By early morning Wednesday, there was a lot that millions of anxious Americans didn’t know.
Mainly, they didn’t know who the president-elect is. That, in itself, wasn’t unexpected, nor is it terrible.
But after consuming hours of news on Tuesday night, and observing the election results thus far, there are a few things that we can be certain of. Continue reading.
The following article by Simon Maloy was posted on the MediaMatters.org website June 25, 2018:
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was politely asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, VA, this past weekend because the owner was unwilling to serve a senior Trump administration official who defends (among other things) the cruel and inhumane separation of migrant families and internment of immigrant children. This act of protest — the most recent example of a senior Trump official being heckled or protested over the family-separation policy — galvanized certain pundits who voiced a moral objection to what they viewed as a grave injustice: “uncivil” behavior by ordinary people toward perpetrators of a despicable government policy.
This ridiculous crusade was led by the Washington Post editorial board, which published a profoundly silly piece urging all of America to “Let the Trump team eat in peace.” Per the Post: Continue reading “The media’s “civility” game helps Trump”
The following article by Eli Rosenberg an Amar Nadhir was posted on the Washington Post website January 10, 2018:
Peter Hoekstra, the new U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, had an awkward first news conference in The Hague on Jan 10. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)
Peter Hoekstra, the newly minted U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, held his first news conference with the Dutch media at his new residence in The Hague on Wednesday.
It did not go well. Continue reading “Reporters to Trump ambassador: ‘This is the Netherlands — you have to answer questions’”
The following article by Nate Silver was posted on the fivethirtyeight website September 30, 2017:
Whenever President Trump lashes out against someone or something in a way that defies traditional expectations for presidential behavior — for instance, his decision to criticize the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday morning after her city was devastated by Hurricane Maria — it yields a debate about what was behind it. After Trump’s series of attacks on the NFL and its players earlier this month, for example, there were two major theories about what motivated his conduct.
The first theory is that it was a deliberate political tactic — or as a New York Times headline put it, “a calculated attempt to shore up his base.” We often hear theories like this after Trump does or says something controversial or outrageous. His response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August was sometimes explained in this way, for example. “Mr. Trump has always appreciated the emotional pull of questioning bias and fairness, especially with his white working-class base,” the Times wrote, portraying Charlottesville as an issue that drove a wedge between the Trumpian and the Republican establishment.
Continue reading “The Media Needs To Stop Rationalizing President Trump’s Behavior”
The following article by Mark Landler and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website August 22, 2017:
PHOENIX — President Trump, stung by days of criticism that he sowed racial division in the United States after deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Va., accused the news media on Tuesday of misrepresenting what he insisted was his prompt, unequivocal condemnation of bigotry and hatred.
After declaring, “What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America,” Mr. Trump delivered a lengthy, aggrieved defense of his statements after the Aug. 12 violence that left one woman dead and the nation reeling at the images of swastikas in Thomas Jefferson’s hometown. Continue reading “At Rally, Trump Blames Media for Country’s Deepening Divisions”
The following article by Erin M. Kearns, Allison Betus and Anthony Lemieux was posted on the Washington Post website March 13, 2017:
At his first address to a joint session of Congress last month, President Trump reiterated his administration’s focus on “radical Islamic terrorism.” A few weeks earlier, his administration had provided a list of terrorist attacks it claimed were underreported by the news media. The list primarily included attacks by Muslim perpetrators.
The implication was clear: Muslims do more harm than the media want you to believe. Terrorism scholars quickly discredited that suggestion.
How we did our research
When there’s a terrorist attack, the coverage seems to dominate the cycles for hours, days and sometimes weeks. How can it be accurate to claim that the media really underplays or hides terrorism? Fortunately, this is a question that we can investigate through research. Continue reading “Yes, the media do underreport some terrorist attacks. Just not the ones most people think of.”
The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website February 22, 2017:
It’s pretty clear what President Trump is doing by going after the media. He sees someone who is tough on him, with a lower approval rating, and he sets up a contrast. It’s like making yourself look taller by standing next to a short person.
“You have a lower approval rate than Congress,” he needled reporters at last week’s news conference, making clear he had done the math.
Except maybe it’s not really working. Continue reading “President Trump is losing his war with the media”
The following commentary by the Editorial Board of the Star Tribune was posted on their website February 21, 2017:
Amendment 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …
It’s all right there in the first 26 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: the foundation upon which this democracy is built. When President Trump declared the media the “enemy of the American people,” he took on an institution that has been part of the fabric of this country since before its birth. Continue reading “No, Mr. President, we’re not the enemy”
