The New York Times slogan is, 'All the News That's Fit to Print', It is on the masthead of that great daily newspaper. It was coined by the then owner, Adolph Ochs, in 1897. And it was meant to imply that the New York Times was an impartial reporter of the news of the day. Some years ago, someone, I don't recall who, changed the verbiage to, 'All the news that fits, we print', meaning to imply the Times was no longer the arbiter of good journalism but but was indeed printing trash.
This past Thursday, October 15th, the two candidates running for president in November, held simultaneous townhall meetings. Donald Trump's meeting was on NBC and CNBC, and was one hour long, after which Trump immediately left the studio. The meeting was confrontational and Trump was non-responsive. He was badgered by the moderator, and was asked a few questions by the people gathered there. For the most part it was just another stump speech.
Joe Biden's meeting was slow and easy going and he attempted to answer the questions put to him by those in the audience. He was asked repeatedly by the moderator about his stance on 'court-packing' until he made the mistake of agreeing to release a statement on the subject before the election. This townhall meeting was on ABC and was to have lasted an hour and a half. Mr. Biden remained in the studio for quite awhile after the time period to take questions from those who didn't get to ask them on camera.
You couldn't have asked for a more diverse hour of television. And the ratings show that the Biden meeting was a rating success - if it were a prime-time pilot, it would have been canceled before the hour was up - but it was a success compared the the Trump show on the other two channels. I don't think anyone learned anything new about the candidate's positions, but it did reinforce the difference in the demeanor of the two men.
The next morning I was anxious to read about those differences and a critique of the two meetings. I was sadly disappointed. Once again, Donald Trump sucked all the oxygen and news print out of the evening. Oh, there was a line or two mentioning Mr. Biden's boring performance, and as he predicted, the biggest takeaway was the news about the 'court-packing promise. The rest of the discussion was about Trump and his erratic, outlandish performance. Nothing was said about his plans for the next four years, perhaps because he has no plans. Once again it was more raw meat for his base.
It wasn't just the news stories about Trump, but the opinion writers also obsessed over him, and not just in the New York Times but every paper I checked, national and international. And I checked several. It is the same as 2016, the vulgar showman gets the media coverage. When will they learn?
In 1947, there was a movie called The Huckster. It starred Sidney Greenstreet and Clark Gable. In it, Gable was a returning war veteran who was job hunting, and applied at a New York advertising firm. He was naive, and trading on his good looks. Greenstreet was the Chairman of the Board who was interviewing Gable at a board meeting. Sitting at the head of a long table lined with other executives, Greenstreet gagged and spit an ugly wad onto the table. Gable was horrified and looked away. Greenstreet said, "What you saw was disgusting, but you will remember it!".
He was right, I probably saw that movie in the early 50's and I remember the scene vividly. There is no such thing as bad press! And the people who know that best are the news media. It is estimated that Trump got two-billion dollars of free advertising in the 2016 campaign. Trump played the media like a cheap violin.
The media hung on every outlandish stunt, every outright lie, every display of sexual predation, and rushed back to make the evening news. They said that Trump exaggerated, prevaricated, mis-spoke. They said he was pedantic, as though that would make it alright. Trump told lie after lie and no one called him out. In the 1800s his behavior would have gotten him ridden out of town on a rail. I guess back then they could tell a charlatan and a snake oil salesman for what he was.
I'm not saying that it was all the fault of the media that Trump rose to the heights that he did. But maybe, just maybe, if he had been exposed for what he is, some of those people would have seen him as a fraud. Perhaps they would have turned away before his siren call drove the onto the rocks. Who knows? Perhaps the would have selected one of the sterling candidates from the slate they were offered; Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Rick Santorum. Anyone of them would have made a better president.
It is not like the people weren't warned, most every high-ranking Republican; John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Mitt Romney, they all called Trump out as dangerous, and bad for the country. But the media kept him front and center, every time there was a rash of bad news, Trump brought out another preposterous antic and off the media went, chasing yet another squirrel.
This is what it has come to. I remember when the news was presented with gravitas, it was more important to get the story right then to get it first. People had faith in their newspapers and media newsmen. Now all of them are competing with the internet to see who can come up with the most disturbing story. It is a race to the bottom, and we are the losers.
Donald Trump calls himself a 'breath of fresh air' in Washington, he says he is draining the swamp. What I smell is the fetid odor of the cesspool that Trump has created. I hope I am not the only one.
I'm just sayin'
