There’s deep concern that Donald Trump is undermining responsible journalism that will hold him accountable
See?
(NY Times) If there was any doubt, the uproar this week over BuzzFeed’s publication of unverified allegations about President-elect Donald J. Trump made clear that the gatekeeper role once played by major news media organizations has vanished in the digital age.
This poses a deep danger for legitimate, aggressive journalism, especially from the president-elect, who has been consistent in his heavy-handed demonization of any and all media whenever he dislikes critical but accurate stories about him.
BuzzFeed’s irresponsible decision to publish a seamy and wholly unsubstantiated research dossier about Mr. Trump by a former British spy gave him the opportunity to attack not only BuzzFeed but also CNN, which had reported accurately about the document’s existence but, properly, had declined to reveal its unverified contents. By conflating the conduct of the two news organizations as examples of the growing menace of malicious, digitally spread “fake news,†he undermined the vigorous, accurate journalism that is necessary to hold him and his incoming administration accountable.
Got that? It’s Trump’s fault that Buzzfeed was irresponsible, and that CNN decided to pile on and run with the totally unverified story, which pretty much every other major news outlet decided they wouldn’t touch.
But, really, this is the same press that is suddenly interested in “legitimate, aggressive journalism,” and “vigorous, accurate journalism”, after 8 years of ignoring most things in the Era Of Obama, if not covering for them. The same press that failed to properly vet and cover Hillary Clinton. The same press that covers Republicans and Democrats much, much differently. The same press that is mostly in bed with Democrats. They can’t have it both ways. They need to either do their jobs all the time, or quit and do something else.
And they’ve failed to learn the lesson that Donald Trump is not your standard politician, and has no problem calling the Credentialed Media out, and using the New Media to get his message directly to The People.
At a time when the president-elect is trying to make major political changes in a deeply divided country, he is encouraging the public not to believe reporting by responsible news organizations that are striving to hold the government accountable. He did the same thing during his campaign, rallying his followers against the “dishonest media†while at the same time feeding news organizations and the public distorted and unproven allegations about his opponents.
During the campaign, I had numerous interactions with Trumpites about the supposed “media being on the ballot” talking point. I said “come on, he’s running against Hillary and the Dems, he has to act it or he’ll lose.” They said “no, the media is on the ballot!” They and Trump were right. One of the most recent polls shows that just 32% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of trust for the news media to “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.” Some previous polls has that trust being much, much lower. The primarily leftist news media did this themselves. They can’t blame Trump, who simply piled on.
Of course, the responsibility is not only Mr. Trump’s. The news media must separate in the public mind responsible journalism from recklessly inaccurate and purposely false information disguised as news for profit or influence by charlatans. Raging against attacks by Mr. Trump and his allies on “the mainstream media†will not suffice. The news media must double down on fair but aggressive news coverage, including scrutinizing the practices of those who don’t have the same standards.
Well, it’s good to see that Mr. Downie, Jr., who was the executive editor for the Washington Post from 1994-2008, finally ends by acknowledging that the news media is at fault. But, where was this concern over the last 8 years? Where was this concern when the media was being heavily partisan while George W. Bush was president? Trust is earned. They’ve lost it. They won’t get it back by suddenly being interested in doing their jobs against Trump and his administration.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
In addition to the Kremlin, a faction in the FBI supported Trumpski and suppressed investigations into his Russian connections and pushed (publicly) the investigations into Secretary Clinton’s emails. Sounds suspiciously like a coup. But.. Emails!!!!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-russia-dossier-file-investigation-hacking-christopher-steele-mi6-a7526901.html
It’s no surprise that the TV game show host, that Big Pussy Trump, who has never shown one instance of personal courage in his entire privileged life, attacks civil rights hero John Lewis.
But then, that was the basis of his entire campaign, wasn’t it. Sad.
#FakePresident
In 6 days, that’s President Trump to you, little guy.
Losing is sad, ain’t it, little guy?
Get used to it…
So the POS-elect calls John Lewis “all talk, no action” and John McCain “not a hero”. This fetid piece of shit has never performed a single courageous or selfless act in his entire life.
We should all be ashamed of this the POS-elect.
#FakePresident
Surprised that old toady John Lewis didn’t claim that Trump spit on him.
Guess it was a courageous and selfless act when you lied about serving in Tha Army during the Vietnam War…
Huh, little guy?
At least I tried, Puppy Who Licks Assholes. Trumpski’s bravery consists of cheating on his wives.
Trumpski’s most selfless act was not ejaculating in that 13 yr old girl.
Then lied.
Ruh roh, the Senate Intelligence Committee is going to investigate Trumpski’s Russian gambit.
Hello subpoenas.
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/314298-senate-intel-committee-to-probe-russian-interference-in-election
Good!
Maybe they can investigate Uranium One while they’re at it.
Losing is sad.
dp,
I read the article as well, unlike old Jeff who stopped at the salacious headline. Any investigations into the corrupt Obama administration are welcome.
Now, this does bring up several philosophical questions. If the DNC is hacked by anyone and it results in our obtaining superior knowledge, is that a bad thing? If we are given a glimpse into the rot of Obama and Hillary, is that bad? I seriously doubt that any activities by the FBI and any other group seriously hurt Hillary. The people who voted for her are not exactly right in the head, as per our guy Jeff. Truth would never influence a Dem voter.
Jeff,
If you would do a little investigation, you would find that McCain was far from being a “hero”, the most over used word in the English language. As to Lewis, he is one of the Dem attack dogs and nothing else, very little insight into the needs of his constituents.
David,
To put it another way, those on the Left are not and cannot be swayed by logic or reality.
When your religion is Progressivism then you will broker no heretics.
The left spent four years whining about Florida in 2000, then another four about Ohio in 2004, referring to George Bush as the pResident, that being about the most kind thing. The next four years will simply be a repeat.
The oh-so-civilized left believe that they are the cultured, sophisticated, intelligent ones, while us rednecks from flyover country simply need to be told how to live our lives by Our Bettersâ„¢ in Washington, New York and Hollywood. But it seems that, with every word out of their mouths, every letter out of their keyboards, they are determined to prove how uncultured, how ill mannered and how unsophisticated they really are.
They lost. They lost the White House (that they expected to retain), they lost the Senate (that they thought they’d reclaim), and they lost the House of Representatives (which they may never hold again). Since Barack Hussein Obama took the office we are all thankful he’ll leave next Friday, the voters have taken 1,030 seats controlled by the Democrats following the 2008 elections, and turned them over to Republicans. Jeffrey will blame the Rooskies, the left will whine about James Comey, but most of the Democrats’ losses didn’t happen in 2016, but 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Why? We can blame the Democrats for being stupid enough to nominate a zero-personality, ethically-challenged woman who never accomplished anything on her own, but the real reason that they lost the voters they needed in Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is that they went from being the party of the working man to the party of the non-working man, from being the party of labor to the party of leeches, from the party of the normal American to the party of the morally-corrupt and mentally ill.
It wasn’t the Russians who forced them to do that.
Dana,
Another reason she lost is that Hillary proudly proclaimed that Christians would have to change their beliefs regarding gay marriage and abortion when she became President.
Hello!
Liberals have long suspected that cons have no interest in the Constitution, one-man one-vote, Democracy or ethics, and the drumpfski phenomenon confirms it.
A foreign nation, assisted by one of the candidates, interfered with an American election and conservatives applaud.
So, not only will you get no assistance from liberals, you will get mobilized resistance.
trumpski will be exposed daily for the fraudulent interloper he is. Even Republicans are begging him to stop his embarrassing tweet-errs. Liberals hope he twits even more!
So the Constitution that sets up the Electoral College that you want to demolish and say is illegitimate is somehow being attacked by conservatives?
That’s just a trip into bizzaro world.
Yeah, right. Trump told the Democrats to open up their emails accounts due to their own stupidity.
Once again, another trip into bizzaro world.
And what were you saying earlier about a lack of respect for the Constitution?
It just bugs the hell out of you that Hillary lost and will never be elected president. The Dems got exposed for the vile people they are and you can’t handle it.
#NichtMeinFuhrer
Jeffery is just doing what the left did to Obama…..Try and de legitimize the president…..the more you respond to him the harder(his pekker) it gets…..just ignore any post he makes in which he tries to de legitimize Trump and all will be well.
I thought how Trump is going to be pounded mercilessly by the left because of his Birtherism over Obama. The difference is that this time around he will have the power of the MSM behind him who no longer are the press, nor the protectors of freedom….only tools of the left to do their bidding. When you see the MSM start using the NAZI term against Trump you know….without a doubt that they have gone all the way off the rails.
gc,
Thanks for the confirmation.
Laim, The difference is that trumpski is unfit by temperament and intellect to be president. His
plotrelationship with America’s long term antagonist, Russia, is a legitimate concern. His potential business conflicts are legitimate concerns. His mercurial temperament on the world stage is a legitimate concern. ANY OTHER Republican would have been more acceptable even if they had lost the popular vote in a landslide as trumpski did. We accept that trumpski will acquiesce to the extremist ideas of the Teabag House members, just as any Repub would. The issue with trumpski is what he will do outside his interactions with Congress.The best outcome, aside from his immediate resignation, would be for Congress to impeach and convict him immediately upon inauguration over his unConstitutional conflicts, with Mike Pence assuming the presidency. Pence will still sign all the harmful bills that come out of the Teabag Congress but is must less likely to destroy the nation. Pence is an American at heart; trumpski is not. America and the world could breathe a sigh of relief.
Laim,
Forgot to add that you’ll end up thanking us for our opposition to trumpski.
#IllegitimatePresident