It seems to me that I’ve been seeing some small movement of the media toward honest coverage. More people (not necessarily media) are speaking out about media failures to cover politics in an age when one of our political parties has gone full propaganda.
Jamelle Bouie has an outstanding column in the New York Times, “The Trump We Did Not Want To See.” He argues that the reality of the Trump presidency is so abnormal that journalists’ minds recoil. I find this convincing, because when I write some of my tweets or posts I can feel my mind recoiling. You can see it when people say “This is not my America.”
But yes, it is our America today. We may change it next November, or Congress may change it before then, but if we are to deal with what we have, we must look it in the eye. Read the whole thing.
Dan Froomkin has a kit of background facts that reporters should use to give context to Trump comments. It’s very good and simple enough that reporters might use it.
Margaret Sullivan suggests that “The media should spotlight a different kind of war expert: Those who voted ‘no’ on Iraq” rather than OMG Judy Miller and Joe Lieberman. She’s good, as usual.
Fareed Zakharia is saying it out loud.
Trump does not have a foreign policy. He has a series of impulses — isolationism, unilateralism, bellicosity — some of them contradictory. One might surge at any particular moment, triggered usually by Trump’s sense that he might look weak or foolish. They are often unleashed without any consultation, and then his yes men line up to defend him, supporting the president’s every move with North Korean-style enthusiasm, no matter how incoherent.
And John Kerry is calling a liar a liar.
A few small steps. It’s a long slog, and we need to keep pounding on the journalists and our congresscritters.
