How Trump hoodwinks the media into grading him on a curve

How Trump hoodwinks the media into grading him on a curve

by Libby Nelson at Vox

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/16/12942374/trump-speech-media

"SNIP.............


And he got away with it. What Trump actually did mattered a lot less than what journalists expected him to do.

Not everyone blindly followed the narrative. The Washington Post wrote that Trump ended "his long history of stoking unfounded doubts about the nation’s first African-American president but also [sought] to falsely blame Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for starting the rumors" (emphasis added). "Falsely blame" was in the headline. So did NPR: "Without apology," its headline read, "Trump now says ‘Obama was born’ in US."

That is an accurate recounting of what happened, without bias — and without even using the charged term "lie." It’s possible!

But too many major media outlets continue to act as if Trump is a normal candidate who will at least try to fulfill the expectations he set for himself. Trump promises to "pivot," and reporters seize on the evidence that he’s actually done that. Trump promises to give a major speech, and so cable news channels air 25 minutes of veterans singing his praises in the assumption that the speech is going to begin any minute.

Expecting Trump will follow through on the expectations his team is setting, the way a normal politician would, is like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football, confident that this time it won’t really be yanked away. He’s changed the game. And some major media outlets haven’t caught up.




.............SNIP"