You probably remember all the fawning news and magazine coverage during Melania Trump’s four graceful years in the White House.The oohs and aahs about a stylish first lady who speaks five languages, an immigrant from Slovenia who crafted a successful career as a super model, how supportive yet carefully candid she is about her controversial husband, how protective she is of her only son. Her investment in and clear fondness for children, especially sick ones both at home and abroad. And her campaign to combat childhood bullying.You remember a good deal of that sympathetic coverage, don’t...…You probably remember all the fawning news and magazine coverage during Melania Trump’s four graceful years in the White House.The oohs and aahs about a stylish first lady who speaks five languages, an immigrant from Slovenia who crafted a successful career as a super model, how supportive yet carefully candid she is about her controversial husband, how protective she is of her only son. Her investment in and clear fondness for children, especially sick ones both at home and abroad. And her campaign to combat childhood bullying.You remember a good deal of that sympathetic coverage, don’t...WW…

You may not see much news coverage on the world’s 100,000 airplane flights that land safely every day. Let one of them crash, however, and you’ll see smoldering wreckage and sobbing relatives for 24 hours.It’s the same in news coverage of U.S. politics. Now for the first time in memory a research team has examined thousands of news interview transcripts and documented what might seem an obvious but very important conclusion: Extreme views and words by far get the most attention, air time and views online.People who speak in moderate tones with reasonable views pretty much get ignored or...…You may not see much news coverage on the world’s 100,000 airplane flights that land safely every day. Let one of them crash, however, and you’ll see smoldering wreckage and sobbing relatives for 24 hours.It’s the same in news coverage of U.S. politics. Now for the first time in memory a research team has examined thousands of news interview transcripts and documented what might seem an obvious but very important conclusion: Extreme views and words by far get the most attention, air time and views online.People who speak in moderate tones with reasonable views pretty much get ignored or...WW…

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One of the most striking – and depressing – realities of our nation’s capital these days is the importance of image and the irrelevance of substance and truth.Appearances have always been somewhat important. Remember that shot of John Edwards coiffing his hair just so in the 2004 campaign? Take the recent so-called Covid relief bill, for example. It had $1,400 in gimmes and extended unemployment benefits as the tempting frosting to keep average folks somewhat happy and muffle complaints. Never mind paying for trillions more; this is a crisis. And we can’t let any crisis go to waste.The...…One of the most striking – and depressing – realities of our nation’s capital these days is the importance of image and the irrelevance of substance and truth.Appearances have always been somewhat important. Remember that shot of John Edwards coiffing his hair just so in the 2004 campaign? Take the recent so-called Covid relief bill, for example. It had $1,400 in gimmes and extended unemployment benefits as the tempting frosting to keep average folks somewhat happy and muffle complaints. Never mind paying for trillions more; this is a crisis. And we can’t let any crisis go to waste.The...WW…