The media fawned over Trump's airstrikes in Syria. Are we really doing this again?
Margaret Sullivan
The Washington Post
April 10, 2017 10:04 AM
The cruise missiles struck, and many in the mainstream media fawned.
"I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night," declared Fareed Zakaria on CNN, after the firing of 59 missiles at a Syrian military airfield late Thursday night. (His words sounded familiar, since CNN's Van Jones made a nearly identical pronouncement after Trump's first address to Congress.)
"On Syria attack, Trump's heart came first," read a New York Times headline. "President Trump has done the right thing and I salute him for it," wrote the Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens - a frequent Trump critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist. He added: "Now destroy the Assad regime for good."
Brian Williams, on MSNBC, seemed mesmerized by the images of the strikes provided by the Pentagon. He used the word "beautiful" three times and alluded to a Leonard Cohen lyric — "I am guided by the beauty of our weapons" — without apparent irony.
More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-trump-syria-airstrikes-media-praise-20170410-story.html
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MARCH 1 2017 1:42 AM
The Night Cable Pundits Fell Over Themselves to Declare Trump “Presidential”
By Will Oremus
. . .
On Tuesday night, Donald Trump managed to speak for an entire hour without sounding like an unhinged demagogue. For that, he was hailed by TV pundits across the spectrum who acted as though he’d just singlehandedly defeated ISIS and restored the fortunes of the American middle class, instead of simply reading from a script that said he would do those things.
Why? Because it’s in their nature, and the nature of the form, to get caught up in the moment—and to elevate perception over reality.
“He became president of the United States in that moment—period,” CNN’s Van Jones raved, referring to the set piece in which Trump crassly turned an American sailor’s death in a botched military raid into an occasion for a thunderous, patriotic ovation. Never mind that just hours earlier, Trump had passed the buck for that same raid to his predecessor and laid the sailor’s death at the feet of his generals. The important thing, in the minds of the sort of people who make a living on cable news, was that Trump looked presidential. “That was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics,” Jones added, throwing in the word “period” again for good measure. And this was the liberal activist on CNN’s panel.
Jones’ lavish praise of the president set the tone for his colleagues’ commentary. Reaganite troll Jeffrey Lord said that Trump “walked in as the winner of a controversial election” and “walked out as the president.” Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum called it “a healing moment for everybody.” Even David Axelrod, the Democratic operative who orchestrated Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, said “you’d have to be dead not to appreciate the moment, the change we just saw.” (CNN was not alone in this: NBC’s analysts were all aglow in the wake of Trump’s speech, and Fox News’ personalities were practically doing backflips around the studio.) Keep in mind this was all on a night in which Trump—fine, without raising his voice—detailed grotesque plans to create an office dedicated exclusively to “victims of immigration crime.”
More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-trump-syria-airstrikes-media-praise-20170410-story.html
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03/01/2016 05:35 am ET | Updated Mar 01, 2016
CBS Chief Les Moonves Says Trump’s ‘Damn Good’ For Business
“Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”
By Nick Visser
There’s a reason why Donald Trump gets more minutes during almost every debate or can seemingly call into “The Late Show“ or “The View“ whenever he has a racist remark and expect the media to do whatever he likes. According to the head of CBS, the foul-mouthed presidential candidate is “damn good” for the network and the “money’s rolling in” thanks to his antics.
Les Moonves, executive chairman and CEO of CBS, made the comments during a speech at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us,” he said at the event. “Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”
The outlet notes Moonves said ad sales this season have been particularly strong, partly due to an election cycle rapt with attacks and “bomb throwing” that keeps Americans interested.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/les-moonves-donald-trump_us_56d52ce8e4b03260bf780275
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How the Media Is Fueling Donald Trump’s Campaign
by PERRY BACON JR.
JUL 22 2015, 7:34 AM ET
Donald Trump’s surge in the Republican primary is being helped by an unlikely ally: the press.
With 16 Republican candidates running for president, most contenders are struggling to get media coverage, which helps make them better-known to voters and spread their message. That hasn't been a problem for Trump.
Data provided by Google to the journalism site FiveThirtyEight found that 46 percent of the media coverage over the last month about the GOP candidates was about Trump, as measured by articles that appeared in Google News. That's compared to 13 percent of articles about Jeb Bush, who got the second-most attention.
Trump, in a period from June 14 to July 12, received more coverage than the combined total of Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, generally considered the three leading GOP candidates, according to Google.
More:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/how-media-fueling-donald-trumps-campaign-n395821
ETC.
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