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NBC In Bed With Trump Is The Media's Latest Grand Failure
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/nbc-in-bed-with-trump-is_b_13602852.htmlCan we even count all the ways that NBC's ongoing business relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, in the form of his executive producer title for The Apprentice, obliterates virtually every common sense standard that exists for avoiding conflicts of interest and creates an impossible situation for the network's reporters?
Once the disturbing tape recordings were found, NBC reportedly sat on the blockbuster story figuring out how to proceed. (By contrast, the Post published its story just hours after learning about the tapes.) But today, with Trump having an ongoing financial relationship with NBC, we're supposed to believe there won't be anymore potential entanglements? That's really not believable.
"NBC has spent more than a decade building his brand as a successful businessman of almost mythic proportion. The network's coverage of Trump was overwhelmingly and consistently positive. MRC Business found only 15 stories (out of 335) on Trump's business failures, and 320 stories promoting him as a businessman, his businesses and his shows. The vast majority of stories were about the network's show The Apprentice, which featured Trump ... NBC News's Today served as a de facto PR machine for The Apprentice and its star."
Meanwhile, a key point is that this is just the latest in the media's rampant normalization of Trump's wildly abnormal behavior. Every modern-day president before Trump, and every modern-day nominee before him, pledged to make sure not only wouldn't there be any conflicts of interest surrounding their presidencies, but there wouldn't even any appearances of conflicts; of cashing in on the Oval Office. (Cue Richard Nixon: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook."
Once the disturbing tape recordings were found, NBC reportedly sat on the blockbuster story figuring out how to proceed. (By contrast, the Post published its story just hours after learning about the tapes.) But today, with Trump having an ongoing financial relationship with NBC, we're supposed to believe there won't be anymore potential entanglements? That's really not believable.
"NBC has spent more than a decade building his brand as a successful businessman of almost mythic proportion. The network's coverage of Trump was overwhelmingly and consistently positive. MRC Business found only 15 stories (out of 335) on Trump's business failures, and 320 stories promoting him as a businessman, his businesses and his shows. The vast majority of stories were about the network's show The Apprentice, which featured Trump ... NBC News's Today served as a de facto PR machine for The Apprentice and its star."
Meanwhile, a key point is that this is just the latest in the media's rampant normalization of Trump's wildly abnormal behavior. Every modern-day president before Trump, and every modern-day nominee before him, pledged to make sure not only wouldn't there be any conflicts of interest surrounding their presidencies, but there wouldn't even any appearances of conflicts; of cashing in on the Oval Office. (Cue Richard Nixon: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook."
"This is just the press needlessly normalizing radical Republican behavior."
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