Let's hold the media accountable for Trump

Let's hold the media accountable for Trump
By Sher Watts Spooner
Sunday May 08, 2016 · 12:00 PM EST


Pundits across America are getting ready to eat their words (sometimes literally, in the case of Dana Milbank of the Washington Post) now that real estate mogul Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. After so many laughingly wrote him off, he’s the only GOP candidate left standing.

All the hand-wringing and facepalming in the world won’t erase why Trump rose to the top of the electoral heap of the Republican Party. He had help, in the form of the nation’s all-too-complacent media, willing to print, air, or repeat online every word that came out of his mouth, or any tweet that came from his fingers.

How often did cable news shows cut away from scheduled programming to show us a live Trump rally? Sometimes even interrupting a speech from another candidate? How often did morning news and Sunday shows allow Trump to literally “phone it in” from Trump Tower or his Mar-a-Lago estate instead of taking the trouble to visit a TV studio in person? Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have practically adopted him. Don’t be surprised if they broadcast live from “Fourth of July with the Trumps.”

Even last summer, when much of the media thought the Trump phenomenon might burn itself out or self-destruct because of his outrageous and incendiary statements, the media were still all Trump, all the time. There have been estimates that Trump received the equivalent of $2 billion in free media attention.

How did we get to this point, and, more important, is there any reason to expect the media to act responsibly now? Odds are we’re in for six more months of Trump chicanery and its constant coverage.

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/8/1523473/-Let-s-hold-the-media-accountable-for-Trump