that enlightenment thinking is biased against, say, totalitarianism. Democratic media still have to present totalitarians as the facts describe, unless in opinion pieces. But democratic media should not kowtow to totalitarian ideas about . . . media. And what does it say about how radical conservatism is now in the U.S. that it not only criticizes, but espouses hatred for, even the mainstream media?
2
The other thing this president would like is control of the press. Why else would trump make up his own news?
1
Thirty years of fear mongering Fox Propaganda (fed by cynical manipulators) have helped lay the groundwork for the diminution of public trust, the breaking down of social norms of decency and has helped the rise of the increasingly radicalized right wing. That movement is now morphing into a more extremist Alt-Right movement that brooks no dissent, is ultimately authoritarian and anti-democracy.
In the near future Americans are going to be faced with same the dilemma experienced in 1934 Germany...submit to the dominant partisan politics of exclusion and authoritarianism or stand firmly for OUR democracy as defined by the founding fathers and standing UP to the toxic right wing extremists. There will be no middle ground.
6
Frankly, this is silly. The press is thriving under Trump.
4
He wouldn't get near as much attention from the press if he just stopped tweeting like Tweety Bird.
2
Trump's attack on the mainstream press is only one angle of his larger war against truth. He attacks the mainstream press because their primary function is to uncover truth, especially when others want to bury it or at least twist it into an alternate narrative that serves their goals. (Mix up some "alternative facts" with confirmational bias and a dash of outright falsehoods, and here we are!) For Trump, we already know that winning is absolutely everything, and information is but a tool to manipulate to give him his desired outcome.
As authoritarians (yes, Trump wants to be one, too) around the world rise up and chip away at democratic norms here and abroad, we watch as mainstream media sources (as opposed to propaganda-like media like Fox News and Breitbart) are attacked because they challenge these authoritarians' power-grab.
We all have an obligation to stand up and support truth-telling, and the mainstream media are our primary institutions for this. Otherwise, we might as well chuck this whole Enlightenment experiment in the trash.
5
The one group you don't want to antagonize is the group that projects your image to the world. The other is those that know where all the bodies are buried. Trump has gone after both. You can be stupid or arrogant, but not stupid and arrogant. Only a matter of time.
"The question is whether the news media can mount an effective check on the exercise of power when the media itself has become an object of hatred for a large segment of the electorate."
"The press" was a phenomenon very independent of government when it was protected 250 years ago. Unfortunately, with radio, television, and internet, "the
press" is intimately linked to moment-to-moment actions of government and society.
Trump is a sort of clown, a sort of figure that has always existed as an entertaining mix of humor, tragedy, anger and trickiness. Curiosity elevation by "the press" was the essence of his election.
1
I recommend Mr. Trump get acquainted with the wit and wisdom of his predecessor Harry Truman, who used to say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"
Then again, President Truman also had a sign on his desk saying, "The buck stops here," where "buck" means "responsibility." Trump apparently mis-read it as "bucks."
3
Our free press is all that separates us from a Putin-like government. Love live the American free press.
8
The mistrust of the press is -- in large part -- a reflection of just how dumb Americans have become about our own country.
It was apparent a long time ago that too many of us see the world in black and white, and demand simple solutions for complex problems. The rise of the 140 character tweet was perfect for a man whose own personality is incapable of dealing with complexity and nuance. A pithy, exclamation-point-filled "shot" takes all of his focus.
And yet we expect people to be willing to use multiple sources for news, understand the bias inherent in various editorial decisions, including what stories to make prominent, which to include without much fanfare and which to ignore? And that's before having to think about the increasingly blurred line between "news" and "editorial" -- which often seem to appear in the same story.
Of course people are simply going to shake their heads in disgust, mutter about "fake news" and turn back to their tweets or clipping services. There's a reason that the word that follows the phrase "keep it simple" is "stupid."
1
A con man fears the media because a con man's greatest enemies are truth and transparency. Exhibit A: President Donald J. Trump
9
Simple: stop reporting on Trump all together! He will get freedom from the press, and we may get freedom from HIM!
6
Trump didn't create agenda reporting. Trump didn't create bad reporting. The media created some self inflicted wounds, including but not limited to Dan Rather of CBS, Brian Williams of NBC, several reporters from CNN.
Can you honestly say that the NY Times does not have a Democratic Party bias?
The American people are not fools. Stop the biased agenda based reporting and Trump will be bereft of ammunition against the press.
6
"Of those who said the media is partisan, 64 percent said that the media favors Democrats, and 22 percent said Republicans."
In a news media universe that includes Fox News, I find the lop-sidedness of these poll numbers nothing short of flabbergasting.
So either way more republicans claim that the media is partisan, or the fact that Fox News is partisan, to the point of being a propaganda outlet, goes completely over most peoples' heads.
1
How else can a party that just gave $1.5 trillion to multi-millionaires, works in tandem with the NRA, and promotes and protects an uninformed, ill-prepared, unqualified President survive? Of course, create an enemy and distract with scurrilous attacks - it's been their playbook for at least a generation. Who can blame the Republicans? They certainly can't talk honestly about the values they truly hold.
6
I don't read any of your editorials/op-eds about Trump. I sometimes read the titles only on these pieces (not all about him) and the title wording is almost always negative. Cynical, bitter, resentful, completely partisan.
I am not an extremist by nature but I do believe that the "mainstream press" is out to sink Donald Trump and there is nothing surreptitious about it. For fun, I sometimes turn to one of the liberal cable shows and there is (practically all the time) a panel of Trump haters saying anything they can to destroy him. It has now become ridiculous with Democrats admitting there is probably no "Russian collusion" story but they're still looking! for something, anything, the journalistic grenade that will finally do Trump in.
There is much to dislike about this guy. I cannot defend much of his behavior but I do know when truth is being omitted or skewered in one direction. He is taking vicious hits every day. -Even his successes are being interpreted ("spun") as failures. Why are purported liberals so stingy?
My suggestion: stop taunting us with speculation and attitude--FIND SOMETHING. ( It might even be good news.)
5
One sided, pro-administration news media is one more thing Trump likes about the President-for-Life governing style of China.
3
Despite what all the gun crazoiods out there think, it is the freedom of the press with all of its faults that has kept this country free and not the second amendment. Trump loves authoritarian leaders and like dictator wannabe's everywhere he wishes to destroy the press.
4
The means of acquisition of news by most Americans is entirely neglected in this opinion piece and the comments. Since the advent of the internet conventional news channels, whether print or TV, have seen drops in readership and viewership. In their place internet and cell phone enabled information exchanges have played an ever increasing role in "informing" the public just about everything. It effectively also helped in fostering tribal partisanship groups, held together by common beliefs and credence that, more likely than not, eludes fact based discussion and appreciation for diverse views and principles. Factual information gathering, the responsibility of newspapers, and digesting it is challenging for the readers, a task many skip in favor of one-liners, hearsay or even a tweet or tribal newsfeed from a familiar source.
Even among many readers of our elite newspapers there is a frightening realization that they are unaware of the difference between news and commentary or opinion pieces, a failure that feeds the partisanship.
As a consequence Americans are becoming evermore ill informed about the political and economic events of this country and have no clue about the events and their meaning on what goes on beyond our borders. This negative feedback loop portends dark days ahead.
3
This article is an excellent example of the reason the public mistrusts the media. Edsall acknowledges that mistrust exists, but attributes it entirely to right wing propaganda and the demonic motives of its purveyors. By the way it is framed, distortion is introduced. The obvious possibility that reporting is often actually tainted by the political biases of the reporter is not debated honestly, but simply omitted. One can hardly miss the self-righteousness.
6
We shouldn't forget the next amendment after the First Amendment if someone special is hankering for a dictatorial rule sans a free press. Those Founding Fathers sure knew their game! We The People!
1
Let the free press continue their endeavors and allow the readership to arrive at their own conclusions. Trump will sink or swim with his own words, actions or lack thereof. It doesn't take a genius to figure this guy out. Great reporting NYT, as usual.
3
It might help if the real news media pointed out how often Fox and its imitators use the news-gathering expertise of the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, NPR, major TV networks, and others as the basis for Fox & Co.'s own spin-based stories. And the same is true of local real news media, as I recently observed by reading the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's coverage of the Pennsylvania District 18 election.
The fact that, in real news media, one can read or view in-depth information, gathered by people with knowledge about all parts of the world, is one of the most important contributions real journalism makes to an informed citizenry. And we should never lose sight of this fact.
6
I think one thing columnists can do is stop calling the current Republicans “Conservatives”. About the only thing these Republicans want to conserve is their own power.
Ironically, the mainstream media has many conservative columnists, many of them very critical of Trump and the current “Republicans”. These writers offer a variety of views expressed with reason and a sense of American history.
2
My advice to the press (mirroring a sentiment expressed several times in the article: "Never explain. Your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you anyway."
2
One thing we need less of is Trump's image plastered all over our screens and pages. A story can be about him without us having to look at him.
Media just keeps on putting him up there even if the story is about someone who knows him or is associated with him. I think, the American public is weary of it. I know he makes all news "news about him" but surely the media in general can work to make it more about what happened, rather than who he is, or how he reacted.
1
I wouldn't call it freedom from the press. He wants freedom from the truth, freedom from considerations of humanity, freedom to bully, freedom to be ignorance and claim he is wise, freedom to be cruel, freedom to blame victims, freedom to loot and exploit.
He wants the freedom to hang out in his bedroom bouncing back and forth with his favorites at Fox News. I'm afraid he would love the freedom to jail and/or kill his opponents. He wants his word to be law. He wants wealth and status without hard work. He wants to be able to torture people. He's also a coward, but everyone is supposed to treat him like a hero. He wants a tribute in the form of a military parade.
I could go on but that's enough for a start.
8
There is a reason that freedom of the press is enshrined in the very first amendment to the Constitution: without press freedom the public is not informed about the successes & failures of the administration, nor the integrity & fitness of the occupants of that administration. It is instructive that all totalitarian regimes obtain control of the press (tv, radio, newspapers & internet) as one of their first steps in control of the state. Almost every major commentator writes that democracy cannot exist without freedom of the press.
The Constitution does not specify that the press must be objective & free from bias in order to be free from government sanction. It did not do so because the framers knew that the press was unlikely to be considered free from bias or would operate as a mouthpiece for one faction or another. The press is free to print almost anything it wants, subject to the libel laws.
Most of the current corporate press slants somewhat liberal in its political coverage. Sometimes this bias shows up in the selection of news to print and the context of the item printed. But America is fortunate to have numerous sources of political news both liberal & conservative. We should be on guard of any politician who derides the press and calls it the "enemy of the people." That is the language of a despot.
6
The worst part about almost EVERYTHING this so-called president does or says, is that its motivation seems not to be a true, sincere desire to "serve and protect" the citizens of the country he ended up leading, and to improve and represent the lives and interests of at least CLOSE to all of its citizens, but instead his primary motivators seem to be fear, dislike bordering on outright hatred at times, personal revenge, rewarding personal loyalty, and serving the interests of the rich and powerful few, while being indifferent and often even hostile to the plight of those who actually NEED governmental help in both their daily lives and in times of trouble or crisis. (run-on sentence - my bad!). The continuing attacks on a free and vigorous press, are a primary example - but there is also an incredible miasma or aura of mean-spiritedness about these attacks which is profoundly disturbing. FORTUNATELY, the first amendment right to a "free press" is VERY solidly entrenched in the law and the constitution, and few reporters have been fired or imprisoned yet in most "democratic" countries including the USA, for doing their job properly - ie to dig up and present in a fair manner, the FACTS - what actually happened or is happening in the real world. That said, people with very undemocratic intentions such as many "right wingers" including the president, have deliberately sought to encourage distrust and dislike of "the press", in any form that strives for relative objectivity.
4
Trump is NOT a victim here. He's a raving narcissist devoid of intellectual integrity whose trying to avoid accountability for being a horse's ass by pretending the media is the problem and the purveyor of fake news. Some of the comments here are inane attempts to hold the media accountable for holding the idiot president accountable. This is willful ignorance of both the nation's history and the role of a free press as the fourth estate. You all need remedial civics lessons.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
6
Terrific article!
2
With this president, the press has a significantly more difficult job than in the past when reporting on the things the President says. His words are simultaneously of import (because he's the POTUS), and meaningless (because he lies, flip-flops, and just makes stuff up). The shelf life of a Trump statement is shorter than that of a speckled banana. Thoughts and prayers for the MSM.
7
I hate to sound like one of those people some like to call out as an over reacting liberal slime ball, but the similarity to 1930's Germany is hard to overlook in U.S. politics of today.
10
"He seeks to weaken an institution that serves to constrain the abusive exercise of executive authority."
To get at the heart of one of Trump's chief offenses against the country, one would need to replace the words "an institution" with "ANY institution."
Trump says so-called judges are "very unfair" to him and we are to hold them responsible for any terrorist attack on U.S. soil because they dared to question the constitutionality of his self-titled Muslim ban/travel ban/not-a-ban/I-call-it-a-ban policy. A judge Trump thought was Mexican was deemed illegitimate because "I'm building a wall, okay?" His loss of the popular vote is not the result of his UNPOPULARITY, but of the millions of illegitimately cast (surely Democrat-supporting) ballots. Any inconvenient findings of the FBI are illegitimate because even his own appointees are traitorous, deep-state, Obama-Clinton-conspirators. Mueller is illegitimate at least partly because he balked at Trump golf club fees. Economic data favorable to Obama was deemed illegitimate, but data from the same sources using the same methodology is now "very real."
Steve Miller expressed the White House's true conception of itself when he freely declared, with a flat-affect worthy of Dexter Morgan, that Trump's opponents and the WORLD "will soon see" that Trump's powers (so long as he uttered the words national security) "will not be questioned." Never mind actual checks on his power. Trump barely acknowledges QUESTIONING it. #MAGA
3
One thing that Trump wants is, " Freedom from the Press ". Not surprising for a man who has a lot of skeletons in his cupboard. And the main reason he is enraged and seething is because even as the most powerful man in the country and the world, he cannot just say, "You're Fired"! Therefore, the Press should keep doing what they do - honest reporting. Presidents come and go but news reports will not, digitally or paper.
6
All dictators want that.
Trump wants the press to praise him.
Can't stand it when they don't.
Trump wants to be Dictator, even jokes about it.
Warning signs are there all over the place. So everyone be warned, there are others in your country that wouldn't mind a dictator, we are slipping away into a police state where those forefathers and those freedoms we marched for are going to go away, if we don't stop, watch and publish.
6
Like Nixon, Trump hates news media except FOX TV. I think he loves Hannity much more than Fox & Friends. Nixon was not lucky enough to have FOX TV. If Nixon would have FOX TV, he would not have to quit. Thanks to FOX news, America is so sharply divided and polarized nation. Tribal world is very popular to describe our politics and FOX is responsible for that. Yes, MSNBC is also biased but they do not lie or manufacture stories. We got G W Bush and Trump as our incompetent president because of FOX. Hannity was the most vocal in supporting Iraq war which was totally unnecessary. Now Iraq's politics is controlled by Iran. China and India are having most business in Iraq in reconstruction. What we got? We wasted trillions of dollars and about 7000 death of our young soldiers.
2
Edsall refers to Tushnet's "pre-constitutional understandings." Among other things, these include our so-called inalienable rights, the Golden Rule, common sense, and for some, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins and the cultural and spiritual aspirations of Hinduism, Buddhism and a belief that there is no such thing as a surplus population of humans.
Trump, his satellites and sycophants can not be reeducated from the kindergarten level through college where the initial seeds of intellectual integrity are cultivated. They are mostly an anti-intellectual group, they "know" things a priori, before experience, and scoff at those who need evidence for knowing: to them evidence is like a crutch or wheelchair.
The press is like an educational system, but it reports events and elucidates ideas and opinions, and it is optional, unlike school. It is the fact that the press is not required reading that undercuts its authority to those who didn't even like school in the first place. Whether you like it or not, there is a very strong correlation between those who scoffed at school and who are adult anti-intellectuals.
Walter Lippmann spent his career on pressing the notion that democracy was an impossibility because neither the educational system, nor the press could sufficiently inform the citizenry to a degree that they could cast votes on their own recognizance and without the help of bias, prejudice and ignorance, the dark side of "pre-constitutional understandings."
4
Repeal of the Fairness Doctrine did not help. Rupert Murdoch saw an easy way to make money. Instead of creating an expensive news organization, he got talking heads to put on a show. It worked. In addition, it allowed night crawlers: Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin et al to get rich. Ah Capitalism.
3
I don't think Trump is at war with the press as much as at war with the truth. He needs to be coddled and constantly told how great he is, which fits perfectly into Fox News's domain. Incredibly weak persons such as Trump, can never stand on their own, without protection from the outside.
4
The modern Republican party is oligarchic, anti-democratic, and seeks through its policies and practices to create a one-party state in the USA. They seek to deny anything fact based. Thus, its attacks on and denigration of education (higher and lower), its attacks on the press and its denial of science. It seeks to undermine our democratic norms. Thus, its attempts to gerrymander voting districts, to suppress the vote, and to upend legislative norms as in the successful (and despicable) effort to prevent a seated president from nominating a Supreme Court justice. And, most consequentially, they seek to distort any rational understanding of reality. Thus, they quietly align themselves behind an accidental president who is clearly a pathological liar with a massive personality disorder.
5
One of the problems with all media dependant on advertising is the blurring of the line between entertainment,news and information. Another is , " I want to be your friend. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter". I'm sorry, but where's the gravitas in your presentations. I don't want to be your friend and have a good time that's what makes the news fake.
Let us not pretend all media does not have a "slant". And as media outlets are gobbled up by Enormous corporations that slant is often in favor of what those corporations see to be in their own self interest.
History will observe the demise of the Fairness Doctrine (thank you Ronald Reagan) and the rise of Rupert Murdoch as prime motivators. Additionally, conservatives have systematically set about destroying the organizations that helped the working class vote in their own self-interest and replaced them with a whirling sputtering propaganda machine that would make most thinking people laugh.
We are living in a perfect storm of arrogance, ignorance, lack of critical thinking and craven organizations willing to take advantage at all costs.
9
Mr. Edsall mentions the conservative siege mentality toward the end of his piece. At first glance the average NYT reader might not fully understand just how intense and prevalent this state of mind is on the right. My suggestion to anyone seeking answers to how our politics arrived at this moment is to listen to your local conservative talk radio station for just an hour or two. It will definitely be an educational experience in how the "other side" thinks. You will frequently hear on Rush Limbaugh's program about how "we're losing the country" or " Trump is the only thing standing between us and the end of America as we know and love it." It's crazy stuff, I know, but when liberals are at a loss as to why Trump can get away with everything, it is because people genuinely have this the-barbarians-are-at-the-gates mindset. I don't know how to fix it, but there's an old saying about how you have to understand an enemy before they can be defeated.
11
It's important to listen to conservative talk radio and Fox News more than once in order to understand what other people are thinking. Many of the folks I know who listen to Fox News have it on ALL DAY. They are older and retired. They vote in higher numbers than younger folks and remember when the America they lived in was "great". It's indoctrination of their opinions because it's constant repetition of a specific ideology.
If we truly want our country to come together, we have to understand where everyone is coming from and why.
13
It would help, however, if we were all living in the same reality. Folks on a straight diet of Foxygen will need help acclimating, or they will get the "bends."
1
@Jane K: You are the victim of received ideas which do not correspond.Journos at FOX are professionals, and would not be there if they were not, and their relationship with their contemporaries at other networks is one of mutual sympathy. You may think its all about ideology, but rather its about getting a much sought after position, keeping it and earning a high salary. All newscasters share that in common.No one gloated at the other cable news stations when O Reilly was sacked, because they imagined themselves in the same position.Nor is everyone who listens to Fox old, or hankering for a return to the past. Fox goes where other stations on the left would fear to tread, like revealing the photo of a smiling Barack Obama with Farakhan, and informing viewers that KEITH Ellison currently head of DNC as well as members of the CBC have not denounced Mr. Farakhan.They represent remnants of the far left of the party,and with them Democratic Party will not regain control. New face of the party is Conor Lamb who, although a Democrat, endorsed most of Trump's positions, including gun rights and tariffs on imported steel.That is a winning ticket!
thank you NYT for fighting the good fight. Keep up the good work. My subscription is my small contribution to the battle against falsehood and to help you keep the light shining.
10
Feeding the 24 hour news cycle beast also throws gas on the fire. During the Nixon era, we didn't have "breaking news" every 5 minutes on cable news or online. We did have rare "special reports" breaking into soap operas and game shows, and everyone waited until 6:30 for the national newscasts. Exception to this was when the Watergate hearings were covered live, but I don't recall the play by play of today's contrived conservative versus liberal pundits breaking in every 10 minutes. It took longer to gather, disseminate and digest the news in those days, and the presenters and reporters weren't hysterical, hyperventilating entertainers. Now every TV reporter screams in simple staccato phrases with exclamation points. It's like reporting a Hindenburg disaster every day- "Oh! the Humanity!"
3
He wants what every wannabe despot wants. Zero accountability and abject adulation.
Sorry. This is the United States. Even the president gets neither without earning it. trump has never earned anything in his 71 years blighting our planet.
11
The baby in chief Con Don tells six lies daily on average. Of course, he loves Fox, the supremo king of fake news in the entire world. The organization has no ethics and morally bankrupt. They are driven by rating at the cost of fear and division among us. Fox does the bidding for the corrupt wallstreet crooks. They manufacture fake conspiracy stories and pit one against other. It is like running a tabloid- they have no desire to promote journalism. Fox is the lap dog of the narcissist. It is a shame and disgrace that such an organization exists whose only goal is to,promote division among us and destroy the basic foundation of our great nation.
8
the loss of a free press is, regretfully, thinkable. It will be a terrible loss. But we are on that road, downhill, slippery slope and more. Trump has mastered the art of Press baiting; unfortunately the press, especially the television news and opinion types. I recently watched a mildly demented, not yet diagnosed person, while they were watching a News show, reporters were on a panel. they uniformly took apart everything that Trump had done wrong that day.
They concentrated on his tweets, the Mueller investigations (no news but it helped to heap suspicion on Trump dealing with Russia). Before it ended 5 plus minutes later, my friend was nodding and saying, I hate Trump. Why can't they get rid of him.
This isn't just a problem for those with memory loss. It is a problem for many who don't spend much if anytime getting a better grounding on the issues...something readily available in some print media, journals, and magazines which while slanted provide more depth and context to their work.
The Media needs to get a grip and cover more of the policy changes; they need to do more to provide context and perspective to their reporting. This applies to all media including the ones I read daily...and which provide the lead for most of the TV News Shows. Save yourselves, help us to understand, weigh and balance what is happening. We suffer greatly when anyone assumes the certainty of their position...including the news media.
1
Has the press become more partisan over the years? Certainly. But the fact that Fox News does so well in ratings is evidence that it's as much the fault of consumers as it is the purveyors. Newspapers need revenue to stay in operation. Which means they need to print what people want to read. If people took principled stands against partisan news and didn't feed ad revenue to Fox/MSNBC, then we'd have factual, non-sensationalist news. But we don't, so they don't. We the consumers make the rules, news organizations are just playing the game.
2
If we the people are in any way blinded by Mr Trump's antics we deserve anything he hands down. Few in our nation are illiterate and while most of us get our news from commercial outlets we have all been raised with a decent sense of what makes our democracy work.
That anyone is influenced by "fake news" indicates that person has been misled throughout life. Unfortunately this observation is more appropriate than most of us accept. If however consideration is given to how early and incessant the message of conformity is insinuated it will clarify the thrust of this thought.
Although a devout Catholic throughout my youth, I could not accept belief in the supernatural as my guide through life. The perspective I had of society changed while studying the Bible and evolved to the point I consider beliefs we are taught to hold are in fact distortions which benefit the few.
Supernatural beliefs of any sort may bring solace to those who are mistreated, but they also tighten the blindfold to reality, which is why they were invented. Belief is the primary method, but those who lead society have no qualm in using force as the ultimate tool of control.
I consider most of those who follow and practice beliefs based on the supernatural to be decent and loving people, but question the overlap which they bring to the pragmatic demands of society.
It is more constructive to deal with those who rely on the newspaper and leave their supernatural beliefs in their house of worship.
3
Funny how the very same people who are attacking the 1st amendment hold the 2nd amendment so dear.
7
I can't describe his actions as anything other than 'Un-American' and 'Treasonous'. Resist and Impeach this POTUS.
8
In 2 comments I have pointed out that threats to freedom of the press did not start with Trump and his exposure of hypocrisy and fakery in the mostly liberal media. It is a world wide phenomenon, and in my lifetime goes back to the coverage of the JFK assassination when day after his death, Times newspaper ran 2 highly suspect articles by Lewis and Reston supporting government's position that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin:pieces were as bogus as Warren Commission report declaring in advance that Oswald was sole shooter, even before its "investigation" was completed!Also mentioned in GB Heath's successful effort, aided by English press, to downplay significance of Enoch Powell's "RIVERS OF BLOOD" speech in which he predicted dire consequences of letting 50,000 unvetted immigrants in yearly. Third example hits closer to home: The frequent appearances of Times's journos on cable networks, MSNBC and CNN, so frequent they appear to be members of the regular staff. Media is composed of Dem.PARTY sympathizers. And you're blaming Trump for calling media out for fake news? Your article reads like a red herring--something fishy--distracting your many readers from the truth!
2
No disrespect intended, Mr. Edsall, but "Vous nous faites rigoler!"Its not Pres. TRUMP who has contributed to a mistrust of the press, it is the press itself which is its own worst enemy. Have you ever encountered a press so overwhelmingly biased, willing to denigrate c-in-c, a press which, grosso modo,is liberal, composed of registered Democrats, and seldom give TRUMP credit for anything? Maggie Haberman, Alexander Burns, Jeremy Peters,Jeff Zeleney double dip so often on CNN they r like regular members of the staff! Recall Times newspaper coverage after RFK's death. Lewis and Reston, day after, published Oswald's complete bio and all but said he was the lone assassin!In 1947 Conservative M.P. , classical scholar, Enoch Powell, published his "Rivers of Blood"speech in which he predicted violence if gov. continued to let 50,000 immigrants yearly. Not reported widely in the press, nor was Heath's "avertissement" to Powell to shut up!In emphasizing press fakery, Trump is saying what most of us already knew.Fox News is an independent news source, only network to run a photo of the despicable, anti semitic Louis Farakhan with a smiling Barack Obama and other black leaders.By the way, when if ever will CBC ever denounce LF for his hateful views.? Apparently LF also enjoys support of Ellison, head of DNC. But to return to your thesis, Trump has articulated what most of us knew already:Press is not free and has seldom been,at least in my lifetime.
3
What readers expect from NYT, WaPo, CNN and others is *transparency* in news reporting. Fake news is a lack of transparency, but so is *omission* of key information and using inaccurate language to reflect one's political agenda.
While NYT, WaPo, may criticize Breitbart, it is Breitbart that uses the correct, transparent term "illegal alien" while NYT and other MSM use "undocumented immigrant" a term which does not transparently convey that these people are in the country illegally.
Similarly, stories and opinion pieces in NYT state that Trump is against immigrants and is racist when in fact he is against *illegal aliens* not legally residing immigrants -- again a lack of transparency in news reporting.
NJ Senator Cory Booker was one of 4 Democrats to vote against the Taylor Force Act in committee in a 17-4 vote. The bill, approved of by AIPAC, and with Israel passing a similar law, prohibits US tax money to be used to incentivize terrorism in Israel. About *$300 million per year* of donor funds intended to help law-abiding Palestinians is instead used to fund terrorists in Israeli jails, and families of dead terrorists. Since many people killed in 9/11 were NJ residents, it is reprehensible that Booker would be in a minority desiring to still use US tax money to reward Palestinian terror in Israel. This is a big story, yet no NYT reporting.
When NYT, WaPo, CNN and others move away from transparency in complete news report, they deserve to be a target.
5
Press was a sell out long before Trump! Recall day after JFK's assassination articles by Anthony Lewis and James Reston with complete bio of OSWALD and all but saying, before we knew all the facts, that OSWALD was the lone assassin! Check it out:like a foretaste of the Warren Commission cover up which reached same conclusion even before it finished its"independent investigation!"No c-in-c has been so vilified in our history as Trump,explicable by fact that press is composed of registered Democrats. Derogatory things said about Trump that would never have been said about Obama.Jeremy Skahill , writing for The Nation.exposed O as more hawkish than even W.Courageous Skahill is 1 exception. What r we to make of Times newspaper journos, Friedman,Haberman, Burns, Peters , Zeleney double dipping as almost regular members of the staff at CNN. MSNBC?Not a conflict of interest?Saw photo of a smiling Obama posing with hate mongerer Louis FARAKhAN, but not on CNN or MSNBC but on Fox News. Why has Keith Ellison's ties to Farakhan not been widely reported, and he is acting head of DNC! Recall scant coverage of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech half century ago in which he predicted violence that would ensue if GB admitted 50,000 immigrants yearly and given series of attentats in Old Blighty, he was proven "prevoyant!" Just some examples of press selling out! "Bref," Trump has articulated what many of us suspected already. Your article is a red herring, no disrespect intended!
1
amazing a man that has lied 2,300+ times
would accuse others of being dishonest...
9
Trumpka's perfect media world is, by air, a mere 9 1/2 hours away. A propagandist's paradise!
3:55 pm → 8:25 am+1
Aeroflot 105
4
Alas, if only "the media" didn't make it so very easy. Cable "news" -- all 3 major networks -- **is** unserious, exploitative, jingoistic and routinely biased in favor the status quo (the official line of the day), despite occasional lapses into relevance and accuracy.
Or consider, for example, the unique agitation at the Times, on the subject of Venezuela -- for years now, to the point of supporting a coup against a popular elected government -- where far worse regimes barely get a word. Or the question of "free trade", where the mere mention of the phrase is meant to induce beatific agreement, no questions asked and none allowed.
None of this makes the case for Trump, but it's very hard to argue that the media is a victim, when so much is wrong with it, foundationally.
3
The media took a turn when cable news csme on the scene and ceased being news and quickly became niche entertainment services. How is it possible that NBC, ABC and CBS consistently have the exact same atories night after night? They are controlled by one source. That is neither objective nor purposeful. America knows it and Trump points it out frequently. Stating that media does not want to be at the center of the political debates is absolutely asinine. I would read the NYT occasionally to sober up.
1
Since Trump's objectives diverge quite clearly from the needs of the population, the free press is our main way of monitoring what he's doing. He must, in fact, be a moron if he does not get the concept: the president is chosen by the people and is accountable to them. Not just to Vladimir, Jared, Ivanka, or the Mercers etc.
5
Bordered on the North, South, East, and West...by Himself....the most Ubiquitously Self-Centered Human Being imaginable now occupies what
May have been the most coveted Position in the political World. Meanwhile, our visual and audible Presence is, 24/7, by His Mouth.
Somehow, we, the People, are under the chronic Curse of His diagnosable
Sociopathic Personality Disorder. Today we were awakened to the published words, that the "President had 'made up' words to Canadian
Trudeau." We have given this Person the power over the presence of
TRUTH itself. Left only to chronic Cynicism, I simply hope that his beautiful
wifey Melania can, at least, Enjoy the Daily Absence of His Presence!
1
I’m sure Poland did not want to fight Nazi Germany, but they had no choice. Hard to think that September 1 1939 is not a war
1
Waiting for the creation of the Ministry of Propaganda. Sorry, forgot there is FOX NEWS.
6
This guy is a traitor. The Republicans, conservatives, evangelicals, right-wing, billionaires, lobbyists, lawyers, politicians, judges, etc. are his enablers. Supporting traitorous activities, greed, hate, adultery, bullying, money laundering, etc.
Democrats stand up, speak straight, give your best. We need you.
5
He just prefers Tass and Pravda to guide the capitalist politburo to lead our country to bigly glorious things
5
Trump “dreams of a world with “Fox & Friends” and almost no one else,” which is exactly what ‘Ol Adolph got from Joseph Goebbels in 1930s Germany. Those who haven't learned from history are bound to repeat the errors. This fellow being a complete ignorant of history won’t even remember the results of the last four elections.
4
Of course, Trump would take this stand. He would like to totally control the news media. If you look back in history, in Germany, Hitler took total control of the news media — A free press and a free news media is vital to a proper administration of government.
4
Everything Fox does, and always has done, is straight out of Putin's playbook. Simultaneously make the masses hate and resent news media with a hint of objectivity and give the masses media which do nothing but lie to them and appeal to their basest resentments and longing for scapegoats. Both Putin and Fox have always channeled the genius of Joseph Goebbels, who pioneered this approach to hypnotizing the uneducated, bitter masses. It's always worked like a charm. It's always just a question in any society of whether the bitter, hypnotized mob can outvote the rest of society, as they almost did here in 2016.
5
Straight from the Dictator's playbook: #1 Destroy the free press.
5
Yeah, right, Edsall--still pushing those buttons on the steering wheel with both hands?
You seem to have forgotten that the Neo-Marxist Obama was the Sovietized narrative coming out of New York City's mass-media central. Like Goebbels they pounded the American citizens into submission: "A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth."
Welcome to the NYT Opinion Kingdom--Dowd's favorite term for the place.
1
Bad as Trump is, he is only a symptom of a much wider and deeper problem. I despair over the deeper problems, not only because I do miss US greatness, but also because US influence is sucking my country down the same sinkhole of illusion and ignorance leading to the rise of toxic politicians such as the recently elected leader for Ontario's most popular political party - another anti-newsmedia climate denier. The US is far behind in many many categories - educational performance of the population as a whole, fraction of folks in jail, income inequality, etc. And, unaddressed these problems will only worsen over time. I have to think it has to do partly with corruption so ingrained it isn't fully recognized as such: you have the best government money can buy. You value winning over honesty. It also has to do with unjustified conceit - you've stopped learning from others societies. And it has to do with a prevalence of intense religiosity beyond any other developed country, that seeks to set social rules (e.g. abortion) in isolation from societal experience of greater consequent suffering. Adherence to inflexible ideals bestows self-worth to many sorely in need of that. What to do? We are in something of the same mess here. We need to rediscover that truth, humility and compassion are far more important than short term"winning". Long term we need caring for each other, being truly honest, having curiosity and humility to learn more and finally having compassion. Then we win.
8
Trump, and his ilk, are fighting the "last war". The things to watch are 1) the women and 2) the kids. All the real political energy is coming from the voices of women who have now scaled up their message and are converting their activism into running for (and winning) public office.....and now the students who are choosing to move right past the NRA to reach their goals. The kids of 2018 will morph into the political influencers of 2020, 2024 and 2028. Trumpism doesn't stand a chance in Hell against the Women and the Kids....game over.
9
Contrary to what liberals have to say about the liberal press, having a “free press” does not mean having a press that picks one political party over another, and then advocates for it under the guise of being a “neutral arbiter of the facts.”
3
i.e. Fox News
8
Conversely, there aren’t two sides to the truth. Real news reports the facts. Opinions are a separate issue. For example, Russia did interfere with the election. Dig?
6
The press no longer views its job as reporting the news.
They believe themselves to be advocates of one political party or another. The NYT is just one of the egregious examples.
There is little doubt that the MSM is hopelessly partisan and they try to delude themselves into thinking they do it for our own good, because they are smarter than everyone else.
3
MSNBC is partisan but I know they present far more Republican points of view than FOX NOISE does. People forget most of the opinion shows are not NEWS. They are programs discussing current events. On MSNBC and FOX. We have a president who give equal weight to the Times and The National Inquirer. I am surprised he hasn't instructed Pruitt to search for signs of UFO's and Bigfoot on public lands.
2
He is a busy man.
Yesterday he went all the way to California to look at prototypes of the wall Mexico has promised us it will never pay for, spending G-d only knows how many taxpayer dollars to get there.
And made time in his hectic schedule to hunt McCabe down like a dirty dog.
Well, what the hell? He’s only our President and it’s only our country and he has nothing better to do.
8
Because like so many real world CEOs, especially ones with no board or stockholders to respond to, he's always been a fake tough toddler surrounded by sycophants-on-demand, and he demands a government indistinguishable from his private business--or else he'll stomp his tiny feet and hold his breath till he turns blue. This ridiculous wilting lily baby has got to go.
6
Id say a good start for media is to not cover Trump. Don’t show up for anything for about a week and he’ll go crazy! You only get lies anyway whenever anyone from that WH says anything. Just keep nurturing sources and get information from serious people in government positions. I’m telling you, give him low coverage and he’ll be begging on hands and knees to give an interview to MSNBC!
8
We need our press now more than ever. We need journalists who will tell us the truth rather than just telling us what we want to hear. The best thing that the press can do is remain impartial and just report the facts. People don't like constant chaos and eventually the Trump show will wear thin. We need our press to be the calm in the midst of the storm.
10
"Remain impartial"? As if that is the current state. What news media outlet are you possibly referring to?
2
One thing you can say about Trump is that he has turned over the big stepping stone in the garden and now we can see all the worms crawling around which have lived underneath for a very long time.
You can curse him for that, or praise him, but those worms are gonna crawl.
3
The press must Never leave Trump alone for a minute until he and his cabal are flattened and our Democracy is restored. We must also pursue Ryan, Sessions, senile McDonnell, Nunes and those other despicable fascist types until till they are out of or in jail. Traitors all of them.
3
Trump loves the press. He thrives on attention. He needs conflict, even it it’s contrived. He just wants the NYT to become the Xinhua News Agency and all cable news to become subsidiaries of Fox News. Get with it, Tom Edsall and all of you who write for the Times, whether opinion or news. Start getting your text approved by Sarah Huckabee Sanders before it influences the sad, sad readers of the Times to consider anything other than fawning adulation and complete acceptance of any statements made by President Trump or the GOP. And please, please quit referring to that tired, out of date First Amendment. It is so old school.
3
“Pozen described Trump’s denunciation of the press as “the culmination of several decades of comparable attacks by media pundits, such as Rush Limbaugh” and he argues that Trump’s calls ‘ to lock up one’s general election opponent, encouraging online hate mobs, lying constantly, attacking the press constantly, contradicting oneself constantly, undermining the very idea of truth...”The phrase “media pundits, such as Rush Limbaugh” is so profoundly telling that is turns the entire discussion on it’s head. Limbaugh is a propagandist, unconstrained by facts, evidence, social norms and fundamental norms required by democracy.
Comparisons of the press reporting on Trump with say Obama or Bush reveals something special. The “main stream media” denounced by Trump and the Tea Party is The NY Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, NPR and PBS. Trump’s media allies are owned by Rupert Murdock, David Pecker, the Mercers, Info Wars Ted Anderson who publish, report and post unsubstantiated stories, lies and propaganda.
The current situation regarding the press would be corrected by reinstituting the “Fairness Doctrine” which requires the equal distribution of both sides of any controversy.
I would implore Mr. Edsall to examine the abuse of “freedom of religion”. The abuse of religious freedom in the name of suppressing women, denying women autonomy in all aspects of life and the imposition of religious beliefs on the general population borders on theocratic violation deserves scrutiny.
7
Mr. Trump does not hate the press. It is one of his most effective bogeymen, useful in the same way that immigrants & liberals & Muslims are useful. What reason does he have to hate or fear them? The press doesn't act as a "check on power." It acts as a publicity agent for power. Watch Ms. Sanders' next news conference, and observe what useful & compliant idiots she makes of the press, who show up day after day & almost never directly challenge her obvious lies. Mr. Trump has simply made the press part of his reality show.
5
You'll never be rid of us, Trump. Never.
4
You are joking. The Press, and I use that term loosely, is so biased against this president it is laughable. The NYTs and CNN have consistently reported false stories and then have the audacity to print the “ lies of the president”. The media has made itself the center of political debate by its bias. You have peddled, a in this essay, in the fear monger that Trump is trying to impose a fascist state. Where is that fascist state? We do see liberal courts overstepping their authority on immigration, but little else. When the Russian Collusion story, the thin ruse the press has use to undermine and harass this president, finally meets its death, hopefully you can emerge from your current deranged state and take responsibility for the damage you have done to your institution and our democracy.
2
name one false story. as for the russia collusion, reporters consistently reported on events that happened and that the administration denied (think trump tower meeting) or the reverse (obama's wiretap, for example).
As for the point of this article, do you deny that all the quotations are true ? those are all things he said. If so few of those things came to pass, it's because many in his entourage were less eager to go in that direction. But now a new cast is arriving, and with all the unfilled posts they'll be obliged to rely on HM Trump's whim. Then you'll have to take responsibility.
4
Yes, I am sure Trump would love freedom FROM the press. Let we Americans make Absolutely sure he NEVER enjoys that fascist freedom!
That Russophile nasty president deserves nothing but loathing from the majority of Americana and he should be satisfied with that since he deserves it after the destruction he has wrought in our country.
Shame on his Russian love affair, shame on the crooked tax law, Shame on the outrageous tariffs, shame on the EPA he created, shame on the non-gun laws, shame on not supporting England during a poisoning that could have happened here, and shame on his disgusting perverted sex life and disrespect for family values.
4
The articulate author of this editorial has touched on an important point . In responding to attacks on the first amendment, it also makes sense to shine a light on the practice rather than the personality behind it.There have been thousands of ignorant autocrats like Donald J. Trump throughout history. In certain cases when he is derelict in the oath that he took on inauguration day to preserve ,protect and defend the Constitution, he must be held accountable .But his attacks on the media are indeed a symptom of a greater problem engulfing the country.
The first thing that Hitler did in Germany when he became Chancellor was to delegitimize the press. This is standard operating procedure in nearly all fascist regimes. And the extreme right wing of the Republican Party has moved dangerously close to fascism.
When Democrats challenge Republicans in November they should be mindful of this. It is a right wing problem, not a Donald Trump problem. He is merely the monkey dancing within one of the rings of this grotesque circus that we ourselves have created.
7
There are now essentially two Americas informed by two completely different sets of "Facts". Fox/ Brietbart and Everyone else: NYT, WaPo, CNN NBC,CBS, ABC,PBS, NPR... I subscribe to several news feeds which include some of these sources. It is amazing which stories each chooses to feature. They usually show the stories that advance their narrative. If there is a home break in anywhere in America, all the better if the intruder is fended off by the home owner with a gun, Even better if it is a black man and a white family, that will be on Fox. If a white cop beats up a black guy, CNN will lead.
You are what you watch, read listen to
3
The press is more important in protecting our freedom than any man who is President. It was never truer than it is now with Trump in the White House. A tyrant is the enemy of the people not the press even as Trump admires Putin and his dictatorship. Liars always get caught and Trump is the liar in chief.
5
Look up the word "propaganda".
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Now read the NYT.
The shoe fits.
Facts are not biased.
2
Disdain for 1st Amendment?
Does a US President have free speech rights? Yes
Has he attempted to restrict free press? No
Has he accurately called out dishonest & sloppy reporting? Yes
Can you name any right leaning news outlet besides Fox? No
Did Obama & Hillary specifically bash Fox and no other news organization? Yes
1
thank you for not calling breitbart a news outlet.
He has wished loudly he could restrict the press (reform the libel law, for example, plus all those calls to denounce leakers that, in addition, created their stories).
Now when you make assertions of sloppy/dishonest reporting being called out, would you mind giving one or two examples ? that would help make your point. Otherwise you're just blowing hot air.
1
How is the debauched buffoon, Donald Trump, the worst President in American history, let me count the ways...His assault on our free press, i.e. everyone except his house organ, Fox, is just one more in his long list of outrages. Hurry 2020 so we put the brakes on Putin’s puppet and begin the process of recovery from this bizarro Presidency.
5
I most often agree with Thomas Edsall's commentary, but not this time.
People tend to belong to groups, and when a behavior is accepted by the group as a whole, the others go along.
The press used to be much fairer. Many of the stories presented facts, like stating that a helicopter crashed into the East River with 4 fatalities. Opinion was separated.
Now almost every story on the front page of the NY Times is an opinion piece, or is reported with a specific slant, often one that demonizes Trump or some other object of liberal scorn.
Take the numbers stories on the Me Too movement, for example. These stories often hold up men as objects of hate, when they have only been accused of a crime, not convicted. The press is replacing the court system as a means of adjudication, and often favors one side.
If you are a male in the US, you live in constant fear that if you bump into a woman in an elevator, or express a political view that lies outside the mainstream, you will be accused of sexual harassment and fired with no opportunity to defend yourself.
In the past we would have provided Al Franken with an opportunity to defend himself against accusations. Instead, 32 Democratic Senators called for his resignation.
Even when a trial occurs and provides a not guilty verdict, the media will often ruin the life of the accused.
The media are making a travesty of rights that each citizens are provided by our constitution.
No wonder many believe the NY Times is fake news.
1
Rupert Murdock created Donald Trump.
2
Some critics of Trump have equated him with Hitler, but such a comparison actually attributes to the man a coherent vision totally alien to his thinking. The Nazis sought to violently replace German democracy with their fantasy of an Aryan paradise. Trump, however, seeks to undermine America's democratic culture simply to enhance his own power, a goal unconnected to any plan for the creation of a "new" America. Trump has always hated constraints on his freedom of action, and he despises a free press because its reporting represents such limits.
Trump has attracted support from evangelicals , many Republicans and some conservative business groups (Koch brothers, for example), because they sense that popular opinion opposes at least parts of their agendas. In backing a man whose contempt for this country's democratic institutions drips like venom from his speeches and tweets, these fellow travelers are playing a dangerous game.
Should the Trump presidency fatally weaken the legitimacy of constitutional limits on executive authority, no one can predict the longterm consequences. The next president might build a coalition around forces hostile to Trump's allies in the business community and among evangelicals. What could protect them then, they having colluded in the evisceration of the legal guarantees that shield all of us from tyranny?
Alliance with a nihilist rarely turns out well.
3
The progressive memory hole really is a site to behold.
This column spends a lot of time with Jay Rosen, but somehow fails to mention that he authored an influential piece in the Columbia Journalism Review on opposition to normalizing Trump - which was given front page billing in the Times - within a weak of Trump's election. Or, just go to Rosen's Press Think blog, where he gives pointers to journalists on how they can actively undermine the president. In some cases by collaborating with academics and others who are opposed to Trump's agenda of economic growth and anti-political correctness.
So yes, there is a "fight" on, but the media - and people like Jay Rosen in particular - were explicit about starting it. To now pretend that they were pulled into it, or that they need to avoid it, is absurd.
What's more interesting to me though is why they feel the need to cover their tracks now, when they were so clear about their intentions a year ago. My guess is because they're losing the fight they started, badly. It shows in the polls about public trust in the media, and it's showing in the number of people who voted for Trump who continue to stand with him and support his policies.
Why is the media losing this fight? Because Trump - if nothing else - is really, really good at shattering pretense, message control, and social media. Going to "media-war" war with a person like Trump is like starting a land war in Asia; inadvisable.
3
“Trump's agenda of economic growth and anti-political correctness. “
What economic agenda? As far as political correctness goes, you must be thinking of Bill Maher.
Media people are allowed to voice opinions . They are also allowed to outright lie, as the Fox News case demonstrated. However the President is prohibited by the Constitution from retaliating.
2
You fail to delineate factual news reporting from opinion reported in newspapers and, in newspapers, separated correctly from the factual news reporting.
I suspect your failure is deliberate and disingenuous. It is also opinion -- not fact -- and opinion with which I disagree.
2
Trumpese transltion
Shattering Pretense means Insulting and demonizing any opposition.
Message Control acting like a blowhard in front of a caged audience of his rallies.
Trump media war Lies lies more lies and some insults. Trump is effective because he has no standards and his core audience demands none. Haven't you notices all his event are carefully choreographed. He himself avoids the press and the general public. He is a blowhard in front of his base but almost timid among superiors.
Sorry at 35% approval I would say he isn't convincing many and probably lost the less committed withing in group of voters. How effective is shouting to your choir and listening to them shout back. It is not much different than ones own echo. He knows h would be a 400 pound person in the basement of TRUMP Tower if it wasn't for a conniving and pandering FOX NOISE. It least honest and least accurate of all the major media outlets.
2
Cannot understand the Left’s obsession with Fox.
Every other media outlet in the US is Left leaning or Far Left.
They want to control all media. Yeah, that’s it!
3
Donald Trump has received negative coverage for more than 40 years, all the way back to 1973, when he and his father were convicted of housing discrimination. He has been continually attacked and ridiculed for his unethical business practices, for his crassness and egotism and for he and his wife's (Ivana, then Marla) overbearing attempts to become accepted in elite power circles. One major newspaper's pet name for him was "dirtbag." So the whole "fake news" argument is completely bogus.
Too bad, Resident Trump (that's not a typo), this will continue.
4
"For a quarter of a century, Republican officials have been more willing than Democratic officials to play constitutional hardball — not only or primarily on judicial nominations but across a range of spheres. Democrats have also availed themselves of hardball throughout this period, but not with the same frequency or intensity."
And therein lies part of the problem; perhaps the biggest part. We have watched the Press using false equivalence for a long time. When President Obama said that the economy was improving and unemployment down and millions of people would be helped by the ACA, McConnell or Ryan would come on and say that Obama is wrong and things are worse than ever; the media would basically say: You choose who is telling the truth.
The right wing has waged war against a free press since there has been a press, is my guess. The best examples we could use are Hitler and Stalin.
That the 4th Estate seems to be waking from this false equivalence is my only hope for the restoration of our democracy. With t rump it is impossible to hide the dysfunction and the hatred and the fascism and the Press seems to realize that.
Thomas, you and every one else at this paper, any other paper, and the TV news need to remember that in a fascist state reporters are usually out of work and in prison. Or dead.
Now get to work.
2
The thing Trump would love to have is a court jester who would trump his master's exploits. Hannity would not qualify, he's more of an ogre. Scaramucho came close, Spicey didn't disappoint, Miss Piggy is all you'd expect...!
2
Trump belongs to a faction of the electorate that has been duped into believing that any media outlet that is not 100% devoted to a strict ideological stance is their enemy. At the same time they lack the ability to see that the outlets they aspire to are totally lacking in credibility simply because they consider truth and fact an enemy of their agenda. The fact that they avoid fact in order to advance agendas is so transparent it is hard to believe that they are successful at all in duping their followers.
As long as the majority is not so stupid, blind and stubborn as to avoid the truth of all matters, journalistic outlets will prevail. Maybe we need foolish advances of garbage journalism every once in a while to remind us to remain vigilante and very wary of rogue outlets with nefarious agendas. I can not imagine anything more important to democracy than maintaining and following credible journalistic outlets. As journalism goes the right seems to no longer have any need for credible outlets. Credibility is not their friend.
3
What a cheap excuse you offer to somehow cover up the real issue here. The press President Trump rails against is very little but a pack of liars who cheat and abuse their power in order to advocate for the progressive left. This odd essay is an example of exactly that. Where are the conservative voices within the hallowed halls of the New York Times? The editorial page is filled with left backing idealogues like you. David Brooks? You gotta be kidding.
Brooks is the very definition of a strawman argument. The voice of mainstream media is the voice of the progressive left. The President honestly calls them exactly what they are.
3
For such an allegedly tough hombre, he sure is a cowering baby when it comes to facing criticism or a spotlight on his activities.
The bully typically is a coward, right?
2
There is a difference between democracy and mobocracy, especially when the ignorant, racist mob is a minority and the result is a kleptocracy and a kakiocracy dedicated to creating a fascist oligarchy.
The Founders had built in remedies to protect us from would be tyrants and traitors but in the end there are only two fail safes. First was demonstrated the recent election for a vacent House seat. The ballot box and we are in a desperate race for our existence to cleaning out of fascists and traitors and recapturing Congress.
The third thing Democrats must do is end these presidential appointments and enforce the emoluments clause the first is to take the nuclear football away from Trump alone and then get congressional investigations about collusion and treason with subpoena power.
If the elections fail or a blocked then it is time for tar and feathers and hanging tryants from trees and lamp posts as Thomas Jefferson recommended. When push comes to shove it is time to water the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants and thank God there are many more patriots.
1
In the last paragraph you advocate mobocracy. I sincerely hope the remedies earlier outlined would be sufficient. I am not ready - yet - to consider the other alternative. However, I can share a tip to buy Amalgamated Pitchforks and Torches (APT).
2
I much enjoyed the cover pic: OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
Well, I dream of a world where the NYTimes, CNN, and MSNBC decide to report news that is unbiased.
2
Trump and the press really love each other, and only pretend to spar. Media actually loves printing all the trash he spews, because they need the revenue from the clicks, from the top of the media to the bottom. Donald the Narcissist also loves continuous attention, no matter how shocked and appalled, in fact, the more shocked and appalled, the better he likes it. So let's have none of your fake reporting on how Donald only like Fox & Friends. He'd be broken hearted if the Times and other serious journalism started ignoring him. The real question is how does Putin benefit from our current media behavior.
1
Golly, this is all so new! The GOP hates to see anything other than their official fairy tales published because truth telling is so rude! It shows no respect for our King or his worshipers either. Just teach the press to tell the truth the way you want it to be told - how hard can that be? The day I woke up and was repeatedly told the National Enquirer was actually a newspaper full of revelations hidden from the world by democracy lovers pretty much sums it up. War is peace. love is hate, cruelty is compassion and Your Leader is your friend (your only Real Friend). You do not seem to have enough wear on your knees from bowing either.
3
Harry Truman's statement still holds true: "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". That, and "the buck stops here" are two credos Trump could never abide by. Trump takes all the credit, cast aside all the blame. The buck never stops with Trump. He's pocketed that buck a long time ago.
Trump used to play the New York Press when he was a big blowhard alleged billionaire businessman because Trump sold papers. His exploit of course were fodder for constant joke-telling, with Trump being the butt of those jokes. His calling up the Press, disguised as his PR agent or some of other confidant, were legendary. Tapes were made and circulated throughout the media. It was giggles and fits. Trump the Joker has been a well-known clown and congenital liar for decades. That is why we laughed so hard when Trump finally stopped teasing about running for president and threw his hair in the ring. Of course we didn't think he'd last long. Who, we thought, would be so gullible, so naive, so stupid to buy his snake oil? He's been peddling the same rubbish, we figured even in the furthers Hinterlands of this country, no one would take his obvious lies seriously. I guess propaganda and anger does indeed blind the mind and the ability to think logically. What is still so hard to fathom, is why it took this long? Trump has never been a serious person. He's a clown. Haven't you noticed, America?
DD
Manhattan
4
I wish there was as much rabid support for the 1st amendment as there is for the 2nd amendment...
5
Thoughtful article, nicely referenced, and yet it fails to mention the actual motivation behind his Hitlerian attacks on the press, as well as, all U.S. institutions and values.
The motivation is TREASON!
putin is waging war against the West and one of his allies is trump. Why the allegiance? Simple: trump wants money, russia has money, a marriage made in heaven. Don't forget trump's foul business practice precludes honest money and putin seeks recruits constantly. Its not trump and putin against the world, trump is just one of vlad's tools.
3
Your concluding paragraph says it all, trump's war on the press is one sided. i have been encouraged that the mainstream press has not back down and has not engaged in a war of words with trump. If anything the light has been shone constantly on trump and his administration intensely. Sean Hannity may be trump's defacto public relations man but for those of us who value the news he is not regarded as a reporter. Keep up the good work Mr. Edsall, the truth will always prevail.
3
Freedom of the press is essential, yet I find that I have to look far and wide for the press that will fully do its job and tell the truth. Unfortunately, the media took a hard hit during the 2016 election season when so much attention was paid to Mrs Clinton's email troubles and not enough critical analysis of Mr Trump's obvious lying and lack of moral fiber. These aren't partisan issues like some would have us believe, they are merely reflections of reality. Mr Trump complained so much about everything, that the system was rigged against him, for example, that even President Obama didn't do more to stop Russian meddling in fears it would appear too partisan.
Unfortunately our present President is a destructive man who is also a wounded individual. Everything he does will have lasting consequences. It isn't necessary to be hateful or ugly about him as Maureen Dowd was in her recent Op-Ed piece where she compared him to a snake. I was personally shocked by that piece. Yet, when our democracy is in danger either from Trump, Devin Nunes, or Fox News, then the truth needs to be told and it needs to be told boldly.
3
The press needs to keep partisan opinions segregated to the editorials and option pieces. The news should reflect unbiased facts to the extent possible. Otherwise, the press will continue to be subjected to charges of bias.
1
The president took an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution, yet he demonstrates no knowledge or respect for the foundation of our republic. In my opinion, our press has risen to the extreme right's challenge to our First Amendment rights, and much of the reporting is truly remarkable.
As before during Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Iraq and many more dangerous events, the press is working hard to help us understand what's happening by reporting the facts. Our role is to do the homework by reading and listening to a variety of news sources, and try to distinguish between objective fact and partisan fiction. A lot of us are doing our part as citizens, and the rest only listen to Trump and Fox News.
2
A stark reminder of the likes of China's Xi, Turkey's Araduan, Russia's Putin and others, I dare not mention, rise to a life-time grab of authoritarian power.
The first step towards the removal of any form of public debate-the basic principal of democracy is at a threshold of vanishing.
Terrifying!
2
In the Trump universe all that counts is Trump. He has demonstrated time and again that he will undermine fundamental democratic institutions like a free press and an independent judiciary.Trump’s goal is unrestricted power.Also known as dictatorship.
3
A quick defense of Fox news:
Fox actually has a relatively reasonable website, where I can often find well-written articles with a conservatively slant. I even found a real, actual, scientifically based article on global warming! Proof: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/01/11/global-warming-puts-millions-a...
Fox receives its bad name from the constant, incessant blathering on the TV shows it touts as "news." It is nothing but sensationalism, told over and over again every 15 minutes (if not less).
If I am being honest, CNN's commentary really isn't all that much better. There apparently is only so much you can do with 30 minute spoken news clips, and producers have adapted to that reality. (This is why I am on the NYT.)
So, as we continue this discussion of news sources, I feel it is important to remember that a democracy needs to hear from both sides, and I respectfully encourage Fox to continue its well-written, well-researched articles on its website, with everything else clearly marked "Opinion."
...
...
...
None of this is in any way, shape or form a defense of Mr. Trumps banal, vile assaults on CNN or any media. Disagreement from the President does not include holding un-popularity contests. Unbelievable.
2
I give thanks every day for The First Amendment and for the freedom of the press, constrained by laws against slander and libel. People who would do evil to others scatter when the light is turned on and their deeds are made known.
3
I'm sorry Mr. Edsall, but speaking as still media-angry Hillary supporter, I don't at all feel sorry for the corporate news media. The news media brought the Trump crisis on themselves with their distorted, unbalanced and email-obsessed 2016 campaign coverage. If they had covered the campaign fairly, they would never dealing with Trump.
Remember, it was the entertainment company-owned cable "news" networks that gave Trump the GOP nomination, and later the presidency, with their collective business decision to give him free, unlimited and unedited air time for his prime-time campaign rallies and to allow him to preempt network programming at will with his numerous phone "call-ins".
And in retrospect, the news media's 18-month long Hillary email obsession looks even sillier and sillier with the passage of time. In particular, the news media's decision to publish the unauthenticated and stolen (not leaked!) DNC and Podesta emails published by a Russian intelligence cutout has never been fully ethically justified or explained.
Finally, we had the Pearl Harbor-style coverage of the Comey letter in the last week of the campaign that indisputably stopped Clinton's post-debate momentum, depressed Democratic turnout and ultimately tipped the race to Trump. And who can forget other gems such as the Pneumonia-gate "scandal".
So pardon me if I don't shed a tear. As long as the entertainment companies own and operate our news media, we will get what we deserve from the media.
31
Maybe we'll need to elect enough constitutionally literate Representatives and Senators who honor their oaths of office to return the St. Ronny removed Fairness Doctrine, you know, that oppressive federal regulation that forced the broadcast news media to be journalists (at least most of time—Paul Harvey excepted) rather than very pretty, celebridiot "anchors" whipping the masses into witless frenzies over Kardashians and Scary Foreigners.
The Greed Over People Party increasingly has been peddling lies to their constituents. Because free and impartial media debunks their lies, it is in their interest to discredit the free and impartial media. Why is anyone surprised?
3
The "FAKE NEWS TROPHY" would go to Fox "news" hands down. While we are in the process of giving out trophies, Trump would be the hands down favorite for the "FAKE PRESIDENT TROPHY".
The press is more threatened from within by fake news, and biased outlets such as Fox, and radio gasbags such as undereducated Hannity and Limbaugh, who is with his 4th wife.
3
I'm no scholar of journalistic ethics, but 'free press' in this country has always been a bit of an 'interpretation', subject to slant, omission & outright shutting down of opposing 'views', as Lincoln once apparently did:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias_in_the_United_States
'Fake news' was promoted by important opinion writers in this very venue & drive the bogus justifications for the Iraq war.
But we should fairly distinguish between reporting & opinion, & not smear one with the other. Both should be free, but neither should be allowed to get away with making up their own facts. It's up to the press itself to rigorously debate & discredit false facts.
Lies are generally unsupportable by facts, and when lies are bandied about for propagandistic effect, they should be called out relentlessly, & published prominently.
Among propagandistic liars, Trump himself has no equal. The watchdogs should be more activist in updating & broadcasting the list of Trump's documented lies:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html
Within fact-based reporting of news, we need ample sources of independent news by impassioned journalists reporting on, among other things peace & justice issues that even the most reputable commercial media won't touch, such as Democracy Now has been doing for decades.
Bias in news is traditionally driven not only by a desire to propagate or discredit, ideology, but also by advertisers who finance 'mainstream' news.
1
Did you and Nicholas Kristof together plan your op-ed pieces, or is this just a fortunate coincidence? For your comments about Trump's desire to be free from a watchful, critical press dovetails nicely with Kristof's piece about his affection for dictators and their suppression of a free press. Pure and simple, Trump is attacking any type of freedom that gets in the way of his vain, narcissistic view that he, and only he, is capable of leading.
As you point out, the press is in an awkward position, has its faults, and should avoid 'declaring war'. But a contributing problem is that the public has gotten lazy in its search for information. Thanks to a 24-hour news cycle, the public is bombarded constantly with unfiltered information. It takes time and effort to get to the facts behind this information, but it is time and effort worth taking. Not doing so puts our democracy at risk.
2
The path for the press to take to reach the high road is not an easy one. Over time, it seems that the media are creating as much news as they are reporting.
Next Democratic Administration should strip Fox New of its license, citing it as "an enemy of the Republic." Yeah, it works both ways.
3
What we are reading in this comments section today is proof positive that Trump will never have freedom from the press.
The Press is the famed fourth estate that keeps in check the other three estates: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
Ronald Reagan attacked the other three estates under the general term "government".
Now Donald Trump is attacking the fourth estate and the assault on our system of government and its checks is complete.
Without Reagan's Fairness Doctrine Repeal, Fox News could not exist in or close to its current form of disinformation.
3
If the media ignored Trump completely for a week, his ego would be so bruised, he might never recover!
2
This is EXACTLY why the Freedom of the Press was made, not the second, third or tenth, but the absolute FIRST AMENDMENT. The founders of our then nascent democracy basically conjured likely evils that might put their creation in peril and sought to provide protection- 230 years later that evil has revealed himself. It’s as simply as this: When someone, anyone, seeks to rise to power by slicing and dicing the constitution as if it’s an unnecessary and antiquated throwback with little to no significance...that person should be deemed tyrannical and treated as such. The fact that Trump’s ravings bring smiles and applause to those who elected him to this nation’s highest office...says infinitely more about them then it will ever say about him. Our willingness to allow this to happen, ignorance as to the likelihood of this happening and lack of respect to the pillars of our democracy that were erected for our protection is why Russia may soon have their wish - the collapse of the United States of America.
3
Fox News: Making virtues of ignorance and mendacity since 1996. Little wonder this is Trump’s go-to news source.
Bill Valenti
Bend, Oregon
1
We did have more thoughtful and critical coverage of events when news was not edutainment. Now the evening and late news seems to consist of actor journalists who make in jokes with each other, put on the sad faces when there's bad news, remove them as soon as the sports news is up, and have to end everything on a happy note to keep the ratings high.
There was always a certain bias in the news. But at least it was presented to us as if we were adults capable of understanding nuances. Now even the NY Times sinks to snarky comments in its news articles. We no longer see serious documentaries about poverty, the effects of war, violence, or much of anything unless we look at PBS stations.
I find it amazing that Trump is upset at today's media. What's being said about him now is comparatively mild to what could be written about him and his administration. The problem is that where once there was an agreement on the facts, now the extreme right is making its own reality, one that has no bearing on what's actually occurring. Trump isn't helping by firing staff via Twitter, making policy statements via Twitter, and undermining everyone he works with by saying things in the media.
If Trump were another person I'd agree with some of his assessments on the media. But given how he has used media and continues to use it I think he deserves what he gets. And I hope the media, at least the part of it that is doing its job, continues to look into Trump and his various issues.
6
Mr. Edsall,
The press and especially the NYT has put itself into the position of mistrust and doubt where it now stands, with historic lows in the opinion of the public of the veracity and honesty of journalists. Your contention that one man ,in office for 14 months, is responsible for a decades long slide to the bottom and public disgust at the brazen manipulations of leftist crusaders is laughable Trump isn't responsible for the decline and fall of reasonable political debate, you and your effete,elite chums are. If you believe there is nothing wrong with the OpEd pages of the NYT and their transparent advocacy of extreme left wing positions while using every journalistic dirty trick known to man to tar and feather the president you are sadly mistaken You and your comrades fall all over yourselves to portray the president as responsible for every evil in the world 24/7 in a vain and transparent attempt to drive up his negatives for the midterms while furiously signalling your own pure virtue in defense of freedom of speech. Your column/diatribe is an example of establishment groupthink, by the way who wrote it Ladd? Stone? Fishkin and Pozen? An Army of liberal conformity, the media and academia in lockstep, disgraces itself in McCarthyite partisan excess and this too is laid at the doorstep of that jack-of-all trades President Trump
If you can find anymore incestuous law professors left to cite ask them what a dope slap is and when President Trump delivers the next one
4
Thanks for so vigorously proving the author's point about the inability of this President's hardcore supporters to process the truth and acknowledge reality.
4
My dear Winston,
Let's review the facts:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
and let's add Hate is Love.
Do not forget that you end up in the Ministry of Truth where you finally come to love Big Brother.
2
Are you trying to caricature yourself? No mention of the Right wing press? All unbiased? You have got to be joking.
1
The Gallup Poll question asks people how much confidence they have in "the mass media." Since that category includes not only the New York Times and CNN but Fox News and The National Enquirer, the question is inherently meaningless as posed. So I'm not inclined to make much of the numbers they produce in response. Did they reveal how many people asked "Which ones?" when they were asked this question?
53
I always find it funny when Limbaugh, Jones, and especially scions of large network Fox News rant about the "media" when they themselves are major elements of the media, and they are the "mainstream" media now.
2
Trump is hate incarnate. Anger, resentment and cruelty describe the whole of his personality. He understands the threat that a free press poses to his lying, cheating, self-dealing ways and does everything he can to diminish them.
It will likely take decades for us to undo the damage this deeply ill man has done to our beloved country. The sooner we are able to prove he has been money-laundering for the Russians and impeach him the better.
11
"Fishkin and Pozen ... define constitutional hardball as political claims and practices that are without much question within the bounds of existing constitutional doctrine and practice...."
Do they believe that denying a sitting President the "advice and consent" required by the Constitution regarding a Supreme Court nomination is "without much question within the bounds of existing constitutional doctrine and practice"?
Sorry--they're flat out wrong. Today's Republicans have gone far beyond the bounds of existing constitutional doctrine and practice.
6
Blame Trump all you want, but the press and media were the enablers. Two years ago, mainstream media - and not just FOX News - gave Trump nonstop coverage because he was a circus act that provided entertainment. And now, FOX News not only provides his base with nonstop propaganda, they actually control policy making decisions, witness Trump's tweets following FOX and Friends broadcasts. Trump wouldn't exist without the media having first propped him up, and now, sustaining him. So I place the greater fault on the despicable persons in the media, starting with Limbaugh, and continuing to Murdoch, Hannity, and the policy makers at FOX News. They are the true destroyers of our institutions.
6
If the media is NOT biased against a man and a movement which hates truth, loves lies and seeks to undermine and negate our Constitution and any other social or institutional checks on his stated desire for tyranny and the transformation of a nation of laws into a dictatorship, of what good is it?
Stenographers can report what the tyrant says and does. Even then they will be accused of bias by those whose evil is revealed by mere stenography. Is that what's left of "The Press", a subservient, fearful cadre of stenographers avoiding the ire of a megalomaniacal, self-appointed Dear Leader?
We are in a cultural and spiritual war for the soul of America, which is under assault like never before from evil, unimaginably wealthy men who will stop at nothing in their perverse need for more, ever more, no matter the costs to lesser beings or the Earth itself.
If we are not biased against THAT, of what good are we?
7
I doubt many people can tell the difference between "news analysis" (eg Fox and Friends) and actual news any more, and the lines get more blurry every day. I have worried for some time now that we are losing the ability to find a source of information that we can count on being 100% true. When truth is so hard to find, we will be at the mercy of the loudest megaphone in the room. Enter the megaphone in chief.
1
If the press were to cover only those facts as presented by Donald Trump, there would be no need to report anything. As recently as yesterday, he admitted at a fundraiser in St. Louis that he made up facts when speaking to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. He either cannot determine the difference between fact and fiction or doesn't care. In either case, that merits coverage.
If he is the nation's primary purveyor of fake news, then the press has an obligation to report that for what it is: fake.
8
Thomas has clearly described the dilemma of a defense that seems to give reality to the charges. The NYT often exacerbates this dilemma by publishing “he said, she said” articles short on factual assessment. Instead of reporters who dig up the buried truths, we have pap producers who give us “balanced” articles that air nonsense that needs no repetition.
4
I particularly enjoyed Joseph Fishkin's quote.
"As with so many things about President Trump, it strikes me that he didn’t start the fire. He got into office because it was already burning and now he’s pouring on gasoline."
That statement characterizes the Trump administration so well I don't whether to laugh or cry.
That said, I think the best strategy for the news media is informing the public while remaining professional. You don't need to go to war when your primary weapon is information. This column represents a good example. If you explain to the public exactly what Trump is doing and why, you've devemonized his primary attack. You pull the curtain back on Oz. Oddly enough, the strategy is derived from Russia's Gerasimov doctrine.
The problem we run into, of course, is that a good portion of the country chooses not to become informed. If there's a war to be fought by the media, it's against Fox News and other insidious outlets of misinformation and misrepresentation. This was the insight John Stewart offered the news media in his comedic news analysis: Media can legitimize media by critiquing itself. You don't need a politician to do it for you.
If you're in the business of transparency and objectivity, you're best option is to be transparent and objective about your own industry. It's not a difference of opinion when a major news network is a 24-hour partisan PR campaign. We need to call out bad practices more often.
5
Trump and Fox share equally in lack of intellectual capacity, understanding, nuance and curiosity. While Fox News is a dumbed down version of all previous news shows with the exception of Mike Wallace, they are all based in the childlike rhetoric Trump wallows in that the world beyond white Christian America is mostly evil with the exception of a Israel, a few autocratic dictatorships. The anti-intellectualism that has pervaded the US since Reagan has born its fruit in the die-hard Trump supporters (aka flat earth society), who have rendered the in plausible presidency of Trump into reality.
Trump hates journalism because it says these are the words spoken, this is the act taken, this is the consequence of the event. None of these has Trump ever been able to do truthfully even under oath in a legal deposition. He is unfettered by morality or justice. His loyalty lies solely with himself and himself alone.
3
When Britain entered into the brutally mendacious invasion of Iraq, based on falsehoods around WMD’s, all mainstream political parties bought in and exhorted the assault. It was only the media that expressed scepticism, particularly the BBC, which maintained a steady stream of countervailing views to the official narrative, albeit abandoning objectivity by a moral but fateful deliberation. When the fallacy of the invasion became apparent, poor, eccentric, Auntie Beeb celebrated a hollow victory for truth and the power of media. In doing so, she became the enemy of the state. In short order, the BBC’s board of directors were fired and replaced with apparatchiks, funding slashed in a suite of punitive measures levelled at stripping disloyalty. This is how this new millennium campaign against the media began; Trump simply carries it on.
It is appallingly tragic that a state cannot formally declare war on its armed enemies, but it can, with near impunity, assail the revered institution of its own free press, a foundation of democracy. Never, in the field of unbiased journalism, has so much been owed by so many to so few.
2
The irony of Trump waving the banner of Fake News is monumentally acute. His propensity for misinformation and outright falsehood is mind boggling in its persistence and breadth.
At a time of epidemic wanton and malicious denigration of a free press from the highest national political office the integrity and independence of the press becomes even more vital.
At the same time, it seems only fair to consider the degree to which much of the news has been lavishly dressed in all the trappings of glitzy entertainment far more than the garb of serious journalism. Hard not to see this as eroding the serious consideration of what is offered from many of the sources that trade most in being appealing or flashy verses informative and challenging.
Historically the American press has, speaking of newspapers in the traditional sense, been overtly political, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative. That sense of partisan leaning or allegiance has never been openly expunged.
We are in a time of real political crisis in America, a crucial time for the best and most penetrating and unbiased news and commentary journalism can provide. The New York Times of a paragon source of such journalism.
To Trump, everything is personal. If you agree with him, you are his friend. If you disagree, you are his foe. His desperate need for attention and approval fuels his impulsivity, foments chaos, and undermines our democratic principles. His most disturbing rhetoric is to claim that individuals or organizations who disapprove of his behavior or policies "hate America." His moral compass is an applause meter.
51
You said it very well-"his moral compass is an applause meter."
1
Michelle Obama: "When they go low, we go high." Excellent advice to the press, except that when it comes to reporting the ever-expanding Trump-world "lows," the readers and reporters may feel a need for showers immediately afterwards. And that just doesn't seem right.
In the old days, back in 2014, checkout-line tabloids took care of reporting the "low stuff." Now, their publishers are buddies with the top guy who calls the regular press "liars and sensationalists."
So, how does the regular press maintain its dignity and composure at this time? Just like the late-night TV hosts are doing it: They take the daily news' indisputable facts and run with them. And so must the mainstream press.
Keep reporting the stories that the checkout-line tabloids did the best, and ignore readers' comments that such stories are in poor taste, and should be left to others. Stay with the Stormy Daniels story, and with the other stories about Trump's harassment of a score more women. Dig into The Trump Organization for some good stuff ...... the tales of former executives will likely make Stormy's story appear to be a children's fable. You get the idea. "When they go low, report the lows." Rest assured, you will never be accused of "making this stuff up" because Trump is either loved or reviled for such news.
2
Hopefully by 2020 he will have his wish.
2
One notes, in passing, that the story about the "reforms" to the Dodd-Frank legislation was hidden in the business pages. It couldn't be because too many Democrats voted for loosening the provisions aimed at keeping banks from again draining the federal treasury. As well, most of the miscreants were not named. Why wasn't this article and the voting breakdown by senator given greater prominence?
Instead readers are treated to endless articles about the razor thin margin of victory for a Blue Dog Democrat in a soon to be redistricted congressional bi-election. The press is free to publish what it wants and obfuscate what it wants. Is that "press freedom" as the NYT defines it?
2
Meanwhile hundreds of millions of Americans wish for a world free of the low quality and almost propaganda like news of FOX NOISE. Most of us are intelligent enough to understand FOX NOISE is the price we pay for the rest of the professional press in the United States.
1
Though he was paranoid and dishonest in ways that are now well documented, Richard Nixon had a conscience. He recognized the unravelling of his own moment in history and drank himself numb. Sure, he was self-absorbed and scheming. His administration threatened media executives explicitly; He was racist and anti-Semitic and used his prejudices to rationalize cynical electoral strategies as well as the illegal activities that eventually brought him down. Yet he is remembered now as a complicated, flawed man, who gave in to his demons while clinging to a sense of honor (or perhaps shame) sufficient enough to place the country above himself when he left office.
Our current President is of an entirely different character. Shame, honor, regret. Nixon surely experienced all of these. But Trump? Because he is a product of television—his fame and reputation are entirely derived through the brightly lit, two dimensional space of TV—he is a two dimensional construction, a persona without a real, measurable history. It is thus far impossible to draw definitive lines around him that separate truth from fiction. This persona worked to his advantage during the campaign precisely because it was untestable, and because his opponent had be effectively delegitimized.
But it turns out that Trump has only one mode. His attacks on the media are strategic, yes, but they are also an expression of his limitations. He is a perpetual negative ad, able to define himself only in absurd cliches.
1
Redaction is difficult to achieve within the Trump administration due to the caprice & volatility of the president. Ideological framers are routinely fired & dismissed before gaining traction in the culture wars. This regime could hardly hope to achieve the censorship & control of the press as Franco did in Spain.
The religionists here are too mired in diffusion & the overwhelmingly consumer driven practices of conservatism have banished the Steve Bannons' across the ocean to address a more fertile, less bourgeois & puristic element.
Breitbart has failed miserably and all the Kochs have is Fox.
1
Yes, if you elect an unreality TV star as your president this is what you get. It’s absurd, it’s embarrassing, and it will not stand.
2
Trump used the media, including the press, for his "birther" campaign. Then he was treated as a serious candidate by the media, and got lots of free TV time. Now he complains? This is the definition of chutzpah. But it is typical for Trump.
2
Some media outlets definitely are biased. Local conservative talk radio is firmly on the right and local NPR stations have staked out their turf on the left. WNYC in particular made no attempt to tone down their contempt for Trump. I couldn't hear their points over the shrieking and wailing. They became partisan, just like those on the right.
And at the national level NPR has gotten very full of itself…very smug and laden with stammering, mock surprise, laughing at their own comments, and vocal fry.
Cable news…forget about it. The rush to be first instead of correct. The amped up drama.
Social media (twitter) can be useful if you curate who you follow and if they tweet links to stories from credible sources.
Newspapers offer up click bait stories and abandoned their legacy identities.
There’s a story about Stormy Daniels’ mother in the Dallas Morning News, but their website is dallasnews.com https://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2018/03/14/vote-every-tim... Why did they abandon their identity?
Newspapers have to exploit their main advantage, which is that they are local…city council meetings, school boards, corruption…boring stuff…until there’s a scandal and it’s no longer boring.
Years ago, reading a newspaper felt like a civic responsibility. Today, the president tweets out news. But the president is not credible. News organizations have to prove their worth and value and credibility every day.
The great sin of the news media is slavery to the photo op and the Q&A. Their biggest beef against politicians is refusal to be candid. If the Press were serious about finding the truth, instead of being spoon-fed by pundits and politicians, we wouldn't be in this situation. Driven by deadlines and the need to keep advertisers happy, they don't go in for real research of the kind that brought down bad politicians in the past.
1
Worth noting that Donald Trump on several occasions has sat down for interviews with the NYT and that the interviewers were quite charitable in lending coherence to Trumps incoherent and incomprehensible stream of consciousness. Similarly right wing media will quote the NYT and other mainstream media when it suits them. Until Donald Trump at best loosens the libel laws or at worst goes full Putin his diatribes are just clowning as usual and no doubt even his acolytes who play along recognize that. Anyone with any sense is biased against Donald Trump. If the media is biased against Donald Trump then that is on Donald Trump not the media.
2
With regards to the press, Trump wants to have his cake and eat it too.
He's quite happy to provide the constant salacious fodder that draws the press like a moth to a flame, using any and all media outlets as one big free advertizing agency in service to his agenda, at the same time that he wants to chew and spit out any and all media outlets that dare to scrutinize him, criticize him, contradict him, shine light on the truth when he makes false statements, etc.
In short, he wants to manipulate the press to his advantage all the while he wants to use it as a scapegoat, undermining it as an independent source of truth that can act as a check on his power.
Only, that's not how things work in a democracy and a free society.
Fishkin and Pozen are quite right that the Republicans have been engaging in "assymetric constitutional hardball," and at an ever increasing rate, as they have become a conduit to power for the extreme right; but let's call it for what it really is - using lip service to the Constitution as a political tool only when it furthers their agenda, while being perfectly willing to undermine Constitituonal rights, including freedom of the press, and duck Constitutional responsibilities when it serves their agenda.
Donald Trump is no abberation; he is the face of the Republican Party unmasked. So long as they are in control of Congress and the presidency, both, press freedom will be unprotected and undermined.
It's up to America to change that in November.
2
What a conundrum in a democracy, the validity and basic need for a free press to hold government to account is supreme. That we have a mafia in government, headed by a most vulgar ignoramus, afraid of the press, hence, trying to destroy it, is evident. Trump, who, to our recollection, has always played dirty since youth, faithful to his father's teaching in racism and cheating others as a matter of course. He assaulted the presidency with constant lies and insults, plus a hefty dose of help from Putin, and some from Comey/Weinstein. Having this monster in the White House is a disgrace of huge proportions, as he continues to trample the rule of law and any sense of justice and decency we used to have, and his misrule is guided by fawning fear, hate and division. Other that ousting these most unrepresentatives at the voting booth, it behooves us to educate ourselves in civics, the facts, and the truth, and stay informed via a free press currently under attack. The press (Fox Noise is just propaganda for the G.O.P.) must remain brave and keep us informed, and hope to hold corrupt politicians' feet to the fire. And if Trump's lies are constant, so must the press be constant in exposing them...and trust that justice will, soon, prevail.
2
Studies have shown that over 90% of the stories written about Trump in the mainstream press are negative.
I wonder why he thinks it would be fool's errand to expect fair coverage from the mainstream press?
If the mainstream press wants to be treated with respect, it should behave respectably.
1
Studies have also shown that Russian bots adopt names like Franky1 to appear more American.
As usual, you blithely state "studies have shown", without providing a link.
Studies have also shown that democracy has fallen on hard times since Trump took office. And the dollar has fallen in value by 40%
See how that works? I mixed the truth and fabrications all together, and now make you either accept it, reject it, or dig for yourself for the truth.
1
Mr. Edsall: A response to your article would be, "He started it." In fact, this is what happened. Trump himself stated that he was treated well by the press, until he ran as a Republican.
You live in the NYC cocoon. Most of your NY Times staff does also, and has no idea that there is thought besides that in Manhattan and the Hamptons (well, Queens on occasion).The NY Times has functioned as a 527 for Democrats. Look at the surveys of the "mainstream" media, which find that about 90% of the stories are against Trump.
Example of fake news (you didn't start this one, but many of your articles featured the lie): Recall the side by side photos of the inaugural crowds on Jan 20, and how the media gloated over the "fact" that not only was Trump's crowd smaller than Obama's, but that Trump lied when he stated that he had the largest crowd. Here are some facts for you: The time stamp (removed) on the Trump picture...shown and gloated about by CNN (fake news, you bet)...was 0946, an hour and three quarters before the program was to start. There is a picture on pages A24-A25 in the WaPo Jan 21, taken from the Capitol, which shows the true extent of the crowd, extending back to the Washington Monument. I have my own photo,taken from the front of the crowd, looking back as well.
"You" (NY Times) and the WaPo have relentlessly attacked Trump for about two years, sometimes with 7-9 articles a day. If Trump didn't tweet out the truth, the media's biased story is what people would believe.
3
Yet another "misleading" statement by Trump about the media. He has received relentless negative press in New York from most of the major outlets for more than 40 years, going back to 1973, when he and his father were convicted of housing discrimination. He was attacked for his business practices, his treatment of his wives and girlfriends and his crass attempts to join elite power circles. The difference is, however, that Trump still seemed to enjoy dealing with the press, despite the coverage -- because a lot of it was humorous or sarcastic, underneath containing a lack of respect, but Trump mistook it for admiration.
1
Well everyone "knows" the truth has a liberal bias.
1
I disagree with the title of this opinion. Donald Trump thrives on the media and doesn't want to see it go away. In a perverse way it satisfies the deepest narcissistic instincts of his personality. From the day he rode down the elevator to announce his candidacy on June 16th, 2015 he has appeared on television every single day whether it be CNN, MSNBC or Fox. The only interruptions in his coverage have been mass shootings, hurricanes, floods, fires and the atrocities of genocide. These real news stories come and go while Trump continues to take top billing every night. He loves it and when he doesn't, he exercises his right to freedom of speech by calling out the media as fake news and making it his mouthpiece for dangerous propaganda. And every day the media and press enable him to do so.
35
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. All dictators and aspirants to the title HATE the press, dirty deeds are best done in the dark. Without freedom of the Press, our other rights mean nothing. And they know it. My sincere Thank you and appreciation to the NYT, let the sun shine.
10
Anyone who gets news from only one source (social media, cable, print, etc.) is ill informed.
5
Start from the premise that the right wing sees everything as an existential threat. Then it becomes clear why they feel that everyone not 100% with them is a mortal foe.
The irony, of course, is that "Faux News" is our equivalent of Pravda and Izvestia in the former Soviet Union. And, as the old line went, "There is no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia."
7
That sounds about right. The same people who are obsessed with "peace through strength" and ostentatious displays of force – be it from the military, the police, or even in their own daily lives – routinely prove themselves to be quite terrified of everything around them. If it didn't have such dire implications for our national politics, this hypocrisy would be an object for pity or even mockery, but given the stakes the real feeling is more like resentment: why should we have to go along for the ride as these folks tilt at every windmill on the horizon (including Big Bad Wind Power, come to think of it)?
2
The most effective tool the press has is honesty and their readers. The greatest damage to a politician is a perp walk followed by a walk in an orange jumpsuit through a steel door.
The press has to keep up accurate reporting of Republican criminal acts with the facts. Do not drop stories. Keep reporting truth. Justice will come with a change in power back to the center.
2
Trump and his GOP lackeys hate the free press since they the ones reporting on this regime’s corruption, incompetence, and terrible policies. Luckily the press is doing its job and America is all the better for it, since the truth on the Trump kakistocracy/kleptocracy enables us to be fully informed voters.
4
Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post: “We’re not at war; we’re at work.”
Sadly, this is a lie. The liberal media are no longer "at work." They have become the propaganda wing of the "resistance." As long as they put themselves in that role, they sacrifice their integrity and their credibility. They (not Trump) are doing this to themselves.
1
Hook, line, and sinker.
This one is tough. We have a leader who is thin skinned and vain. When he feels unjustly attacked by anyone or anything, he broods over how to not only get even but how to win in such a manner that the perceived opposition is seen to lose "bigly".
I'm no psychiatrist but I would guess this world view of "winners" and "losers" has been directing Trump's thoughts and actions for a long time.
Vacuous adulation is what our leader craves. Anything less is considered by him to be a direct affront no matter who or what the "other" may be. Those affronts require total retribution. This attitude is a life-lesson he has taken to heart because he believes it works for him. At age 71 I don't see much in the way of change in his attitudes, words, or behavior. This one is tough.
5
The media, like almost everything else, are polluted by the dollar--and the lack of it. Who, for example, decides what is good art? Panels of artists? No! Galleries and their wealthy clients! Sad thing about Trump is that he makes run-of-the-mill media look good; he makes Fox look sick. Good thing about Trump is that he has given the giants of the media, NYT and WaPo a shot of journalistic steroids.
He seeks to weaken an institution that serves to constrain the abusive exercise of executive authority. Well that high and mighty claim could be rewritten '...as he seeks to highlight the quite obvious bias of a left leaning press.' '...has initiated a gladiatorial contest pitting the principle of freedom of the press against a principle of his own invention:, could be rewritten as '...he has set out to highlight that there is no freedom or fairness in a press corps who universally castigate someone who does not dance to their partisan political tune. Trump's war of words against the Press. (OK he is not Shakespeare, who is? scan the NYT's comments page including mine) seeks to highlight an institution that serves to undermine a democratically elected President with a critical onslaught that borders on the demented panic of a religious sect. I could go on and reconstruct every sentence in this article, but hey,call me indolent, life is just too short.
Can we please bring back the Fairness Clause?
5
There have been more negative news stories by both the media and print sources about President Trump and his family than any other president before him. Jimmy Carter announced this fact and he should know as he was also a victim of their tirades. Mr. Trump has had more bias reports about him than one person should have to endure. No one he rants and raves against the press. Who wouldn't?
Do people care about his hairstyle or that his wife wears high heels while boarding a plane? Who cares if he drinks a dozen diet cokes or prefers McDonalds hamburgers. This is really beyond nitpicking and ridiculous. No wonder people are fed up and are tuning out the news. There is no fairness or honesty left anymore.
Why don't you report the positive outcomes that he has achieved since his presidency? He has created jobs and passed one of the largest tax cuts ever. People are seeing more money in their paychecks which they are putting back into our economy by spending again. You report day after day only nasty and snarky reports about his presidency. Maybe he is partly to blame for his occasional outbursts but it must infuriate him to have to read these lies and half truths. Anyone would be calling out the press and their fake news habits. People are really optimistic again and happy with their lives. Report on this good news for a change.
Liberal news organizations and progressives ridicule Fox News but they do report both sides of an issue. This is why they are # one.
1
The vast majority of the American people don’t believe a word that comes out of Trump’s mouth or fingers.
5
This article and many others like it tend to miss the real problem. The press is merely a reflection of those who read what they write. I would suggest you look into the learning experiences and conditions that lead to the failure of people being able to accept and demand any kind of balanced news coverage. I think that would give us insight into what really needs some work.
1
Putting heavy tariffs on newsprint continues the attack on the press from another angle.
Trump is a dictator in waiting. Like those of the past and today, Putin, Assad, Duterte, he believes the media is stopping him from gaining more control. Absolute control. And that the only good ones in media are the ones that support his lies like Fox. Trump as we can see hires only those that will parrot his ideas subjugate themselves to him. Sycophants. He will fire anyone who disagrees with him. If he could he'd shut down all media except Fox. Mind control of the public. Orwell's 1984 is his road map. As a result of Trump trusting just Fox, he has become more paranoid, a contrarian and has a closed mind. This makes him more isolated from reality, witness the statistics he made up with Trudeau. Trump has backed himself into a corner where he trust nobody, and has a bunker mentality. The consequences of this could be inimical to our country.
5
The First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy. Any threat to silencing the work of journalists is a threat we should all see as a road to demagoguery and dictatorship. However, as the press is driven more and more by profits, we face an equally frightening reality that our news is increasingly being driven by consumers of the news through our well-monitored “clicks.”
In the age of reality TV and human’s natural desire for drama, the media, even the most respected sources of news like the New York Times and the Washington Post, were sucked into the vortex of all things Trump long before he became president. The attention all the media gave to his birther movement, driven by readers’ interest in the story, was the beginning of his political popularity that continued throughout the 2016 campaign. He is a force of interest that even for the most sophisticated and serious citizen finds hard to resist. He continues to use the media for his own best interest by creating distraction after distraction that casts a long and dark shadow on the disastrous happenings this administration that will take a generation to repair. The First Amendment cannot protect us from ourselves as long as consumers of the news show more interest in the cult of personality of Donald Trump and less in the good journalism that is reporting on how this administration is threatening our democracy through its policies and practices. The ball, at least for now, is in our court.
5
Yeah, well, I would love freedom from Trump but what can you do ?
2
Vote the GOP out in November. They are his enablers.
3
We like bullies, because they're sure of themselves. The folks that promote Trump like his dictatorship style; they're not really fans of democracy. Why? Well, democracy is very hard. When I taught US Government, I'd ask the students if it was difficult to be a good citizen. Of course it is. Very hard; maybe close to impossible, because there are so many issues, so many perspectives, so much to think about & come to conclusions about. Dictatorship makes life easier, at least in that sense.
Those that vote single-issue, be that gun laws or abortion laws or something else, they are not good citizens. They talk about one issue or a few because that's easy. Easy way out. But, not good democratic values. Don't say you believe in both.
This man Trump is a serial-liar, serial-adulterer, serial-bankrupter, moral vacuum of a guy that buys his way out of Vietnam, says women were his 'war' (on Howard Stern, no less), and the POWs aren't his 'kind' of heroes. He doesn't pay taxes to fund the military, but then acts like he's their best friend. I'm sad to see so many conservative military people vote for this disreputable character. Really, why?
He's a traitor that's done all he can to be Putin's buddy: the Communist, billionaire that takes all human rights away from 'his' people? Putin and Trump, a real pair of destructive, heinous humans.
The Christian, conservative, evangelical, right call him their's, & the facade of patriotism & spiritualism breaks.
We need more Democrats.
6
I suspect that most Americans -- not just Trump's base -- perceive those who work for my favorite media, the NYT and NPR, as elitist and out of touch, and therefore untrustworthy. Consequently, these and other media are easy targets for Trump and Republicans generally. And, the fact is, NYT and NPR do read and sound like elitist coastal institutions, unaligned with the wants, interests, and emotions of most Americans. The solution is, become aligned with them -- then become perceived as being more aligned with Americans than the truly elitist and untrustworthy Trump administration and its stooges. This is easier done by NPR, which has affiliates nationwide and has the deepest penetration among all media in both coastal and non-coastal America. NPR could truly become America's radio network by carrying news from its affiliates as a major part of its reporting -- news from Minot, Nashville, Dallas, Fairbanks, etc. fully integrated with reports from Washington and foreign offices. Harder for the NYT, which is, after all, a New York institution, and its reporting from the heartland often carries the strong odor of a hurried visit to a museum of oddities and freakishness, with the poor reporter aching to return to the comforts of the city as soon as possible. Instead, the institution should make the NYT a local paper and apply its skills to being the American Time providing high-level journalism sourced in all of America. Do that, and you'll win your war.
1
It seems Trump does not have the mental capacity to distinguish news from newsertainment. Unfortunately, neither does his base.
2
Where are the voices the of decent Republicans? Why don't they speak in defense of democracy? They are like the ancient Roman senators who refused to stop the abuse of power for their own short sighted gains which led to the destruction of the Roman democracy and the madness of emperors like Caligula and Nero. Our Founding Fathers must be rolling in their graves. Has the GOP no shame? History will not judge them well; they are paving the road for demogogues and dictators and the end of our Republic.
3
When the President calls the media “the enemy of the people “ and freedom of the press “disgusting” we should all beware...
4
The Republicans have a greater hatred or distrust because they are still mad about the Pentagon Papers and the role the Post played in uncovering Nixon's various misdeeds. They want some equivalent Democratic misdeed uncovered by the press.
2
He would like a freedom from LIES in the press. No doubt.
Trump and his cohorts hate the media because "facts have a liberal bias."
1
I blame the press, mostly television news people, for getting Trump elected in the first place. From the day he announced in July 2015, with one of the most xenophobic speeches I have ever heard, the media gave Trump countless hours of free television time at the expense of other candidates. Every day after that day if Trump was speaking somewhere all of news outlets ran his terrible bragethons from beginning to end. The more bombastic he sounded they were there to run the whole show from beginning to end at, of course, the expense other candidates. Either the press wanted to see him elected so they would have something to horrify us with for the next 4 years (newspapers such as The NY Times, MSNBC have increased subscription sales or larger viewership) or they thought by showing how bad he is that voters would reject him.
The news media should just keep doing the reporting on this horrible excuse for a president but come 2020 the press should focus on giving an even amount of reporting for both sides. The media should not respond to every over the top drivel that pops out of Trumps mouth.
As for Trump, I refuse to put president in front of his name, this man admires dictators because he wishes to be one himself. This is dangerous man and I would not put it past him to rig the next election or refuse to leave if he is defeated. Trump is a con man who would have never amounted to anything if not for daddy’s money, same goes for his children.
6
Trump is losing his battle with the press, as more sunlight illuminates his heinous activities, with each cabinet member's departure, each turn of Mueller's great vice of justice. Great kudos to the free press for courageously pushing onward into the depths of this fetid swamp.
1
Of course Trump is afraid of a free press. He fears being caught in a lie. As many lies as this man has told the American public, it must be difficult to keep track of them. For a man as unfit, as morally corrupt as Donald Trump, for a man who measures other people by their loyalty to his lies, a free press that cannot be controlled must seem like the greatest betrayal of all. Go journalism!
Journalism is part of the system of checks and balances in this country. It is a reporter's mandate to tell the truth. News reporting is indeed an imperfect medium, but most reporters try to live up to the standards of that mandate. Trump should be caught out. But for a man as unbalanced as Donald Trump, journalism will always be terrifying.
2
It's just the opposite, he doesn't want freedom from the press, he wants 24/7 attention focused on him, or it's boring and he's a nobody. All his acting out is to gain attention from the press, and it does not matter whether the attention is positive or negative. Doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure this guy out. His emotional needs are like a small boy.
2
Lies lies make the soul sick. Thanks for this critique.
Trump doesn’t want to be free from the press. He thrives on criticizing and correcting reportage he doesn’t like. He loves the flattery he gets from those loyal to him and his coterie of sycophants when he sets the record straight with his cockemamy version of the truth. The press gives Trump a way to nurture his vanity and belligerence. It would be best to ignore him, but as president there’s no way.
D. Trump is selfish and dangerous.
The Republican Party does all it can to get away with murder; really, because the Republican's Party costs people their health and their lives.
Here's the problem, though: You guys actually do get it wrong quite often. I don't just mean factual mistakes- that is bound to happen every once in awhile and is perfectly understandable.
I am talking about everything from not revealing that Sarah Palin's teenage daughter was pregnant, to over abundance of reporting om the plight of the Palestinians, to not showing wounded or killed in action American solders, to the types of questions you choose to ask or not ask, to the stories (and comments) your editors choose to publish and not publish.
Journalists, after all, are only human and it is inevitable that their own bias will creep into their work. It is only natural for someone like Unstable Trump and Co. to take advantage of that reality.
1
Trump and all with something to hide are allergic to sunshine. The press provides that sunshine and transparency...just the facts folks....
1
The lack of self-reflection in this opinion piece is astonishing.
There is not a single opinion writer at the NY Times who writes favorably about President Trump and/or the Republicans. Even David Brooks - the token Republican on the slate of opinion writers - consistently bashes the President.
The phrase "fake news" does not entirely encompass the problem.
The correct phrase is "slanted news". Which in turn makes it seem "fake" - and entirely deserving of the scathing approach of President Trump.
2
Let's all just realize that this presidency is an aberration in every sense: electorally, temperamentally, and historically. We could compare it to Chauncey Gardiner in Jerzy Kozinski's classic, "Being There," except that anti-hero was not an petty, ignorant, crass, liar. But the circumstances and level of curiosity is about the same. The sooner we get through it - the better, God knows, and I do predict he will not last until 2020. He claim "fake" all he wants: those indictments will not be fake, Donald.
1
Donald Trump is a garden variety whiner. He can dish out scorn and criticism, but he can't take it. Clearly he's the most juvenile president in United States history.
5
In bashing the press, "covfefe" is crazy like a Fox, and his Friends.
Media sunlight is the best disinfectant, but sometimes you need to vote in November to scrub those hard-to-reach grifters.
52
The irony of course, is that the press will soon be dancing on the political grave of our president and his minions by simply and valiantly, continuing to shine a light on their misdeeds and utter incompetence.
2
The corporate press got him elected, legitimizing a truth challenged buffoon in the service of clicks, eyeballs and ultimately profits. And Trump continues to provide all that and much more. Well done!
1
Since day one the press/media has been unfair to the president, his wife, family etc. Just like a bunch of bullies you thought you would wear him out. Well you did not. He survived and thrived. We have a tax cut (and yes we got back $ ) unlike the lies we would not. We have a vibrant economy along with many regulations overturned to get business bustling again after Obama tried to ruin the country.
4
Do you truly believe Obama "tried to ruin the country?"
Is it "bullying" to publish direct quotes by a person?
Does the simple act of disagreeing with your policy positions make someone an enemy of the United States?
This comment makes me really sad.
I believe that Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and yes, even Donald Trump wake up every morning convinced that they have the best ideas to help this nation. I just think their ideas are in error. But the loudest "conservatives" on the internet seem not to think the reverse.
Does this attitude truly reflect the feelings of a wide swath of people? How can we heal this divide?
8
Jan, the very fact that you believe the nonsense you just posted shows that the REAL fake news outlets have done their job well. Obama created this bustling economy. And while you may get back $ on your tax cut, you'll lose $ big in the amount of services that will have to be cut because the government has no money ... or else they will borrow big and we taxpayers will be left holding the tab. The Fat Cats are definitely winning under the Trump administration. We "common folks" are being robbed and are completely deluded if we believe any differently.
9
You got Russiagate.....you got a weakened health insurance system, you have potential cuts to SS and Medicare. You got lame idiots parading around the WH with no qualifications or security clearance, you got arguments with allies....
You got nothing.......tax cuts for a year or two, then nada, zero, zip.....nuttin'.
Lock these GOP clowns up.....
4
Trump delights in diminishing American individuals. Groups of Americans systematically get slapped around. Trashing vanguard institutions is Trump’s means to bring down broad swaths of America.
Trump is a tool of his own mind, and he’s in sync with Putin. Get him them OUT.
1
I shudder to think how Nixon would have abused social media. But then again, if he had these tools and given us a chance to work out how to handle the awkwardness of governing by Twitter, we would not be dealing with the biggest twit on Twitter today, Donald Trump.
1
Isn't the issue even more fundamental than freedom of the press? Isn't it the respect for truth, for objective fact?
Our president is a man whose entire life has been built on lies, hyperbole and misdirection--and who openly admits it, indeed even flaunts it. Just yesterday the Post reported on a fundraising speech he made to donors in Missouri in which he blithely detailed his repeated claims to Justin Trudeau--a fellow head of state!--that the U.S. had a trade deficit with Canada when "I didn't even know. . . . I had no idea." And the Times and others have repeatedly reported Trump's philosophy of open disregard of the truth: "Just tell them what you want. They will believe what you say."
That being so, defending press freedom may simply play into this president's hands--framing the narrative as Trump vs. the press (or the "legacy" or "mainstream" media if you will) and inviting critical thinkers to take one side and Trump supporters (who either believe what he says or whose interests are served in saying so) to take the other.
Wouldn't the country be better off if we stepped back from yet another us-versus-them fight and simply waged war on behalf of the truth, something more on the order of CNN's apples-and-bananas "Facts Matter" campaign? Maybe our school kids could carry the banner for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They seem to be far better than the grownups in communicating matters of fundamental importance.
2
Trump is America. Why do Liberals not get it? He acts like all "real" Americans. New York City is not America. Those "real" Americans that elected Trump go to The City for vacation, it is a "show" to them. They don't 'believe' NYC is America. It has non-white people. It can't be America in their minds.
1
Thank you for your usual well reaserched and thorough editorial. I must say though that I'm amazed that you appear to truly believe the times and other main stream outlets are at all objective when it comes to this administration. You could clearly see when certain factions were blinded by hatred for president Obama or HRC. Your blind antipathy also makes your criticism much less effective. A truly objective account of president Trumps behavior and policies would serve you better.
10
Ok then. Please draw a line down the middle and across the top of a piece of paper , list his pros and cons as you see it and submit it here. Let's have this conversation the old Ben Franklin way.
2
@Brian: The NYT is clearly an establishment vehicle which, in itself is not a cause for concern. It prefers Rockefeller Republicans over Goldwater Republicans, e.g., Hillary to Bernie and to Trump. Yes, Trump has seen the light and become the spokesperson of the far right. The Times prefers the not-so-far right. The antipathy shown Trump has to do with his threat to the establishment, not because the paper has a "liberal" outlook; the NYT has a "neoliberal" outlook. A few far left noisemakers, e.g., Michelle Goldberg, have been offered op-ed space, not because the NYT subscribes to their diatribes, but because of the anti-Trump content of their essays. Caveat emptor.
Gee Brian. The problem is Trump. He has broken every norm of common decency and presidential decorum. Objective repoirting on Trump only seems like an attack on him.
I will leave it at one example. Would you terminate someone's employment by tweet? Would you like your own employment terminated by tweet?
TLGK
3
The fundamental problem is that we forget the adage that the price of democracy is eternal vigilance. For too many Americans eternal viligance consists of listening to or reading sound bites, or watching news on television that provides only the most cursory discussion of complicated issues. This subjects the media to legitimate criticism for not presenting a full discussion of opposing viewpoints. In turn, this enables demagogues like Trump to demonize the members of the media who emphasizes his many shortcomings. This then leads to threats to democracy itself. The bottom line is that the public itself is the root of the problem. If we don't take the responsibilities that come with democracy seriously, we don't deserve democracy.
2
I fully support freedom of the press, but wonder if too many journalists are contributing to the "biased" narrative by becoming regular contributors to what many voters perceive as a biased network: MSNBC. I watch this network frequently, although - even as a progressive myself - I sometimes think the hosts overstate the threats of whatever the GOP and Donald Trump are up to and are not sufficiently critical of progressives and the Dems. Enlisting print journalists in what are sometimes strongly progressive-good/conservative-bad discussions - even if the journalists themselves say nothing that supports that basic tenet - may contribute to the perception that WaPo, NYTimes, and other major print news media are indeed biased.
1
So far trumps mouth has attacked the press but his predecessor actually took action using the justice department and took the press to trial and convictions. When we get to that point you might have a legitimate complaint but there was not much belly aching then so perhaps not?
There is a real dilemma. If the press is perceived as being biased toward democrats, it could also be seen as being biased toward those that do more research, more thinking, more democratic principles. If thoughtful people are drawn to journalism careers, they are bound to reach more thoughtful conclusions. So they should instead go with those that are generally more emotional and 'shoot from the hip' types rather than relying on metrics and evidence?
2
Another valuable essay from Mr. Edsall. This one ties in directly with an earlier one dealing with studies showing the high degree of authoritarianism among many Americans. This attribute coexists with a tendency to fear change, those who are different, and those who reject group think. There is also a reliance on myth and scapegoating. Then we have the Orwellian embrace of doublethink: Praise "freedom of the press" while simultaneously applauding Trump's desire to allow libel suits against journalists. Anger and a desire to be entertained feed being misinformed and an incoherent mixing of praising a leader who thrives on chaos while promising a return to order, discipline, and the 1950s.
1
Professional, non-partisan journalism is a relatively late development. From the birth of the republic through the end of the nineteenth century, the press was avowedly partisan. Everyone knew it, and as a result no one ever thought of screaming "fake news!" Open partisanship probably made it easier for readers to sift through the often polemical accounts of the politics of the day for nuggets of truth.
The ascendancy of talk radio and Fox News marks the return of the partisan press. Only today, because of the rise of professional journalism in the twentieth century, the partisan press must pretend to be non-partisan. And so they "prove" their journalistic bona fides to their audience by exposing the (falsely alleged) partisan bias of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, their victims, who still adhere to the norms of professional journalism, cannot mount an effective defense without appearing to confirm the charges leveled against them. Joseph Heller called this a Catch-22.
Clearly, someone needs to come to the defense of the mainstream media. But who? The most effective champions would be the people least likely to rise to the occasion: members of Trump's own party who understand the damage done to the republic when a free press comes under attack. Their silence should be a clarion call to the rest of us to speak out, not in partisan rancor but in defense of the First Amendment.
2
As a former journalist, I am constantly disappointed by the unwillingness of the American press to stand up fearlessly to politicans, especially Trump. Yesterday, I watched the Governor of South Carolina claim that the young demonstrators from schools all over the country -- children, he called them -- were being used and manipulated by people with a left wing agenda. Any journalist worth his salt would have followed up with "And who are these people, governor?" It was refreshing to see the Dutch press insisting on answers from the new US ambassador, when he refused to deal with some of his outlandish statements before being nominated. "This is the Netherlands" a journalist told him. 'You have to answer our questions. " I deeply miss Chris HItchens, who feared no man and who could think on his feet. Even the Times interviews with Trumpseem like softball, with Trump continuing his fountain of lies and fabrications. I don't think the press is doing itself any favors by being supine in front of power.
4
You have provided a superb definition of access journalism. Inconvenient facts must be ignored, profits depend on it.
1
"Republicans on the far right...have been willing to engage in constitutional hardball [more than Democrats] because [they believe]...something has gone fundamentally awry in the republic...and that unpatriotic liberals have allowed or caused it to happen."
This explanation completely ignores the real reason today's Republicans play hardball (a euphemism that minimizes such direct attacks against our Constitution and democracy as refusing for over a year to vote on Obama's nomination to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court). Namely that Republicans represent the interests of wealth and power who own an ever-increasing majority of America's wealth, but are a minority in numbers.
The vast majority of Americans are not wealthy and if they all voted for what was in their own best interests Republicans know they would rarely win elections, and thus employ the superior wealth of their patrons to con a huge number of voters through the dissemination of propaganda, i.e., fake news, by ownership of major media outlets such as Fox, and by the exploitation of wedge issues, a part of a grand divide and conquer strategy to turn voters against voters, so we don't see that we share many more important interests in common, and that as long as we remain divided and don't work together the wealthy and powerful will own our government.
2
If His assault on Democracy and systematic undermining of the government is not impeachable, then what is?
As a Californian I resent his unprecedented attacks on our state. Save it for Russia.
1
The Fourth Estate is necessary for a Democracy, Journalists ask the tough questions, who, what, where, why and how. Journalists most often seek the truth among the cacophony. Society demands the truth and Journalists provide the answers.
Just look at the autocratic societies that shun and defame the press, is that a role model we wish to follow, certainly not. The examples you cite also make the argument stronger for a free press, Agnew, Nixon, Goldwater all liars and dangerous to our Nation. Of course, Trump fits very easily into this list.
Let me suggest what the press in general, the Times in particular, can do to improve its standing and, indeed, help the country.
There has been a trend in the media to regard news as entertainment. There is a focus on personalities and the political horse race at the expense of policy data and facts. Some titillating issue is seized upon, and we are subject to endless articles and speculation, but we never are told what is really going on.
The 2016 election was a sorry example of this. Over and over we were treated to tidbits about Trump and his outrageous statements. The great bulk of coverage on Clinton consisted of what amounted to her treatment of two eMails which were improperly marked confidential, the lowest security level.
Another example was the health care care debate. There was actually realms of data on the effectiveness of various health care systems available, but it was rarely if ever presented. We heard about the "gang of six" and how Senator X might vote, but not about comparisons between systems from various countries. A conference with 7,000 people in Princeton to support Medicare for All that featured many experts was not reported, but a meeting of 350 Tea Party supporters on the same. day in NH was front page news. When I complained about this to Kevin Sack, a great Times reporter, he wrote back,
"Single payer is not news."
4
One thing is clear - an active, free press is a fundamental difference between advanced, functioning democracy and autocracy. It really comes down to that, and when a people choose to succumb to demagogues who denigrate the press for their own cynical purposes they are finished as a democracy. Whether we are finished will be decided in November.
But for a chilling look at how truly bad things are overall, read Andrew Marantz's "Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet" in the current issue of The New Yorker. Most of us, myself very much included, have no idea of the forces of evil that are now afoot. This truly is a war.
6
The serious press needs to focus on the important issues, not the most recent shiny object.
When a provocative tweet must be covered, provide context, analysis, and a meta-level perspective. E.g., what is the timing of this and similar tweets? Is there evidence to support hypotheses that tweets are purposeful distractions, or that they are more unhinged on the weekends? Edsall is particularly good at this type of analysis.
58
There might yet be a government clampdown on all but Fox. Even if the Gorsuch/Thomas/Roberts Court were to rule against it (after the 7 or 8 years it would take via the usual lengthy legal process to be adjudicated), the Courts have no army ... the Trump regime (yes, he'll still be in the White House) would just ignore any rulings. Think it can't happen in the US? Think again.
6
When I was young, there were only three channels on TV, and three nightly news programs. NBC (featured the peacock), CBS (Walter Cronkite), and ABC. Then Public Broadcasting popped up, and that made four. Families subscribed either to Time or Newsweek to read about the most important developments of the prior week. Newsweek was slightly more daring than Time.
And now? National mainstream network news shows are propped up by pharmaceutical ads and weighed down by feel-good “human interest” stories because only old people, who remember Cronkite, are watching ... and that audience (we) requires (require) medicines and entertainment.
Everybody settles in with the sources of news that confirm what he or she already thinks. Rawstory? Slate? Fox? Breitbart? We take shelter in our silos.
Donald Trump is an awful threat to our country, an instinctive demagogue and practiced lazy cheater. He has been supported by Republicans, accustomed to playing “constitutional hardball,” who generally find poor people, uppity women, immigrants, gays, and African-Americans troublesome. So, as Mr. Edsall explains, Trump does trumpet threats against the free press, but he’s got a big band marching behind him ... amplified by countless Internet sites.
And yet I don’t think Trump will win out. So many journalists have worked so hard to discover and analyze his modes of operating, and the habits of his greedy Cabinet, family, and personal advisors.
Serious journalists are, now, my heroes.
291
My silo shelter is MSNBC. Thank you Chris, Rachel, Lawrence and Brian.
4
You sure don't know anything about Republicans, and how they think. Your smear of them, inaccurate, is noted. No wonder you find comfort in the NY Times.
I find myself more and more these days wishing for the return of someone like Phil Donahue who helped deconstruct the complicated issues of the day. I watched him with my mother when I came home from school.
Comparing Richard Nixon and this president's disdain for the press has two main differences. Nixon was just plain paranoid. He never measured up to John Kennedy in looks or star power. The lad from Camelot had an adoring press. He was the scion of a storied family, a war hero and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Kennedy had youth, charm, vigor and an attractive wife. Kennedy's performance in their 1960 debates wasn't flawless but he came off much better than did Nixon. These televised debates shaped Nixon's public persona for the remainder of his public life.
The current president is just plain hostile to the press for personal reasons, many of which he brought upon himself. His personal behavior and outlandish playboy lifestyle were always grist for the gossip mill. His very public spats with his former spouses and unethical business dealings didn't help him either. His need for positive attention and a public spotlight seemed to outweigh good judgment. He fed off his outrageous style of campaigning and attracted throngs to his rallies, not for his policies or ideas but for his intemperate remarks attacking political correctness and decent civic comportment. He was a hero the the disaffected people who felt that America left them behind.
Nixon and the 45th share one thing in common. Both were and are deeply insecure men who fault the press for their low approval ratings. Nixon was beset by an inferiority complex while this president's vanity and ego are simply out of control.
7
There is one simple reason Trump gets away with his attacks on the media; his base eats it up. For this 30-35% of the populace, any fact-based attack on Trump only strengthens their resolve to support him. This perverse, spite-fueled attitude is immune to reason. The Trump base is a lost cause. If the U.S. is to survive as a viable democracy, the remaining population must resolutely oppose the Trump base at the polls. There is no other remedy. The 2018 midterms are a contest of reason vs. chaos. Hopefully enough people realize this and act accordingly.
10
No one is perfect, and the news media frequently overly magnify some events while ignoring others, or mishandle some stories, but overall I am in awe of journalists and the work they do. We would know almost nothing of the extensive abuses and mismanagement of this administration, for example, without them. They push the other branches of gov't into accountability. As many others have pointed out, they are the first line of defense against propaganda and for democracy.
132
Since the US congress has so willfully abrogated its responsibilities as counterweight to the president's ill-conceived notions and activities, and the federal courts are now being stuffed with complacently incompetent tools of the administration it is imperative to the survival of our democracy that the news media be allowed and encouraged to continue its unfettered diligence.
2
The most disheartening thing about this piece is how even the so-called "mainstream media" itself does not recognize that to the extent it is biased, it is biased in favor of a Rockefeller type of Republican politics - decent treatment of minorities, protection of voting rights, protection of women's right to make their own reproductive choices, some sort of minimal basic social safety net, general protection of the environment and wildlife without any real engagement of the climate crisis and so forth. The mainstream media, by and large, accepts as true that our military is great and always to be expected without question; that our military adventures are all necessary if not moral and therefore to be supported without real question; that shelter, food, health care, free quality public education through college and a fair minimum wage of $15/hr for all are pipe dreams; and that the climate crisis will somehow get fixed without any aggressive reporting on how bad it is. Really, the "mainstream media" including the NYT is probably bette referred to as the "corporate media". Thus, for 40%-50% or more of my fellow citizens to think the corporate media is biased to the left is sad indeed for people who seek a humane and just country, and, as this article suggests, potentially terrifying.
3
Sitting here down in rural Virginia, I have come to see this trump-media issue in a new light, for me, anyway. I try to see the media (Cable news) as my neighbors might. In other words, how does Trump get away with belittling the media day in and day out.
The media way back when, say, in the early fifties, was an extension of the media during WWII. Taking risks, support the war effort, and taking second place to that effort. Nowadays the media is made up of, and presents itself as, the toughest, sleekest, most knowledgeable (especially when they gather in "experts"), and the best dressed, with high tech sets and videos. We seem to have come to accept this as normal. But the impact of all this power accrued by the media has a weakness. Many people who do not see themselves as tough, sleek, knowledgeable, fashionable, and appreciative of glamour might feel left out, subsumed, even disrespected. Consider the national media's responses to events in the hinterland. Send out by plane technicians, a name reporter, dressed to the nines or wearing a coat with a media logo on it, almost like a swat team from another reality. People like attention to some degree, but when it is part of someone else's job, and they try desperately to relate to the subject of the coverage, how do you feel?
t I hope readers will get the point. Trump senses that there is a big disconnect between the common man and the media, and he uses it fully to his advantage. One of his "survival" instincts.
In the simplified, one-dimensional world inhabited by Donald Trump the press is seen as nothing more than a collection of advertising agencies.
A few of those ad agencies (Fox News, Breitbart, the New York Post) support Trump, so he praises them.
Most of the other agencies criticize Trump, so he wants to destroy them.
What's sad is that the view of the media as biased is so, so true. I've been reading the NYT every day since 1955 and in the last decade or so have been shocked (c.f. Claude Raines in "Casablanca") to see the growing anti-Republican bias. Glaring example: Chris Christie. Perusing the Times during his governorship of New Jersey would, I'm sure, reveal zero articles or even mention of anything good that he ever did. The New Yorker, long apolitical, lost it during the Vietnam war and has been more and more biased ever since, to the point where I would say it's more than a match for Fox news.
Personally I am on the side of the Times, the New Yorker, et. al. on almost all of the issues. But that they are heavily biased is undeniable.
2
There aren’t two sides to the truth. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh aren’t it.
1
Trump’s assault on the media is dangerous. The media shined a light on his most despicable moments- from his making fun of a disabled reporter to his insults of a gold star family. Without the media he would have a straight and smooth ride to dictatorship and I believe he would take it. Our media is the difference between us and, let’s say, Russia or the Philippines, where the only thing that gets reported is what the leader wants. I don’t like the commercial breaks either, but that’s what the mute button is for.
5
Well, his attacks on the press have motivated me to subscribe to NYT and WaPo instead of just consuming their articles for free by various means, so there's that.
I think I'm in the camp of those who counsel restraint. People will grow tired of the circus clowns and crave rationality and restraint.
At least, the optimist in my wants to think so. That optimist has been dealt several serious psychic blows in the past two years.
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me too..
1
The media has developed a code of conduct for covering government and politics that it tries to follow but refuses to acknowledge.
The first rule of coverage is to report what government does and what officials say accurately. Government does so much and officials say so much that the media, especially the broadcast media, never get beyond the accuracy of transcription. The media too often fail to reach the essential question of who benefits from government action and who suffers. The media almost never get to the question of whether an official's statement is true, misleading, deceitful or a false. The media accept that officials are honorable public servants and should have wide latitude to spin yarns in service of their political leanings and in support of government action.
The public do not endorse that code of conduct. The public does want accurate reporting. The public believes that accurate reporting identifies who benefits and who suffers from government action. The public believes that spin is almost always deceitful and false, that spin should be called out in the initial report and that officials should be held to account when they spin yarns. The public believes that officials should not be considered honorable public servants until they prove themselves.
The media won't be able to deal with Trump until they acknowledge that their code of conduct doesn't meet the needs of the public.
Do the press favor the Dems? Perhaps, but not intentionally.
It is just that Republican ideology does not result in better lives for the majority of the people.
9
And in making the press Public Enemy No. 1, he has swallowed the far right playbook about the press. how did that happen? Remember Bannon, his former right arm? Case solved. What is really sad is that most people who hate the press have no idea that they are in effect supporting demagoguery and not democracy.
2
I have waited years (I'm nearly 70) for the press, at least the broadcast media, to regain their courage. There was a time of greatness. People like Eric Severeid of CBS, or John Chancellor of NBC, gave routine editorials. They were bold and thought provoking. What happened? The print media produce editorials all the time. Why can't the broadcast media do the same? Fox routinely presents editorials as news. It it high time that the REAL news people spoke up against the FAKE news pretenders.
1
Reagan did away with the 'Fairness Doctrine' for the media and press. http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-21/news/mn-8908_1_fairness-doctrine
2
The corporate media are liberal on social issues and extremely conservative on issues involving the economy, money and class. They are also biased in favor of their own careerism, the status quo and what they perceive as the established authority. Does that make them biased in favor of the Democratic or Republican Party? I’m not sure. Within their own limitations, however, I trust the media to tell the truth 110% more than I would ever trust Trump.
2
One aspect of this isn't given much attention. When Trump tweets his anger at the press his minions respond in ways that can give journalists real cause for fear. Death threats are a given, but there is a genuine possibility of physical harm. Trump, of course, knows this and uses it.
Trump doesn't know or care about the rules and laws or institutions of this country. Matter of fact such knowledge was seen as a disadvantage not only by Trump but many of those who voted for him specifically to ignore and break them.
So here's a different approach:
Donald J. Trump applied for and was given a new job. By us. A job for which the conditions of employment were well known and even defined by law. No one forced him to apply for or accept the job. He did so willingly. However now, after accepting the job he wants to change the terms of his employment.
I wonder, what would be the reaction of businessman Trump, or even the many business owners who supported Trump, if one of their employees came to them and said that they want change the terms of their employment and have complete autonomy and no reviews. I believe the typical Republican response would be that you are free to quit if you don't like your job.
It should never be forgotten that President serves at the pleasure of the American people. And the people have a right to know what their Government is doing.
2
Trump and the press have made a devil's bargain. Trump may have right-wing inclinations but he is a promoter first and foremost. As such, he needs the press. He attacks it less to destroy than to get his message out. The press, collectively, has a mission to report and disseminate the news. But as President, what Trump says is news because he says it. Consequently, the press reports a melange of information, half-truths, distortions, outright lies, and gossip to a readership that largely finds it all amusing. As everyone becomes entertainers, the interests of the press and the President converge.
1
It’s not just the press. It’s the Truth. Trump is the enemy of authors, fact gathering committees, University professors, educators everywhere, in fact, education itself. Trump is the enemy of his own advisors, of his own party leaders and intellectuals, of science across the board. He is out to destroy the Truth because the truth contradicts him, and reveals his ignorance. The Truth costs him money and votes. The horrifying thing is that he has allies in this endeavor, his base, Fox “news”. Toadies like Mnuchin. Without facts, we can make no reasoned decisions, problems go unsolved, and justice is ill served.
4
Edsall is on point here. Recognize that Trump enjoyed a relationship with the media, and a well-rehearsed media persona, long before he took office. Trump enjoyed the ratings game (still does!). Nothing captures attention like controversy, drives ratings and ad revenue. Now, we see the Trump brand morphing into a cult of personality--loyalty and adoration are expected, and anything less is treasonous. Fox News notwithstanding, so-called legacy media is unaccustomed and unwilling to serve this role. For Trump, governance is a by-product of his self-serving behavior, never its intent. Little wonder, then, that Trump would object when the media treat his bloviating and boorish observations and behavior as if it is Presidential. The Oval Office is a stage prop, folks, and the media should assume its role as the Greek chorus.
1
This is not your best piece. Trump doesn’t like the press. So what? He’s entitled to his opinion. And the press can and should hit back. Your advice that they pretend to be contrite is wrongheaded. By the way, you really mean the not pro trump press. Failure to contest the field would leave it to Murdoch, koches, and Limbaugh. That would be a big mistake. Fight fire with fire, remembering their fire is only heat. Ours is heat and light.
2
Members of the press are, overwhelmingly, college graduates. College graduates are, more often than not, progressive in their attitudes about life and politics. Mr. T and his Republican toadies rely on a base of voters who uncritically accept the loudest and simplest messaging, relentlessly shoveled out by right wing pundits, Fox News, and the increasingly unhinged Republican machine.
Knowledge and education are natural enemies of propagandists, who will stop at nothing to smear and discredit voices of reason. Social research has revealed what most of us already know: lies are easier to believe than the truth.
The White House war on the Press is a calculated program to dominate information dissemination, and neutralize competing points of view. Our Deceiver in Chief's ambition to control the courts, muzzle the press, disenfranchise targeted voters, and influence law enforcement, will transform America into an other one of the world's many "Democratic Republics", another "democracy" in name only.
2
" President" Trump, in his Sociopathic emptiness and absence of "personal
Monitors", does Not need to care enough to Know or know enough to Care.
Therefore, his free-floating Lying, also, has No inherent "Controls". He is also, thereby, able to continue to actually Enjoy the perpetual Center of
Attention we, the People, are Giving Him. Again, meanwhile, We, the People, are comparing Him to some of the most Famous (or Infamous)
Characters in History. Being Rich and "Successful" does not inherently
Denote Normalcy.
When we take a break from the news now, it is to take a break from Trump. He is the most polarizing figure of modern times and the most influential. Conservatives must be made to understand that their pact with this devil will not actually further their aims without the taint of corruption. Our journalistic institutions must continue to challenge him without mercy. It is a war for the truth, and it will be won.
4
I think at least part of Trumps attack on the media now is preparing his fans for his run in 2020. He will run, he will lose, and he will blame it on the media (fake news) and a fixed election.
If you think his rhetoric is bad now, just wait till Trump, as leader of his party, pulls out all the stops to brand the News Media as traitors and being unpatriotic. He not only wants freedom from the press, He wants his own press he can control much like he controls FOX.
State of freedom of the press, free speech in America?
America today lives a myth of freedom of press, free speech, democracy, a myth that it exists and that if it's going to be lost it will be taken from underneath, all at once, by some tyrannical force, the "monster taking democracy and free speech away" myth. The actuality is that for decades free press and speech and democracy has been lost like a clear day clouding slowly over, every interest in public sphere operating at the least by the principle that some things should never be mentioned, which is to say unlike great writers who do not believe in censorship at all and welcome challenge to their ideas, for decades virtually every interest in America has made every excuse to block, censor, malign this or that view with which it disagrees.
Free press, speech, democracy has been lost by gradual takeover of public sphere by this and that interest, again like a bright day slowly clouding over. That a true and powerful threat, a tyrant, should appear, is just the first thunderclap in an obviously long recognized rainy day. In America we live a myth of free speech, press, democracy, that we are clearly the opposite of totalitarian states right or left worldwide. The actuality is probably no democracy today has the conception of truly open, uncensored press and speech. Democracy is obviously failing. No country trusts true and open speech and press for its citizens. Every person finds an excuse to just silence his enemy.
1
I cannot understand why the media is not capable of refuting the many presidential messages of ‘Fake News.’ They have many brilliant writers that should be able of creating a constant flow of stories to correct the dishonesty that flows from the daily tweets and the WH Press Office. Get going!
The correct response to accusations by Dopey Donald that the press is dishonest is to report without political comment that Dopey Donald has stated "X" and then the he has stated "Opposite of X," or that he stated "X" and then DID the opposite of "X."
By way of example, the recent hour long video coverage of meetings in which he spoke with members of Congress about the Dreamers and DACA, or with the public about gun violence, and then promptly reversed course and acted in a way opposite to what he had espoused in the meeting does more to undermine what little credibility he has than all the political palaver anyone else can publish. People know what they heard, and know when he does the opposite of what he said he would do. Posting the video or audio record for people to review for themselves helps make the point.
Just report the facts, clearly and without arguing for or against those facts. People are smart enough to figure out who is lying. In particular, the press should report direct quotations, like the recent Washington Post report that Dopey Donald BRAGGED that he had "made it up" in speaking with Canadian Prime Mininster Justin Trudeau.
If you publish analysis or opinion, clearly mark that piece as analysis or opinion.
No amount of reporting is going to change the minds of the members of the CULT OF TRUMP, who slavishly follow him around and who excuse any of his failures or illegal acts. Don't waste your time trying to convince them of anything.
1
I have been struck over the past couple of months at how many people, extended family, doctors, social friends, will out of nowhere start talking to me about how they have caught media outlets they once trusted not telling the whole story, burying other stories, etc. These are liberal - moderate New Englanders. And the outlets they mention are not Fox, who they wrote off years ago. The outlets include this paper.
1
Selling fact free fantasy is better termed propaganda. In personal terms it is dangerous delusion for Trump's child ego. Trump is a real and present danger to the country and the world. Media must continue to point this out for the short and long term: facts persist. Is the GOP a legitimate political party when manned by officials swamped by its own delusional falsehoods?
Journalism is the firewall that protects us from wannabe despots and self-serving criminals like Dangerous Donald. No wonder he's doing everything he can to erode this fundamental institution that almost alone keeps us free. Thankfully, it's great to see how the legitimate press has upped its game and not succumbed to the onslaught. Maybe enough of the Deplorables who voted for 45 will wake up and realize that this man and his terrorist Republican allies in Congress are a mortal danger to our freedom and way of life.
1
You can't always get what you want. Like all petty dictators, Trump wants our media to be like Fox news, which turns truth into lies and lies into truth. Thank goodness for newspapers and TV outlets that continue to report the truth, whether he likes it or not, and truth with inevitably prevail.
4
There was a history of a muck raking press in the past. There is plenty of muck to rake. Get to work.
I doubt the left has the willingness or the ability to bring the same level of propaganda that the right has to this fight. It might be a losing battle.
The WashPost had an article this AM quoting the SCP as saying (crowing, actually) that he just made up numbers in negotiations with Justin Trudeau. If that does not give you mile high headlines, what will?
1
Thomas, the paramount, signal, single, and seminal thing that faux-Emperor Trump, dictators, and actual Emperors "Like (is not) Freedom From the Press", but freedom from functioning Democracies --- which enforce and protect under Constitutions, and an active, informed, and loudly, but peacefully engaged citizenry (like the students now demonstrating for their own lives), that insures Freedom Of the Press.
BTW, If Tom had taken the Paine to edit Henry's rallying cry, he would have shouted out: "Give Me Liberty (from EMPIRE) or Give Me Death"
2
The press certainly deserves harsh criticism for the part it has played in landing us in the mess we are in. For example, the NY Times part in allowing the Iraq War should not be forgotten. On the other hand, we need to defend the freedom of the press at least as vigorously as gun advocates defend their twisted version of the right to bear arms. A healthy press, one that does not bend to the extraordinary pressures that can be brought to bear, really is fundamental to democracy. I heard a debate back in 2004 where a editor of a major journal defended his coverage of the "news." His opponent talked about facts and truth and that is where the press needs to focus. We've seen where the "news" leads, and it is a place rife with denial of science, massive inequality, and wide-spread alienation. A place where Donald Trump is President.
4
The press didn’t do its job well with Vietnam or Iraq or in covering the candidacy of Trump. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a free press.
One of the reasons Trump admires dictators is because they shut down press outlets and make sure that the state-operated media in their countries pump out a constant stream of positive "news" about the government. Fox News already functions as state-operated media, much like Russia's Channel One and China Central Television, to manipulate and distort information in favor of Trump and the Republicans and to reinforce the government's policies. But, it's not just government policy that Trump wants to support, it's also Trump. He would love a television outlet that would preach of his own greatness and turn him into a demi-God, like North Korea's Kim. If he could, Trump would close down private and independent media, silence criticism of his policies and have TrumpTV all day, every day. A nightmare for the country.
13
No President gets freedom from the press.
If he doesn't like it, he can quit.
252
As I recall both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had love-hate relationships with the press.
1
The proper response of the media to Trump’s attacks on it is to continue to report the truth, including calling out Trump’s false statements (mostly lies). If the truth makes Trump look bad, then so be it - Trump will attack it. Let him bark.
31
Grand Old Propaganda has successfully peddled their poison for decades; radio, TV and now the internet has made it exponentially more effective, enabling Trump to ascend via Twitter, the Fake News channel and the alt-right paranoid conspiracy industrial complex.
Donald gaslighted himself to political fame based on the despicable, deplorable, racist Birther Lie.....he's the ultimate lowlife American who appeals to the basest tribal instincts for authoritarian power.
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
― George Orwell
“There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line - no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.”
― John F. Kennedy
“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
― Hannah Arendt
The GOP and Trump are existential threats to truth, democracy and America.
188
You can add Fox News to those that threaten truthj , democracy, and America.
3
Authoritarian regimes gain control over their people with a nonstop 24/7 onslaught of propaganda. The first thing dictators do is take control of the media. The install state TV and state Radio and state Internet. Anyone that dares to oppose state run media ends up in a ditch with a bullet in the head or banished forever to some gulag.
Trump can't go that far, so he does the next best thing. He uses state media to tell the public that only state media tells the truth and all other sources are liars. All other sources are in fact enemies of the state. Only Trump and Fox News can be trusted.
The tactic works and is very effective. Trump still has the support of nearly 40% of the people.
Mr. Edsall writes excellent essays that document and enumerate current happenings with scientific evidence and academic commentary. In this case, that is completely unnecessary. A person doesn't need to be a meteorologist to know that it is raining. Just look out of the widow.
Trump is an authoritarian, a dictator wanna be. He uses media like all other dictators. Just look out of the window.
53
Great photo crop. It shows Trump as most of us see him. We have no head of government anymore.
92
Our head of gov't is chaos.
TO THE EB: Erratum in my submission, TYPO: Meant JFK, not RFK in sentence re coverage of regicide by Lewis and Reston in Nov. '63.
TO THE EB: You printed note pinpointing an error in my original comment--actually I submitted three basically saying the same thing--but not the comment itself. What's the point? What is your reasoning!If you please, run 1 of the comments in its entirety. Thanks.
Trumps assaults on our democracy did not come out of a vacuum. Fox News has insinuated for years that the "mainstream media" has a strong liberal bias devoid of journalistic integrity and has made that tune a true country music hit among the disenfranchised, often low information, white voters who are the same people whose fervor helped bring us the Trump presidency.
The true believers in gun rights, the God given supremacy of human fetuses and the white race (at least those who are Christian) have been bolstered and pandered to for decades in an orchestrated effort to pass legislation like the recent tax cut. Let's not give Trump all the credit for this, his table was set by the tireless efforts and bottomless pockets of far more able men than he.
David Koch believes in freedom of choice but contributes generously to pro-life causes is just one clue to the extent of the general conspiracy that has brought us here.
If the mainstream media actually had a liberal bias, Americans would be more aware of this. But the media is owned by the corporate middle- not the liberal left.
56
Republicans are trying (and often succeeding) in making the center the new left. Those further to the left than that are labeled sub human
1
Faux news was the turning point for the rise of lies as fact. If you look back to 1996 when faux appeared, that was the actual point when fake news was institutionalized, and since then most Americans have been busy entertaining themselves to death, and have lost interest in civics and knowledge. The only way out of this mess is to educate people and find a way to remove faux news and their ilk from mainstream consumption. The cult that is right wing propaganda will be demolished by educated and engaged youth, so it is our responsibility to teach and encourage today's young people to be responsible citizens.
"David Koch believes in freedom of choice by contributes generously to pro life causes..."
This is an extremely important point and one the media seems to shy away from. Rank and file conservatives are being manipulated by people who don't even believe the red meat they are tossing. They are being lied to on a daily basis by a collection of hypocrites to control and manipulate their voting power and their affinity for chaos.
After all, while we are over here talking about Trump supporters, the rich are destroying everything we've accomplished in the last 100 years and reducing the average man to penury.
Any suggestion that the press is blameless is a sign of non-critical reading. It is not just that the presss lacks objectivity. It actively attacks Trump and communicates disdain, sometimes in ways that are unwarranted.
11
Can you offer one instance when the MSM made an unwarranted attack against Trump? Often they simply report what he said or did and he doesn’t like it because it makes him look bad. And maybe he shouldn’t lie all the time?
9
If Trump did not create egregious errors that cover so many moral, legal, ethical and, even highly personal dimensions, the press would still not be "blameless" in their coverage.
However, Trump himself has created nearly all the drama here as he has taken over the office with little conscience for the nation as a whole, and even less as a man who understands and respects our constitution and our institutions. Let the free press pursues all these obvious possibilities of criminal behaviors, both large and small, on a daily basis. and millions of us citizens will judge the coverage as a whole.
Trump is not above the law. Our nation is not a reality show where all the people are fooled all the time.
3
The press is supposed to be adversarial to government power. It’s role is guaranteed by the 1st amendment. The reverse is not true.
6
I am reminded of a line from a hymn “the still small voice of calm”. This should be the goal of the press. It must avoid responding to the hysteria of the president and instead pursue facts without emotion. When people tire of the chaotic noise, then they will listen to reason in the press.
Reason and fact, only then will we have an informed electorate.
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The attack on genuine journalism reveals several weaknesses that would best be dealt with. One is the mix of news and advertising -- from the limited amount of news presented on the daily TV national news squeezed in between commercials (and its need to offer fluff to attract viewers) to the contest for audience, even PBS has ads, lots of ads. Another is the attempt to get at news with quotes (as Edsall does in a sophisticated way, but still leaving us with a on the one hand on the other hand account) and one liners.
Journalists need deeper knowledge of their subjects (too many "generalists") and a heavy does of historical and global understanding. Nothing makes sense without being contextualized in relation to the past and in relation to the rest of the world. Example = Sure, abortion news has a moral and definitional content. But are abortions increasing or decreasing over time (and what is the cause)? Does this region or nation have more or fewer abortions -- and what is the cause. A journalist should know these things to understand the present. Press conferences are a silly game; at their best only some news trinket gets revealed. Understanding requires a serious conversation limited to only a few topics. Skipping from one to another reveals a bad case of journalistic attention deficit disorder. Leave the one-liners to the comics.
15
Yes I agree. How many adds for psoriasis and prediabetes do I need to see on the evening news, only to come back to see something about The Batchelor? C'mon. News from Europe, think BBC or Tagesschau have much more newsworthy coverage, not just on European and world issues, but also on American issues. Why is that? Possibly something to do with corporate ownership of media, for profit media, but to have govt owned media in the US right now would also be problematic.
18
Unfortunately, when the Fairness Doctrine was killed, when specialized investigative reporters were eliminated and the news departments were subordinated to the entertainment divisions at major television news outlets, we were already in a declining era of educated reporters and public consumers. Since too many "news" anchors and commentators are merely talking heads lacking the serious investigative backgrounds to be able to give educated context to the stories, they become no better than you or I at getting to the essentials of a "story". A story without context or analysis is just gossip. I, too, long for the days of truly professional journalists.
The “press” and social media have matched Trump’s every step in his descent into vulgarity and wanton disregard for truth, civility, and concern for the long term impact on this country’s political fabric. There has been no high ground on either side; from the moment of his election we have been subjected to a mutual vituperation not seen since the decades before the Civil War. . At some point we will be rid of Trump, but what of a press that descended with him to the lowest possible denomination?
1
Reporting the Thing's movements, thoughts and destructive behavior are necessary evils I am afraid. Hide in the closet if you prefer.
what's with the scare quotes around the word press?
I believe you paint the “press” with too broad a stroke. This is a traditional logical fallacy: “this article is biased therefore all articles are biased”
It is not hard to find legitimate, hard hitting but factually accurate investigative pieces. All too often people blend the opinion and the news components of journalism and then condemn them all in one lump.
"Republicans on the far right...have been willing to engage in constitutional hardball because they are drawn to “narratives of debasement and restoration.”
We saw this in 2016 in the legislative coup that Mitch McConnell employed to deny President Obama's choice to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. What McConnell did was to both challenge the underpinnings of the executive's duties as written in the Constitution and also to call into question the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. It was a bold and aggressive challenge to America's fundamental principles--including a free press--that McConnell knew would go down well on the hard right's media outlets and in increasingly hostile electorate.
McConnell, then, took no great risk. He knew that his actions were motivated by a racial animus towards President Obama. He singlehandedly upped the far right's ante in its attack upon the body politic. With a media culture muzzled by a naïve fright of violating "fair and balanced" guardrails, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Fox News and other organs that promote and encourage autocratic, repressive behavior in public officials and public policy are given free rein for their hate.
Richard Nixon was an experienced politician even if he was uncomfortable with the media. Donald Trump is a media creation who took entertainment into the political realm and then singlehandedly defined it on his own terms.
His administration defines "debasement," and "restoration" is his summons to nativism.
104
Sigh, it would sure be nice to have Nixon Now. But the current crop of Rs would call him a RINO
1
Good column. But for historical perspective your readers need to review the Powell Memo (search online for it). The GOP has pursued a 45 year strategy which has this kind of media degradation and false equivalence as its aim, bolstered not only by right-wing talk radio but also the Roger Ailes-built media cancer that is Fox News.
31
I agree. The republicans seem to want a dictatorial form of government. The only people with rights of any kind would be the wealthy. The rest of us tax payers would end up paying for the messes that the wealthy’s businesses create. The banks are busy right now trying to eliminate the regulations imposed on them by the Dodd-Frank legislation. Thee big banks would love to go back to the kind of lending they were doing at the height of the housing boom. The banks knew that the government (us the taxpayers) would bail them out and the republicans are perfectly happy to allow them to do it again. The republicans are working hard to drive this country to the ground again. Only this time they will pay for it by taking it out of Medicare and Social Security, this has been the goal of republicans for a long time. Republicans use social issues to get elected because they know they won’t get elected by their draconian policy ideas, there are not enough wealthy people to elect them.
If this is a war, it's pretty one sided. It's more like a Blitzkrieg. Trump attacks, and the press meekly responses, afraid or riling up the right wing media machine (the real fake news), or being accused of liberal bias. Reality is, this will happen anyway unless the press parrots every thing Trump says that doesn't demonstrate the level of adoration he feels entitled to.
Fight back. Not just against Trump, but the whole right wing machine. Don't just report on Trump's tweets, investigate how the right wing inflates the lies, fact check and retort them. Print every bombastic statement these airbags make. Show the public how the right wing plays the game and the reasonable people (of which I believe there is still a majority) what true balanced journalism is. We'll never win over those whose minds are closed, but we shouldn't have to.
This country has paid a steep price for the fear of 'tyranny of the majority' to the point where extremists now rule. Minority opinion matters, but not when that opinion runs counter to the truth, which is where we are today--on both sides. Many leftist opinions that dominate the media are being driven by over-reaching ideology that mocks anyone that fails to meet their rigid standards, regardless of intent.
It's time for the majority of decent people to stand up and take our country back from the extremists. And to do so we need the help of the press.
64
his constant attacks on the media have made me so much more appreciative of the work journalists and the media do. and hopefully the impact will be to inspire people to continue being engaged. it's made me subscribe to a lot more outlets than i did before.
I agree with the point on civic education - people need to understand, before they reach voting age, the role the media plays in political life, freedom of the press, etc.
66
I believe an unbiased press should today have a very strong agenda. At every turn it should counter ANY normalization of Trump as President, and equally counter the normalization (ongoing since President Obama) of the ultra right-wing Republicans in Congress.
Unfortunately it's pretty obvious that the major media outlets (and I'm NOT talking about the Fox brand) have essentially backed away from aggressively countering the normalization of Trump. Instead, they've measured him, at best, meekly at the role of president, always seeming to allow for his path forward.
Trump
No Majority.
No Mandate.
Know Nothing.
46
The frame of the article is too narrow and self involved. The press is spending too much time on the analysis of Trump’s demogoguery and not enough time on the greater underlying problem. We live in an era where not just a free press but the truth and facts themselves are relegated to insignificance. More importantly we live in a country where adherence to false narrative is the underpinning of an entire political party.
Fact: The earth is more than 6,000 years old.
Fact: GOP policies have added more to the national debt than any other factor.
Fact: Global warming and it’s consequences are not 100% proven yet the consequences are dire enough to require rigorous scientific study because our future may well depend on it.
Fact: The Russians did attempt to influence our election and it is critical that we have a coordinated effort to prevent a recurrence.
Fact: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” in the age of a standing military, is outdated concept.
Until we find a way to get responsible people into GOP leadership roles we will continue to see the assault on science and facts that will eventually destroy our country. Moderate republicans may revere Ronald Reagan but we must recognize the difference he represents. While Reagan started us on the path of tax cuts and ballooning deficits he did not have 30 years of economic data to prove his trickle down theory wrong. Today’s leaders do and choose to ignore it.
155
I would argue that your last "Fact" is out of step with the rest of your comment. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State", is the necessary part of the Second Amendment. The 2d Amendment Absolutists would discard that phrase in order to justify their stance. There was a reason that it was the leading part of the amendment. It was to emphasize the need for a militia to protect the country composed of citizens rather than a standing army. It was to protect that concept that the right to bear arms was made an absolute. That we now have a standing army calls for a revision to the Second Amendment to eliminate the absolutist terminology.
3
In the other direction, here are 10 myths that conservatives love to flog:
1. Significantly (say, no deficits for more than 3 years) paying down the federal debt has usually been good for the economy.
2. The single payer health care systems of other developed countries produce no better results at not much lower costs.
3. The very high top tax rates after WWII combined with high real (ratio of taxes actually paid to GDP) corporate taxes stifled economic growth.
4. The devastation of WWII caused the output of Europe to stay low for many (>10) years.
5. A small ratio of federal debt to GDP has always insured prosperity.
6. Inequality such as we have today (Gini about 0.50) has usually encouraged entrepreneurship thus helping the economy.
7. Our ratio of our corporate taxes actually paid to GDP is among the highest of all developed countries.
8. Since WWI, the cause of severe inflation in developed countries has usually been the printing of money.
9. As a percentage of GDP, today's federal debt service is the highest in many years.
10. Inequality such as we have today is an aberration; the history of capitalism has shown that periods like 1946 - 1973 with low inequality are the norm.
3
I would love this list if it were restated so a quick read wouldn't seem like a list of in facst rather than myths. Just a random AM thought. Good compilation though!
Absent from this piece was any discussion of the media’s own shortcomings that surely have in part contributed to the sense of distrust of the press that Trump has amplified. Acknowledging mistakes and challenges may help to build more trust. Redacted stories, overly dramatized articles, and clickbait do not go unnoticed. The media can start to combat Trump’s tactics aimed at undermining the press by first making sure its own house is in order.
40
So this seems to me false equivalence. Trump can run roughshod over the truth to the point of denying things that he probably said previously. He attacks the first amendment as treason.
And you are concerned about click bait?
6
Your comment has merit, but each media outlet applies a different standard for their remediation -- they are not all the same in their failure to get 100% of the facts correct. The NYT includes errata at the end of every online article, though you will NEVER see an errata (or equivalent) from partisan news outlets.
Second, there is a difference between news and commentary. Commentary is not news and is not subject to the same standards of neutrality. Clickbait is more often commentary (like this article) which must be interpreted as such -- just someone's point of view.
Trump does not understand nor distinguish the difference between news and commentary. He can tolerate neither, even when "real" news quotes him verbatim.
News media does not always get it right and everyone knows that. But Trump is thin-skinned, paranoid, and incapable of owning his behavior. Every other president before him could handle it with dignity and a grain of salt. Not this guy.
10
In terms of reference to Trump denying he said things he "probably" previously said. He has denied saying things that he has been taped saying. And pointing this out doesn't help. He continues to deny.
4
Trump believes in free speech as long as it comes from his mouth or Twitter account. He says whatever he wants, no matter how repellent, but he wants to deny the rights of others to do the same particularly when it comes to criticizing him and his actions.
The author is correct that if the news media needs keeps doing good investigative journalism perhaps they’ll regain some of the trust they’ve lost among reasonable people.
Just look at the great work done in investigating Roy Moore which likely contributed to his loss, and with Harvey Weinstein which helped kick off a wave of more great reporting and further revelations that empowered so many more women to speak up and helped spark a powerful movement with #MeToo.
If mainstream media can stay focused, and keep working hard at reporting on what’s most important and relevant, especially to younger readers, and skillfully use social media, perhaps there’s a chance of turning the tide in gaining confidence in their reporting and credibility.
38
"Freedom From the Partisan Press" is a goal that all Americans should desire.The media cannot be both strongly partisan and a reliable source of news, fact, and fair analysis of issues.
Unfortunately almost all major media organizations choose to be partisan and undermine their own credibility.
When the media predominantly promotes liberal,progressive and Democratic party political positions, the complaints of "fake news" are legitimate.
21
Really? I've heard conservatives complain that even C-SPAN is libral-biased. Explain that.
4
Examples? Data? References? Anything at all to support you assertions?
7
When the press reports what DT says, they are not promoting liberalism. They are doing their job. They are reporting the truth. That's not bias. You want that? Check Fox News and Alex Jones.
8
At this point in the Trump presidency, almost the only thing that is keeping his dictatorial tendencies in check is our free press. The Republican majority in Congress has wholly abdicated its responsibilities with respect to ensuring that the WH is abiding by its duties and operating within the parameters of the Constitution. The courts are slowly but surely being populated with people like Neil Gorsuch, who will "interpret" the law to serve Trump's purposes and not serve as a check/balance vis-a-vis either the WH or Congress.
I'm tempted to say that I don't know where/what our country would be at this point without our free press, except that I do know: our country would be Russia, or Venezuela, or China, or Saudi Arabia.
The Blue Wave in November 2018 cannot come soon enough.
60
This column spells out beautifully why and how Trump's anti-press demagoguery reflects his contempt for the nation's founding principles. And also how it puts the press in an impossible position. Will sounding the alarm (and, boy, does it need to be sounded) only serve to give more fodder to Trump's crusade against the First Amendment? There's the rub.
13
When Don, Jr said that the presidency was a step down for his father before the election, I didn't understand. Now, I do. He wants to be able to tell everyone what to do or else. He was the law in his businesses. He does want to be Putin or the other tyrants.
As others have said, this is not going to end well.
30
Agreed. I've said it before when you go into service as either an elected, appointee, or as a government employee the highest you can go in your official position is one step below you and me. Citizen.
Those who go into government to serve understand that that they work for the people. Those who go in for power to rule over others do not.
11
The irony here is that there is indeed a problem with a media - specifically conservative media, like FOX, in that their favorite news source has become their backsides.
FOX today goes out of its way to function as a Pravda-style misinformation machine - to an extent that other networks in America have never attempted, and likely would never dare.
The irony of our Birther-in-chief's attacks on the media is that he is most guilty of everything that he claims his opponents are attempting to do to him - and he only gets away with it due to the fact that FOX and their fellow travelers in the brown stain media provide him cover, and normalize his disgusting, treasonous behavior
One solution to our current crisis is to organize and impose a comprehensive, punishing economic boycott on everything that FOX and its fellow travelers in the brown stain media touch.
Don't watch FOX entertainment TV, don't support its advertisers, etc. Hit them, their shareholders, and their advertisers in their wallets. And then we once we get back into control of all three branches of government, reimpose a 21st century version of the Fairness Doctrine - even on cable.
Political pornography is too dangerous to the American mind to allow it go unchecked. The First Amendment would cease to exist if brown stain conservatives like Trump had their way. It must not serve as a protection of their efforts to dismantle it.
212
Your recommendation to “hit them where it hurts” is a good one, and one that worked when advertisers pulled support from Bill O’Reilly and other commentators.
I don’t know of the feasibility of the PUBLIC to refrain from Fox entertainment or sports. Most don’t see (myself included) how significant our individual actions impact the “Fox machine.” Withdrawal of corporate support requires a courage to risk profits by taking moral stances. Some companies do, some don’t. Just look at Fed Ex’s refusal to dissociate programs with the NRA.
A Times interview with the CEO of Merck last week underscored the personal integrity required to be among the first to take action, as he did by withdrawing from the President’s corporate advisory council after Charlottesville.
Your proposal, as much as I support it, requires a “groundswell” of social consciousness by corporate executives and Boards, precisely the beneficiaries of programs like the recent tax bill.
I hope, for all our sakes, that these conversations are taking place in boardrooms and executive suites across America.
5
The radical gun advocates defend their interpretation of Second Amendment, that widespread gun ownership will protect us from government tyranny. Ironically, it seems these are same people that would dismantle our freedom of speech protections of the First Amendment. There is a reason freedom of speech is the very first amendment, which is to ensure open discourse of opinions and ideas. If these opinions and ideas are muted in support of any political narrative, then I fear these will be some dangerous times for our Democracy.
82
What is radical to you is perfectly reasonable to others. What's absurd is the imaginary connection between gun ownership and the destruction of the 1A, something most gun owners are vehement about protecting.
2
Although our perception of our Revolution may not not show it, guns have been used more to suppress free speech rather than to protect it. In a debate a gun is not the most intelligent voice but it is the loudest.
4
I would posit the NRA’s postitions and initiatives in Congress on gun ownership and suggest the best example of a connection between radical gun owner and the erosion of First Amendment is the NRA-driven Dickey Amendment. Passed in 1996, this legislation cut funding that effectively ended the C.D.C.’s study of gun violence as a public health issue. The CDC is allowed to report on every public health issue, excep for gun violence. Muzzling the CDC on this subject is a clear encroachment of the First Amendment.
10
It may be a naive thought, but perhaps one way to begin to combat the political polarization that is eroding our nation's shared sense of political norms would be for non-partisan groups to mount a series of public service announcements on all platforms of media -- much like the PSAs that convinced society that cigarettes are unhealthy and seatbelts save lives -- that address our shared values and communicate basic lessons of both civics and civility. Exposed for several years to this kind of positive advertising for democratic norms might help citizens begin to appreciate and re-engage in the political process in a more productive manner and help them to understand why flouting norms can be dangerous to our way of life.
79
I've given this a lot of thought. The problem is there aren't necessarily shared norms anymore. How else can you explain Trump's strong support in the GOP when he flouts those norms every day?
3
It’s not a “negative” idea, but as I responded to an earlier post, it’ll take some moral fortitude from corporations to, if not develop, then to air such ads.
1
What an excellent idea. Why not have a public education effort focused on stressing the normals and the way things should be in any democracy? Examples of how to respond to hate, examples of how to respond to provocative statements and how to politely debate an issue without soundbites and slogans and talking points. Like Schoolhouse Rock for modern adults.
1
"As with so many things about President Trump, it strikes me that he didn’t start the fire. He got into office because it was already burning and now he’s pouring on gasoline."
This quote from Fishkin is unbelievably on point--in "political hardball" all it takes is one side to become so shameless about a power grab (Merrick Garland anyone?) that it sets the landscape for further breaking of institutional customs.
Donald Trump, and the GOP, are spoiling for a fight, a fight over essential constitutional freedoms. In their view, their "cause" is so just that it justifies changing the very practices that have ruled administrations since our founding.
This is dangerous, because not everything is enshrined in constitutional clauses.
I'm less concerned about Trump's denunciations of the press than I am about GOP silence of same.
Because, as Trump becomes more emboldened the more he's cornered by the Russia investigation and his own chaos, he'd find great satisfaction in say, jailing a reporter, or stopping a certain publication from writing.
At that point would Republicans say nothing? We shatter our norms and laws at our peril--once one is broken, why not another?
320
Your point about how sure the GOP is about their positions is spot on. The arrogance of the GOP's sanctimoniousness is mind-boggling, particularly in light of the fact that they have been consistently on the wrong side of history on every single social issue from mid-twentieth century on. The actual theft of a Supreme Court seat is one of the Republicans' most infamous moves and yet, the press moved on to another act in the Trump circus. Mitch McConnell in his refusal to acknowledge Russian meddling in the election, his masterminding of the Merrick seat caper and his declaration of war on President Obama's legislative agenda should have been relentlessly pursued by the press--but I fear that it is now too late, since so many simply distrust the media and the institutions it is meant to oversee.
13