Dave Farber
2018-06-12 17:38:05 UTC
Date: June 12, 2018 at 10:09:39 PDT
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Trump spectacle is overshadowing the more urgent scandals of this administration
The Trump spectacle is overshadowing the more urgent scandals of this administration
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Jun 12 2018
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-spectacle-is-overshadowing-the-more-urgent-scandals-of-this-administration/2018/06/12/62c800d8-6d81-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html>
Breaking news: President Trump tweeted. Heâs feuding with a foreign leader â or a football team. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating the administration.
In todayâs media environment, these âbreakingâ political news alerts are nearly constant. They dominate cable news and serve primarily to agitate rather than inform. Though the tendency to focus on spectacle over substance is not a new media phenomenon, it has noticeably worsened under the influence of a president who has devoted his public life to making a spectacle of himself. And as recent events have shown, it is leaving little to no oxygen for important issues that have real consequences on the American peopleâs lives.
Perhaps the most brazen example is the mediaâs neglect of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Last month, a new Harvard study estimated that 4,645 deaths can be linked to the storm and its immediate aftermath, a toll far higher than the official estimate of 64. If accurate, thatâs more than the number of Americans killed on 9/11 or during the Iraq War. Yet on the day it was released, the study was treated as an afterthoughton cable news, which instead dedicated hours to the controversy over Trump-supporting actress Roseanne Barrâs racist tweets. Worse, as James Downie wrote in The Post, âOn the major Sunday talk shows â the purest distillation of what the media and political establishments consider worth discussing â not once was Puerto Rico mentioned. That is a disgrace.â
This malpractice is part of a broader problem of media, led by the cable networks, failing to pay attention to the lived experiences and struggles of millions of Americans. On occasion, stories such as the recent wave of teacher protests in red states, including West Virginia and Oklahoma, manage to break through the noise, but they are the exceptions. Meanwhile, the ongoing assault on organized labor and workersâ rights, rising health insurance premiums resulting from Republican sabotage and the far-reaching effects of climate change barely register in the overall coverage. The situation has gotten so bad, some Democrats have actually stopped trying to spread their message through cable news. âItâs impossible,â one Senate aide told the Daily Beast, âunless you want to talk about Russia.â
Indeed, more than a year into the special counselâs inquiry, the Trump-Russia story continues to receive a disproportionate amount of the mediaâs attention. There is no question that several actual developments in the investigation have been newsworthy. But the same cannot be said of the unsubstantiated rumors and wild speculation that receive breathless coverage day after day, adding nothing to the countryâs knowledge and drowning out stories that matter. During a six-week stretch in 2017, for example, the Intercept found that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow âcovered Russia not just more than any other issue, but more than every other issue combined.â
Despite these shortcomings, some in the media are making contributions to the public debate. For instance, MSNBC host Chris Hayesâs recent coverage of the impact of Trumpâs immigration policies has been invaluable, offering a powerful example of what cable news in the Trump era can be. (Disclosure: Hayes is a former Washington editor and current editor at large for the Nation.) Hayes has also made a concerted effort to get out of the media bubble, hosting town halls with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in such places as McDowell County, W.Va., and Kenosha, Wis., and forums on gun violence and racism in Chicago and Philadelphia.
[snip]
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-------------------------------------------Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Trump spectacle is overshadowing the more urgent scandals of this administration
The Trump spectacle is overshadowing the more urgent scandals of this administration
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Jun 12 2018
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-spectacle-is-overshadowing-the-more-urgent-scandals-of-this-administration/2018/06/12/62c800d8-6d81-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html>
Breaking news: President Trump tweeted. Heâs feuding with a foreign leader â or a football team. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating the administration.
In todayâs media environment, these âbreakingâ political news alerts are nearly constant. They dominate cable news and serve primarily to agitate rather than inform. Though the tendency to focus on spectacle over substance is not a new media phenomenon, it has noticeably worsened under the influence of a president who has devoted his public life to making a spectacle of himself. And as recent events have shown, it is leaving little to no oxygen for important issues that have real consequences on the American peopleâs lives.
Perhaps the most brazen example is the mediaâs neglect of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Last month, a new Harvard study estimated that 4,645 deaths can be linked to the storm and its immediate aftermath, a toll far higher than the official estimate of 64. If accurate, thatâs more than the number of Americans killed on 9/11 or during the Iraq War. Yet on the day it was released, the study was treated as an afterthoughton cable news, which instead dedicated hours to the controversy over Trump-supporting actress Roseanne Barrâs racist tweets. Worse, as James Downie wrote in The Post, âOn the major Sunday talk shows â the purest distillation of what the media and political establishments consider worth discussing â not once was Puerto Rico mentioned. That is a disgrace.â
This malpractice is part of a broader problem of media, led by the cable networks, failing to pay attention to the lived experiences and struggles of millions of Americans. On occasion, stories such as the recent wave of teacher protests in red states, including West Virginia and Oklahoma, manage to break through the noise, but they are the exceptions. Meanwhile, the ongoing assault on organized labor and workersâ rights, rising health insurance premiums resulting from Republican sabotage and the far-reaching effects of climate change barely register in the overall coverage. The situation has gotten so bad, some Democrats have actually stopped trying to spread their message through cable news. âItâs impossible,â one Senate aide told the Daily Beast, âunless you want to talk about Russia.â
Indeed, more than a year into the special counselâs inquiry, the Trump-Russia story continues to receive a disproportionate amount of the mediaâs attention. There is no question that several actual developments in the investigation have been newsworthy. But the same cannot be said of the unsubstantiated rumors and wild speculation that receive breathless coverage day after day, adding nothing to the countryâs knowledge and drowning out stories that matter. During a six-week stretch in 2017, for example, the Intercept found that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow âcovered Russia not just more than any other issue, but more than every other issue combined.â
Despite these shortcomings, some in the media are making contributions to the public debate. For instance, MSNBC host Chris Hayesâs recent coverage of the impact of Trumpâs immigration policies has been invaluable, offering a powerful example of what cable news in the Trump era can be. (Disclosure: Hayes is a former Washington editor and current editor at large for the Nation.) Hayes has also made a concerted effort to get out of the media bubble, hosting town halls with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in such places as McDowell County, W.Va., and Kenosha, Wis., and forums on gun violence and racism in Chicago and Philadelphia.
[snip]
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