One of the first mistakes by the media...

[kentuck]

...was to overlook the "divisive" language of Donald J Trump.

Whether just an oversight or mere incompetence, I believe the divisive language should have been challenged from the beginning.

Whether it was intentional or just his natural inclination, he attempted to divide the country between "his" people and the "enemy", from the start.

He should have been deeply criticized and called out for that language when it happened. It should never have been permitted to fester and to grow as it did.

It should have been made clear to him and all of America that the president does not represent just the portion that supports him, he is the president of all the people. It can be no other way.

In hindsight, that was a major blunder of the media, for not calling it out.

[malaise]

1. Never forget the words of the then CBS boss,Leslie Moonves

https://fortune.com/2016/03/01/les-moonves-cbs-trump/


It’s still up for debate whether or not the media “created” Donald Trump—or, at least, the GOP presidential frontrunner version of him—but there is no doubt the billionaire reality TV star turned politician has meant big ratings — and income — for networks.

Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS (CBS), admitted as much on Monday. “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” Moonves said at a Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

-------------------
Everything cannot be for profit

[Dustlawyer]

35. Now imagine a major advertiser like BP or McDonalds telling Moonface they don't want certain

stories reported or reported with a particular slant. What will his reaction be?

That is the problem.

[malaise]

38. Excellent point although he was forced out - they all work for corporate interests and profits

Happy Holidays Dustlawyer - may 2021 spare us the hurricanes

[Dustlawyer]

39. Yes, no more hurricanes for a while!

Got hit by Laura and Delta this year. Hope you came out ok!

[ananda]

2. It wasn't a blunder.

The msm is corporate fascist all the way.

[kentuck]

3. There is a lot of media....

...including those like DU.

[ananda]

42. Shoulda said MSM.. which most people watch and read.

Except us smart ones here.

[overleft]

10. I agree with this statement. The MSM is part of the problem.

Who owns theses media outlets? What is their agenda?

[Irish_Dem]

47. If I were Putin I would have bought off the msm too. nt

[gab13by13]

4. The respectable MSM is gone,

They will concentrate on spending during Biden's presidency, just like clock work. Republicans spend when they are in power to make them look good, but when Democrats take power it's all about austerity to denigrate the Democrats. It's already started. We can't afford what Biden has in mind. Think of our grandkids.

It gets old Kentuck, the MSM works for Republicans, it keeps their narratives on the front page.

I'm not talking about internet media like DU, mainly talking about cable news and major newspapers.

[kentuck]

5. It has always been the established elite...

....against the Democrats and the People. Nothing has been gained without a struggle.

[Tommymac]

16. The MSM works Globally for the 1%. Never forget that fact.

Learn to find and vet your own sources on the internets.

At least 3, hopefully with different but SANE viewpoints.

Learn the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

This is why the elite wants to make schooling simply about tests and not about how to think.

The 99% has the power until we let them take it away. For 40 years We have let the 1% control the message.

The MSM is not going to change - WE must change.

[True Dough]

6. I find it futile to blame "the media" anymore

Other than to resent right-wing talk radio, Fox News, and, even worse, NewsMax and OANN, for parroting and praising the Orange turd and his hate-filled agenda.

But if you look at CNN, for example, they spent almost the entire past four years criticizing Trump. I mean, seriously, it was practically non-stop Trump is sowing division, Trump is creating chaos, day and night. As much as I absolutely detest the fucker, I had to turn the channel on occasion because I was sooooo sick of hearing about his antics.

Twenty-five more days...

[kentuck]

7. I don't think it is so much as "blaming"...

...as understanding where we went off the tracks?

[True Dough]

9. I think we have to accept the sad reality

that almost half of Americans are willing to support an elitist, a racist, and a misogynist. That's the understanding that many of us have reached.

[reACTIONary]

32. Exactly. nt.

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. Bottom line, they have never treated both parties the same

[thucythucy]

11. Like institutional racism, there is so much else in our society that favors affluent white men.

Everyone who was anyone in publishing knew Trump didn't write The Art of the Deal--it was ghost written from first to last page. It's widely known now the man is practically illiterate. So his initial fame as a "best selling author" was entirely bogus.

Similarly, "The Apprentice" was a con from beginning to end. Scripted and heavily edited to give the appearance that Trump was some kind of business genius, everyone involved in that show had to know Trump's image was phony.

It goes on from there. The "media"--that portion of networks and corporate owned press--let so much pass from the get-go that would have disqualified any woman candidate, any person of color, and no doubt any progressive. Howard Dean's candidacy was ended because of one three second outburst into a microphone. John Kerry--a decorated war veteran--was skewered for "I was for it before I was against it" while Trump was able to get away with dozens of "flip flops" that would have doomed any Democrat.

You would think those in the media would have caught on when he started labelling them "the enemy of the people." I'd like to think that in a former time this would have prompted at the very least a full-court critical press, and perhaps even a boycott of Trump pressers (particularly since his "press conferences" were little more than self-aggrandizing campaign events).

The media consolidation that began in the Reagan era, together with changes in the marketplace (especially the internet) have gutted most independent media. Those outlets that remain--The NY Times, the Washington Post, the NY Daily News--have to compete with less and less resources for a dwindling population of functionally literate consumers. In addition, the end of the Fairness Doctrine (again under Reagan) has led to the proliferation of hate radio--possibly the single most dangerous development in our media landscape.

The days when a network like CBS would stand behind a Dan Rather or a Walter Cronkite as they took on LBJ and Nixon, or the New York Times would stand behind a David Halberstam, let alone a William Shirer or Edward Morrow, are long gone.

Those days won't come back until we wrest control of the mainstream media or some major portion of it from the control of the uber-wealthy.

A return to the tax policies of Eisenhower/JFK would be a start. The fewer billions sloshing around in the pockets of people like the Murdochs the less capital they have to continue to buy up what still passes for independent media.

Otherwise we're going to be stuck in this reality indefinitely.

[uponit7771]

12. K&R, when the media in the US hyper focused on an issue and kept talking about it for weeks Red Don

... and his minions got it and changed a little on kidnapping children from immigrants

[Bettie]

13. It wasn't a "blunder" it was

the plan....well, not so much of a plan as the way they normally do business.

If the media covered both sides impartially, well, there would be a lot fewer elected Republicans.

[NJCher]

29. True

It was and is a strategy.

When I worked in corporate America, people were demoted for such tactics.

[judesedit]

14. The extent of their greed is mind boggling and utterly disgusting

[Whiskeytide]

15. I think the reasons for this are so varied ...

... that’s it is nearly impossible to get a bead on who might be to blame and why.

Some MSM outlets and personalities are very professional and have noted his divisive tone since day one. I think some didn’t take it seriously and considered him a joke for too long. Some didn’t feel it was their place to make judgments. Some were sure the people were too smart to fall for such childish tactics. Some liked it because it got them ratings. Some liked it because they believed in the division themselves.

But the fact is that our system was not prepared for someone who played outside the rules. It’s that simple. It’s like the “playing chess with a pigeon” scenario. Except that afterwards some of the chess commentators say the pigeon really did win. Some say the pigeon made a point. Some say the pigeon demonstrates a new style of playing chess. Not enough say it’s a fucking pigeon - don’t let it anywhere near a chess board.

[kentuck]

18. Good points!

I do not believe they understood, as a whole, the damage that the divisive language would cause as it grew and grew over time. It was a game they were not accustomed to playing, I would agree.

But, the divisive language continues even today. Actually, it is at its peak. It has caused great harm to the Republic.

[NJCher]

31. +1000

Eom

[mdbl]

17. We generalize too much with the term "the media"

News media just reports what is said and done. They don't give their opinion, or shouldn't be giving it anyway. Editorial programs can say whatever they want and most of them do. The problem is people don't know the difference between the programming anymore so they just tune in to the opinion portions without learning the facts. Anyone that didn't recognize the divisive language of Donald Trump since before 2015 is beyond convincing. They are a lost cause already. Only when they are poor and starving, evicted, or dying of COVID19 do they start to change their minds but even then will never admit their own ignorance. That is what we are dealing with.

[kentuck]

20. I think the job of the "media" is also to inform and to educate.

Not just to report. They need to put stories into historical context, in my opinion.

[mdbl]

23. That is still the job of an editorial

[reACTIONary]

34. +100 nt

[reACTIONary]

33. +100 nt

[BannonsLiver]

46. The OP and others want cheerleaders who put their thumb down on their side of the scale.

My experience is that in these threads very few if any know fuck all about what is the role of journalists both in their own communities and nationally.

[beachbumbob]

19. why do you say "mistakes"? There was NO mistake

[kentuck]

22. Perhaps "tragedy" is a better term?

Because it was an error we are all paying for.

[plimsoll]

21. This isn't new to Trump.

It’s been the GOP methodology since at least 1994 and Gingrich’s “contract for America.” The us vs. them rhetoric, the delegitimizing rhetoric. All trump really added was the more open and public eliminationist rhetoric. That was obviously the destination from 1994 on. Once you decide that your political opposition is not legitimate it’s a short walk to saying they can be ignored and eventually removed.

[Cosmocat]

27. Just posted the same ...

nm

[Sunsky]

24. Indeed

It culminated with this President being allowed to get away with murder (literally) then run for reelection and instead of being shunned, he was given more than enough airtime to spew his propaganda and divisive rhetoric.

[Roy Rolling]

25. "The Media"

That’s what propagandists want us to believe—some amorphous, all-powerful entity is now the enemy.

There’s a gigantic difference between OAN and MSNBC, they want you to believe there isn’t.

Bothside-ism at work, meant to continue the propaganda campaign. Don’t do it.

[Cosmocat]

26. its just the standard way they normalize right wing framing on steroids

LONG before this POS came down the escalator they had normalized right wingers slandering the every loving shit out of of while playing the victim of butthurtness.

Just a natural progression to have a full on demagogue take it to the next level.

[doc03]

28. I think the legitimate media covered his divisive language but white male

voters in particular thought he sounded tough I heard " He tells it like it is". Of course Fox and other right wing
outlets played up that "Telling it like it is" for them. A buddy of mine calls it bar room talk. Go to any bar and you
will hear some drunk loud mouth spewing the same stuff.

[yellowdogintexas]

41. he made them feel like they were important

like they mattered.
Of course they fell for it because they had been seething like a volcano believing they were being passed over.

For over 100 years, they had someone to look down on and feel superior. When civil rights and opportunities were extended to those people they feared and resented the "other" Every single bit of fear and anger that had been kept alive after the Civil War has risen to the top and he made them feel they had power they thought they had lost

[Laura PourMeADrink]

30. Complicit, but IMHO, not the root cause.

[CBHagman]

36. And though reporters did cover Trump's very public decades-long record of racism...

...the fact that Trump had been made a celebrity on several levels thanks both to media coverage and reality TV shows that racism wasn't a deal-breaker. Money, maleness, and making a name for nothing other than flashiness and fame seem to have carried him through.

And to this day the media is still to a large degree struggling over its coverage of him.

[kentuck]

37. I think they are still struggling ...

I do not believe most of them want the country, or the democracy, destroyed. It gives them a huge advantage in the "free market" system.

[uponit7771]

45. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾 Nearly every conversation I have with a MAZI the fact Red Don is a failed

.. business man has to be covered cause so many portrayed him as a success

[seta1950]

40. The media have made a lot of mistakes imho

They never confronted him with his blatant lies, the kept calling it “ misspoke” about all his lies.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

43. The divisive language was one of the things that made their stories about tRump so popular.

The language was appalling for some and gratifying for others. Either way, it made for great ratings as both sides of the political divide read the stories.

[marieo1]

44. Total agreement

I have always said this - all the media cares about are profits - they are just like DJT. They could care less is it destroys our country. I watch a little bit of the news just to know what is going on but I stop watching it non-stop. IF it is bad, they love broadcasting it to get all of us stirred up...they have posted his lies and treat them like facts!!!

[flying-skeleton]

48. WRONG

It wasn't the "overlook the divisive language of Donald J Trump" that was the problem. It was "PROFITS ABOVE MORALITY" that was the problem !!!