US media must 'get smarter' to tackle Trump, says Hillary Clinton

[blue-wave]

Source: The Guardian

Hillary Clinton has criticised the US media over its coverage of Donald Trump, calling on the press to “get smarter” about holding to account a president who is a master of diversion and distraction.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Clinton also offered a stinging rebuke of the Republican party’s base, saying it had become enthralled by the president’s “insults and attacks and entertainment and spectacle”.

“The Republican party has collapsed in the face of Trump,” she said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/23/hillary-clinton-us-media-must-get-smarter-tackle-trump-threat?CMP=twt_gu

[dlk]

1. "Bothsidersim" Discounts and Minimizes Facts - and the Narrative Becomes Skewed

It the race to appear "fair and balanced" the mainstream media has been expertly played by Trump. Hopefully, they will wise up before our republic is completely lost, as we are living on the precipice of fascism.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. +1

[iluvtennis]

13. + 2

[Rizen]

27. False equivalencies and asymmetric polarization

are huge problems I've also talked about.

[Scarsdale]

2. So very true.

Long past time to hold him as accountable for his statements as all previous presidents have been. He is now saying the news about Ivanka's emails is "fake news". How come the Hillary emails were not dismissed as "fake news" tRump and his entire family are a disgrace to this country. He is a fake "star" his wife is a fake "model" his "boys" are fake "businessmen" his daughter/wife is a fake "advisor" What can she advise him on, with absolutely no experience in government? I think all the Botox she has pumped into her chipmunk cheeks has seeped into her tiny brain. In just the short time he has been in office, the damage might be irreparable. It will take YEARS to right this ship. The gop will let a democratic president fix this mess, just as President Obama was saddled with Dubya's mess. Time to correct the orange blimp right in real time whenever he utters his lies.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Cuts to the core of the problem, every time.

"Clinton also offered a stinging rebuke of the Republican party’s base, saying it had become enthralled by the president’s “insults and attacks and entertainment and spectacle”."

Just like the gladiator ring in Roman time. Dehumanizing and killing people became a sport.

[The Liberal Lion]

5. She ought to be doing more

She is the true President

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Bread and Circuses.

[watoos]

7. It's not a problem of the media needing to be smarter,

the corporate controlled M$M is doing exactly what its overlords want, pushing the right wing agenda.

It isn't about making money, that's secondary, the M$M is complicit with the right wing agenda, including CNN and msnbc.

[KPN]

10. Not so sure about that. To an extent you are right about it's not just Murdoch.

But Murdoch is absolutely ideologically driven — or at least that is my belief. It is not just about money/profit for him. CNN and MSNBC are more open to “both sides-ism”. They are driven simply by the money, but feel like they ought to at least appear somewhat responsible. It eases their (board members’, executives’, principal stockholders’) collective conscience. A pathetically weak attempt to appear innocent while all the while being complicit in what very well could result in WWIII and perhaps even the demise of mankind.

[elmac]

8. its not about being smarter, its about being less profit driven

they are just being guided by the corporate rule book.

[KPN]

19. This ....

aside from Faux News. They are ideologues as well as money hogs.

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. Yes well, she would never go there

She and her husband come from the neo-liberal school of economics. Never blame the marketplace. Its easier to just throw out ambiguous terms like "smarter".

[Buzz cook]

9. Since the end of the farness doctrine

The media has been the main reason the US has been failing and falling for the right wing con.

Clinton Rules journalism, the War on Gore, Iraq war boosterism, Swift Boating, Buttery Males, and billions in free advertising for Trump.
All most every great failure can be traced to the failure of the media to do its job.

Its not that the media didn't fuck up before the fairness doctrine was over turned, it just got lots worse.

[CrispyQ]

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

I saw that on a bumper sticker.

The media is out for ratings & that's all. They want every race to be a horse race. They love when Trump spews shit. They love conflict & don't care if their coverage divides us.

[Grasswire2]

12. I don't know what media most of you are watching.

Every day, multiple times, I see hosts and guests calling Trump a LIAR and reporting with disgust and trepidation on his machinations.

I see reporters like the AP's Jonathan Lemire who stood in front of Vladimir Putin and asked him THE questions specifically intended to get him on the record that he favored Trump in the election (Lemire says that Putin was staring him down; Putin kills journos) and asking Trump about Russia's interference in the election. Lemire is a young man with a family. Journos get killed by autocrats.

Lemire is one example.

The freedom of on-air hosts and guests on MSNBC to criticize Trumpco is spot on. Good guests, too. Thoughtful, informed, with only a few ringers.

I suggest that you tune in to Nicolle Wallace at 4 est, or Ari Melber at 6 est, or Brian Williams for a calm and thoughtful review of the day's news in this presidency at 11 est. Brian brings us the top print journos.

Remember. The reporters are standing between the people and tyranny and are the only check we currently have until January. Best to support and encourage them. They are under existential attack in the WH.

[oberliner]

16. She specifically called out 60 Minutes

That's where the "get smarter" quote comes from. Here's the full context:

The former Democratic presidential nominee specifically called out CBS 60 Minutes over its interview with the Trump last month for not asking the president about a major New York Times investigation into alleged tax dodging in his family real estate empire.

“I have a high regard for 60 Minutes and for Lesley Stahl who’s a terrific journalist,” Clinton said, before noting there was “not a single question” about the New York Times story.

“So at some point, the press has to get smarter because that’s basically how most voters get their information,” she said, adding that often the quest for “balance” resulted in facts being relegated in favour of opinion.

[Grasswire2]

22. well, yeah......network news has been more toothless.

True dat.

[Grasswire2]

23. the problem then, is using the blanket term "THE MEDIA"

without regard for the distinctions between all the categories.

[oberliner]

29. That was the headline writer for "The Guardian" who presented it that way

It's not what she actually said.

[Power 2 the People]

25. Lesley Stahl is a joke and a journalistic hack.

She refused to report she personally witnessed Reagan in the throws of dementia in 1986. That revelation would have confirmed the suspicion that Reagan was just a front-man for devious Republican handlers. He would have been forced to step down and we wouldn't have the "Saint Ronny" myth we have today.

Immediately after the Republican primary she interviewed Drumpf and didn't report that he knew he was lying about the press but did it to discredit bad stories about him. This was well before the general election and could have made a huge difference if reported by the most watched television show in America,60 Minutes.

Stahl said in an interview with PBS News' Judy Woodruff that Trump told her he keeps hammering the press so that when they write negative stories no one will believe them.

LESLEY STAHL: It's just me, my boss, and him -- he has a huge office -- and he's attacking the press. There were no cameras, there was nothing going on and I said, 'That is getting tired, why are you doing it? You're doing it over and over and it's boring. It's time to end that, you've won the nomination. And why do you keep hammering at this?'

And he said: 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.'

Now she doesn't ask him about the NY Times story PROVING HE IS A FRAUD AND A LIAR??

Obviously she loves Washington dinner parties and her social status more than her country. Thank you Hillary for pointing this out.

[oberliner]

14. It's one hell of an interview

I recommend folks read the whole thing.

[certainot]

15. every time he or his supporters say something untrue respond with

"that's what limbaugh says, but....."

connect him directly to the talk radio problem, to what birthed the orange asshole

[Maxheader]

17. Well said..

The rightwinger hillbillys are too stupid to understand the issues of today...
Vaudevillian entertainment is all they know...

[iluvtennis]

18. Hillary is correct. The media does need to clean up their act with respect to Trump.

They insist on treating him like a rock star, every where he goes, they have to follow him, and put him on TV.

Just last week for his trip to California, the camera followed his plane all down the taxi way, the opening of the plane doors, watiing for him to descend the steps - all live and in real time/

And for what, just to see him spew venom and lies.

This is what he wants.

Media needs to stop the 24/7 coverage -- him not being on TV or the radio airways will eat him alive.

Her remarks – part of a series of interviews with leading political figures about the rise of populism, particularly on the right, in Europe and the Americas – took place before the CNN journalist Jim Acosta was temporarily stripped of his White House security pass.

Clinton said Trump was “quite a student of authoritarian regimes and how they manipulate and control people”.

“He is someone who craves dominance over any situation he finds himself in. He craves adulation, flattery, all of which fit the profile of leaders we can remember from the past.”

Clinton pointed to research into fascism by the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. She said the analysis had shown “various populist, rightwing, fascist, authoritarian movements and leaders destroy a common base of fact and evidence, creating an ‘alternative reality’.”

“One of the ways you do that is by consistently attacking the press. Now [Trump] doesn’t attack Fox News, because they’re like a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump and the Republican party now. So he attacks the press and the broadcast media that raise questions about him, that don’t give him fidelity and loyalty.”

She added: “That he was on the front page of the New York Times is more important to him that any substance because he thinks he can defeat substance, which he has proven successful in doing.”

[KPN]

20. Good article. Good interview. At the same time,

I think Hillary missed the mark by not pointing out the reason(s) begins the M$M’s lack of “smartness”. It’s actually not so much a lack of smartness as it is an appetite for money. It’s about money and corporate profits.

[dawn frenzy adams]

21. It couldn't have been done.

Whether it was the stolen elections of 2000 & 2004, the lies that started the Iraq War, the lies that crashed the economy in 2007, to the election of Donald Trump, none of it would have been possible without the complicity of the M$M.

[Laffy Kat]

26. No, all US media has to do is THEIR JOB. nt

[Rizen]

28. Even the more balanced media NOT Fox has a bias for sensationalism

Trump got tons of publicity by acting like a toddler. Plus it's much easier to fear monger than explain nuances, responsibility and boring and scientific facts. Ratings favor Republicans.