BLAME THE RISE OF TRUMP ON THE FAILURE OF TV NEWS ~Newsweek

[Madam45for2923]

Last edited Sun Nov 6, 2016, 05:13 PM - Edit history (1)

During the primaries, the cable TV networks virtually handed a free microphone to Donald Trump, while giving other candidates a small fraction of his attention. By February, Trump had “earned” nearly $2 billion of free media, more than six times that of his closest Republican competitor, Ted Cruz, and almost nine times the next closest candidate, Jeb Bush.

The tens of millions of Americans who most often get their news from television, 57 percent of U.S. adults according to the Pew Research Center, had been fed a steady diet of Trump PR.

TV gave scant attention to the long history belying Trump’s claims that his personal successes would surely “Make America Great Again.” Instead, the all-Trump-all-the-time media attention permitted the presidential candidate to perpetuate the myth he had built as the savvy billionaire who would be America’s savior.

Millions of Republican voters fell for it. Even during Republican primary debates, many of the questions were Trump-centric, focusing on his statements and positions. While Trump sucked up air time, little was left for other candidates, a huge disadvantage in their efforts to connect with the American public.

As ratings soared, CBS CEO Les Moonves said of Trump’s dominance in the election coverage, “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.… The money’s rolling in and this is fun.”

Indeed, the Trump ratings boost has been manna for an industry that had been under assault from the internet, suffering years of shrinking audience, a rapid aging of viewer demographics and declines in profitability.

So, why shouldn’t TV executives be celebrating? Because the news business is about more than making money, more important things like ensuring the public is well informed. An informed electorate is crucial in a democracy where citizens are responsible for electing their leaders.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans who rely upon television as their primary source of news were misinformed; TV news coverage of the primary season, particularly cable TV news, failed the American public.

It’s true that earning a profit is important to sustaining any business. The days of news as a prestige loss-leader for the TV networks are long gone. But, the news business must measure itself by factors other than ratings and revenues because of its responsibility to the public.

So, it’s high time for TV news organizations to take a look in the mirror, commit to a serious review of their coverage of the presidential race and determine how they can better serve the viewers who depend upon them for accurate information.

Here are a few suggestions for starters: http://www.newsweek.com/blame-rise-trump-failure-tv-news-516162

[dalton99]

1. They knew the lies but covered him like a reality TV show - a hugely profitable one.

[Lotusflower70]

2. Greed

It was all about money and ratings for them. They did whatever they thought necessary to capitalize on it. I tuned out to most tv coverage pretty quickly. I am just glad it's almost over.

[aquamarina]

4. And conversely

They never failed to report any questionable or unflattering stories about Clinton as truth no matter how many times they were debunked. The media, with very few exceptions in its current form is no friend to our Democracy or our Republic. They are shameful and greedy and live to create conflict.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. And consequently we have a society built on

shame, greed, and divisiveness.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I also blame idiotic voters.

Sure, MSM didn't take a critical look at Trump, but there was plenty of information out there for people to find. They chose to accept Trump as he has always promoted himself and they are ignorant fools.

[Ligyron]

39. ^^^THIS EXACTLY^^^

We managed to figure out what bullsh*t Trump is now and what that whole RW worldview was when it began. True, the MSM pushes what's good for the corporate agenda but we knew better even early on or soon thereafter.

If anybody here was once right or center right, what changed your mind?

The same facts are out there for anyone to discover. Anytime the MSM pushes the zeitgeist in only one direction I get suspicious myself.

[CrispyQ]

7. "The media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it."

Bumper sticker I saw once.

[appalachiablue]

22. +1

[spanone]

8. let's not forget the 2 BILLION dollars of free airtime for mr con man

it's probably over 4 or 5 billion by now.

[librechik]

9. FYI, Madam DUers for legal reasons are limited to 4 paragraphs of direct quotes

from online articles--you should ediit your post when u get a minute


cheers!

[still_one]

10. Absolutely. Bill Maher said it perfectly: "Media DO YOUR FUCKING JOB!!!"

[librechik]

11. failure? Idon't think so. They are doing exactly as they planned

that is the scary part.

[cry baby]

13. The 4 paragraph rule is a legal copyright issue. It's a good article

though.

Thanks in advance for editing your post.

[colsohlibgal]

14. We Need To Keep Hammering Them

Maher, now Newsweek, finally the MSM is being called out. Trump was scandal central but that got little play, bogus Hillary email stuff was nearly 24/7.

The major media has largely been a disgrace.

[First Speaker]

15. I don't want to hear about Trump's "patriotic supporters"...

...who don't support his bigotry. Horseshit. Those people knew exactly what they were voting for. The GOP base is a racist cesspool, and Trump enabled their worst instincts. Was every Hitler voter a rabid anti-Semite? Maybe not; but they had no excuse not to know what, who, they were voting for. The same with all these "respectable" Republicans who have "come home" to Trump. Fuck them all.

[underpants]

16. The media IS the story of this election

They completely created all of his support.

[BlueCollar]

17. bookmarked..n/t

[Martin Eden]

18. "The fact is, news organizations were well aware Trump’s image was based on a long series of lies."

Trump's supporters think he is a truth teller, in large part because the media have failed in their responsibility to inform the public.

[mfcorey1]

19. Amen! Soooooo much truth!!!

[Paladin]

20. All the Media were interested in was a horse-race election.

That, and news articles that just wrote themselves. Trump furnished them with both. Unforgivable.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

23. Spot on, but rather late.

Will we learn anything for the next election cycle?

Probably not.

[CrispyQ]

25. If we don't get the money out of the process, nothing will change.

As ratings soared, CBS CEO Les Moonves said of Trump’s dominance in the election coverage, “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.… The money’s rolling in and this is fun.”

Most other industry leaders think Trump would be terrible for the economy.

[CrispyQ]

24. Oh look, Trump's star got vandalized.

Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after it was vandalized in Los Angeles on October 26. Allan Chernoff writes that news organizations were aware Trump’s image was based on lies. Why didn’t they report it?

Generally, I wouldn't condone vandalism, but in this case?

[Jim Beard]

43. Give that man a metal for trying to save our country.

[Akamai]

26. Excellent, excellent article!I sure hope we can find a huge pin to let the air out of this type

of monstrous political balloon.

Clearly the Citizens United ruling played a large part in the circus it has become the Presidential Election Cycle.

Other media tropes include such phrases as: both sides do it, there is wrongdoing on both sides, the American people believe that she is lying (having carefully been prepared to say they believe this by 30 years of right-wing lies and misstatements), etc.

Reining in the media will be difficult but perhaps with an appropriately responsive Supreme Court it can be done. Certainly Citizens United can be undone and we can be returned to political practices before the right wing wackos took over the Supreme Court.

Go Hillary!

[Stonepounder]

27. Not only the 'Trump as reality television star' non-stop coverage,

but also the fact that there has been zero coverage of the actual issues. I think I saw a graphic (maybe here on DU?) that said during the entire campaign, the networks combined have spent a grand total of 32 minutes on the issues. Think about that for a second. Trump wants to'build a wall', cut taxes massively (for the rich), start a trade war with the rest of the world, pull out of NAFTA, restructure NATO, privatize the building and maintenance of roads and highways, ban and/or deport all Muslims, deport 4 million illegal aliens, repeal Obamacare, 'take care of ISIS', pull out of the Middle East, defund and shut down all climate-change related funding and pull out of the Paris Accord and appoint a Special Prosecutor to put Hillary in prison. And that's just for starters.

And we haven't heard a peep about any of this on CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, or FOX. We hear all about the polls, Trump's outrageous lies, his latest vile attack on some segment of our population or another, but we don't hear any substantive discussion of what would happen if he implemented these policies.

So all those who get their 'news' only from TV know only that Trump's policy is to 'Make America Great Again'. Sounds good doesn't it?

[smirkymonkey]

28. +1000

[MadDAsHell]

29. The voters voted. Why do we always have to find an "other" to blame? nt

[paleotn]

31. In the old days.

Con artists feared news programs like 60 Minutes, etc. Obvious lies? Blood in the water and they'd rip them to shreads. Their role was to show the emperor didn't have any clothes. It was a blood sport. Now they're lazy, corporate cheerleaders. The old adage of politics use to be don't pick fights with those who buy ink by the barrel and paper by the roll. That doesn't seem to work in the digital age. It was nasty at times with lots of collateral damage, but Trumps were killed off quickly.

I'll step off my old fart soap box now.

[Iliyah]

32. And corporate media is still licking his arse

[DonCoquixote]

33. Amen

As much as I hear pundits whine about how the internet has ruined journalism, I say this "why do you not write the sort of stuff that makes people remember good print journalism?" If nothign else, the internet has shown that if some writer or journo does something of substance, the world does beat a path to their door.

[LuvNewcastle]

37. Yes.

Without the internet we would all be as ignorant as Trump voters these days.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

34. Print & web media much better than TV: WaPo, HuffPo, Atlantic, New York mag, NewsWeek. . . nt

[AllyCat]

35. Well that sure is accurate

[liberalhistorian]

36. This is chillingly true, but I also blame

the lack of real history and civics education in this country over the past several decades. If people had a better understanding of history, they'd be much more aware of the real dangers posed by Trump, and they'd also understand his complete lack of any knowledge or understanding of how government actually works. He'd never even have gotten anywhere close to the nomination itself.

[tenderfoot]

40. This article could have easily been written in 1985

The media created him.

[irisblue]

44. print media does NOT get a pass here, they are complicit