Katrina vanden Heuvel: The media malpractice that’s hurting everyone but Trump

[babylonsister]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-media-malpractice-thats-hurting-everyone-but-trump/2016/03/15/f5ef7382-ea2f-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?postshare=1441458047645569&tid=ss_mail

The media malpractice that’s hurting everyone but Trump

Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally in Akron, Ohio, on Monday. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press)
By Katrina vanden Heuvel March 15 at 8:35 AM


“I believe that in a democracy what elections are about are serious debates over serious issues,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said upon announcing his presidential campaign in April 2015. He concluded with a plea to the press: “I would hope, and I ask the media’s help on this, allow us to discuss the important issues facing the American people and let’s not get hung up on political gossip or all the other soap opera aspects of modern campaigns.”

Less than two months later, Donald Trump rode his escalator into the race and promptly obliterated any possibility of the media heeding Sanders’s call. Almost immediately, the election came to resemble, if not a soap opera, a reality TV show with the incendiary former star of “The Apprentice” at its center. This has resulted not only in ridiculously lopsided coverage of Trump, at the expense of his rivals in both parties, but also a lack of sustained and serious attention to the important issues of our time.

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Meanwhile, as the Trump spectacle overshadows the other candidates, it also drowns out a much-needed conversation about issues of vital importance, including those that help explain why Trump and Sanders have generated so much passionate support. As John Nichols writes in the Nation, “The saturation coverage of Trump has obscured the real story of 2016: Americans are strikingly agitated not just about politics and governance, but about an economic ‘recovery’ that never seems to reach them.”

One of the central causes of this media malpractice is not a mystery. For the corporate media, clicks and ratings amount to profits, and Trump undoubtedly attracts more eyeballs than deep reporting on, say, trade policy. Last month, CBS President and Chief Executive Les Moonves bluntly acknowledged the motives behind the media’s election coverage. “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” he said of Trump’s rise, adding, “The money’s rolling in and this is fun.”

This is not to say that Trump should be ignored. It is certainly newsworthy that the Republican Party is on the verge of nominating a demagogue for president. The aborted rally in Chicago on Friday evening, which was canceled amid clashes between Trump supporters and protesters, was just the latest evidence that the Republican front-runner is putting people in real danger. It demands media attention that Trump’s campaign events have inspired racial violence, which he refuses to condemn and that he continues to encourage anti-Muslim hate. Trump’s undisguised bigotry, however, only underscores how irresponsible the fawning coverage of his campaign has been, while making a more serious discussion of the alternatives even more urgently needed.

The good news is that, while the damage cannot be undone, it’s not too late for the media to change course. To that end, the Democratic primary represents an opportunity. Despite the prevailing narrative, the race is far from over. Clinton and Sanders are engaged in a serious debate over serious solutions to this country’s problems. And with a likely Trump nomination in sight, it’s absolutely critical for voters to have as much substantive information as possible before making their decision. Nearly one year later, it’s time for the media to finally answer Sanders’s plea and stop favoring the spectacle over “the important issues facing the American people.”

[central scrutinizer]

1. No chance

In the 2000 election, stats showed that CBS spent more minutes talking about "Survivor" than they did about the Bush v. Gore race.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. K & R

[felix_numinous]

3. The corruption of the media is a First Amendment issue

Americans lives depend upon accurate information, democracy pivots on a well informed populace. With corporate takeover of the mainstream, we are subjected to the divisive techniques of Fox, hate radio and millionaire pundits whose job is to manipulate the public, not inform us.

Not only do we need a return of well rounded secular public education but to a free press not beholden to the banks and corporate powers, they've dumbed down the country for an easy takeover. They wish.

[longship]

4. Katrina!!

R&