In 2019, The Media Has to Do Better in Calling Out Trump's Shit [View all]

[babylonsister]

In 2019, The Media Has to Do Better in Calling Out Trump's Shit
Being objective doesn't mean letting liars lie.
By Dan Sinker
Jan 5, 2019


In the light of a brand new year, I have one simple wish: Big news organizations need to do a better job treating the President like the liar that he is.

That he’s a liar isn’t a revelation, I know. News organizations have done an amazing job at tracking his lies (the Washington Post clocks him at 7,645 (!!!) since he took office, though it’s probably higher since this was published), at fact checking his lies (Politifact ranks only 5 percent of his statements as true), at debating whether they should call them lies (“intent is key” decided NPR), and at inventing ranking systems to describe the volume of his lies (meet the “bottomless Pinnochio”). That’s all good stuff.

But then there’s stuff like the New York Times' headline:
No Chaos in White House, Trump Says, 'Only Great Energy.'

(There is, of course, a lot of chaos in the White House)

And Politico's:
'I don't believe it': Trump dismisses grim government report on climate change.

(He should believe it—it’s true.)

Or the Associated Press's:
The Latest: White House says court filings show nothing new.

(This court filing literally named the president as “Individual-1” in the Stormy Daniels payoff.)

Sure, “Jackhole McWhiteguy Says Some Bullshit” is headline construction 101, but this particular jackhole is 7,000 lies and two years deep in a four-year presidency, and simply foregrounding what he says as if that’s enough is undermining otherwise good work.

“Jackhole McWhiteguy Says Some Bullshit”

I know there’s a built-in deference for the office, but when the holder of this particular office sends a series of unhinged tweets spouting laughably untrue fuckery, or takes questions outside Marine One and just spouts nonsense, or goes on a half-truth ramblefest at a cabinet meeting and the initial headlines and tweets that get sent out more often than not just follow traditionally “Jackhole Says” structure? Well, everyone gets screwed over. Especially the reporters doing good work because they get jackholes like me yelling at them on Twitter.

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https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a25741262/media-trump-lies-2019/?utm_campaign=socialflowFBESQ&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0Pd8ZfwqrENZT2rSOqRwgffSNv_MmwYK-9YJ3YGZgS5EYwhiU4PvHdpr0