This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareI was talking to an acquaintance recently about Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign.He liked the Massachusetts Democrat’s detailed policies and was impressed with her recent CNN town hall presentation.But he couldn’t back the senator because she doesn’t really stand a chance in the 2020 contest. Why not, I asked.He answered me with a rueful shrug, accompanied by one word: “Pocahontas.”That, of course, is the nickname President Trump has tagged Warren with — a reference to her having claimed Native American ancestry,...…This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareI was talking to an acquaintance recently about Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign.He liked the Massachusetts Democrat’s detailed policies and was impressed with her recent CNN town hall presentation.But he couldn’t back the senator because she doesn’t really stand a chance in the 2020 contest. Why not, I asked.He answered me with a rueful shrug, accompanied by one word: “Pocahontas.”That, of course, is the nickname President Trump has tagged Warren with — a reference to her having claimed Native American ancestry,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIt’s becoming clear that journalists never fully reckoned with the mistakes of 2016 campaign coverage. We know this because they seem poised to repeat them.As you may recall, the news media — from Fox News to the New York Times and plenty of others across the political spectrum — managed to make the relative molehill of Hillary Clinton’s dicey email practices into a daily obsession, roughly equal to the mountain of Donald Trump’s financial and personal transgressions.Well, don’t look now but this is happening again before...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIt’s becoming clear that journalists never fully reckoned with the mistakes of 2016 campaign coverage. We know this because they seem poised to repeat them.As you may recall, the news media — from Fox News to the New York Times and plenty of others across the political spectrum — managed to make the relative molehill of Hillary Clinton’s dicey email practices into a daily obsession, roughly equal to the mountain of Donald Trump’s financial and personal transgressions.Well, don’t look now but this is happening again before...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareComparing the number of deaths from covid-19 to those caused by car crashes never made any sense. But the gimmick caught on anyway.“We don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “It’s a risk we accept so we can move about.” President Trump while deploying his trademark exaggeration, insisting that car-related deaths are “far greater than any numbers we’re talking about.”In fact, cars kill about 40,000 people a year. Virus-related deaths hit 70,000...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareComparing the number of deaths from covid-19 to those caused by car crashes never made any sense. But the gimmick caught on anyway.“We don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “It’s a risk we accept so we can move about.” President Trump while deploying his trademark exaggeration, insisting that car-related deaths are “far greater than any numbers we’re talking about.”In fact, cars kill about 40,000 people a year. Virus-related deaths hit 70,000...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareListen to President Trump long enough, and, despite his penchant for falsehood, you’ll eventually hear some unvarnished truth.That happened Thursday when he stated his intentions clearly in an interview with Fox Business Network. He doesn’t want to approve billions in emergency funding for the cash-strapped and struggling U.S. Postal Service for a simple reason: to prevent Democrats from expanding mail-in voting during the pandemic.His words were stark: “Now, they need that money in order to have the Post Office work, so...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareListen to President Trump long enough, and, despite his penchant for falsehood, you’ll eventually hear some unvarnished truth.That happened Thursday when he stated his intentions clearly in an interview with Fox Business Network. He doesn’t want to approve billions in emergency funding for the cash-strapped and struggling U.S. Postal Service for a simple reason: to prevent Democrats from expanding mail-in voting during the pandemic.His words were stark: “Now, they need that money in order to have the Post Office work, so...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHow did the news media mess up in the 100 days leading up to the 2016 presidential election? Let me count the ways.Journalists relied too much on what opinion polls were saying and often presented a skewed interpretation of their meaning. That fed the sense that Hillary Clinton would be the inevitable winner.They vastly overplayed the Clinton email story, particularly the “reopened investigation” aspect in October. Given Donald Trump’s background and behavior, the emphasis was astonishingly out of whack with reality.News...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHow did the news media mess up in the 100 days leading up to the 2016 presidential election? Let me count the ways.Journalists relied too much on what opinion polls were saying and often presented a skewed interpretation of their meaning. That fed the sense that Hillary Clinton would be the inevitable winner.They vastly overplayed the Clinton email story, particularly the “reopened investigation” aspect in October. Given Donald Trump’s background and behavior, the emphasis was astonishingly out of whack with reality.News...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThere are those who argue that President Trump’s endless disparagement of the news media is harmless — perhaps a little extreme at times, but mostly just a lot of talk.Sure, he throws around terms such as “enemy of the people,” claims that accurate reporting unflattering to him is “fake news” and gleefully insults individual reporters — especially women of color. True, he likes to threaten to use the powers of his office to interfere with the business concerns of media companies he does not favor or to punish their...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThere are those who argue that President Trump’s endless disparagement of the news media is harmless — perhaps a little extreme at times, but mostly just a lot of talk.Sure, he throws around terms such as “enemy of the people,” claims that accurate reporting unflattering to him is “fake news” and gleefully insults individual reporters — especially women of color. True, he likes to threaten to use the powers of his office to interfere with the business concerns of media companies he does not favor or to punish their...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWhen I was a young reporter, I had an editor who was a stickler for getting people’s middle initials correct in news stories.“If you get the name wrong, there’s no reason for anyone to trust anything else you write,” he’d say.An extreme position? Maybe, but it is journalistic bedrock that getting names right really matters.Which is why it was so instructive — if utterly predictable — to watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s handling of Kamala Harris’s slightly challenging first name on his prime-time show Tuesday, hours...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWhen I was a young reporter, I had an editor who was a stickler for getting people’s middle initials correct in news stories.“If you get the name wrong, there’s no reason for anyone to trust anything else you write,” he’d say.An extreme position? Maybe, but it is journalistic bedrock that getting names right really matters.Which is why it was so instructive — if utterly predictable — to watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s handling of Kamala Harris’s slightly challenging first name on his prime-time show Tuesday, hours...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareTraditional journalism is under siege, NBC News chief Andy Lack wrote this week: President Trump continues to “put the bully in bully pulpit,” and the coronavirus crisis has taken a toll.“But we’re winning,” proclaimed the headline of Lack’s , which argues that news organizations, because they are still able to tell citizens the truth of what’s going on in the country, are victorious.I wish I could agree.Even if you get past the objectionable notions of “winning” and “losing,” I very much doubt that history will judge...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareTraditional journalism is under siege, NBC News chief Andy Lack wrote this week: President Trump continues to “put the bully in bully pulpit,” and the coronavirus crisis has taken a toll.“But we’re winning,” proclaimed the headline of Lack’s , which argues that news organizations, because they are still able to tell citizens the truth of what’s going on in the country, are victorious.I wish I could agree.Even if you get past the objectionable notions of “winning” and “losing,” I very much doubt that history will judge...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareEverybody’s a media critic these days — and Barack Obama is an astute one. But for those who remember certain aspects of his presidency, he’s got a bit of a credibility problem.He’s certainly right when he frets that America is being torn apart by its dysfunctional media system, as he explained in to promote . “I come out of this book very worried about the degree to which we do not have a common baseline of fact and a common story,” he said.“We don’t have a Walter Cronkite describing the tragedy of Kennedy’s...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareEverybody’s a media critic these days — and Barack Obama is an astute one. But for those who remember certain aspects of his presidency, he’s got a bit of a credibility problem.He’s certainly right when he frets that America is being torn apart by its dysfunctional media system, as he explained in to promote . “I come out of this book very worried about the degree to which we do not have a common baseline of fact and a common story,” he said.“We don’t have a Walter Cronkite describing the tragedy of Kennedy’s...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWith the country in turmoil over racial injustice, a public health crisis and devastating job losses, it should be no surprise that journalists are caught up in the tumult.Still, the extent of that upheaval is remarkable.Consider just a slice of what’s happened in recent days:Numerous New York Times journalists publicly denounced their editorial page management for publishing a commentary article by a U.S. senator — headlined “Send In the Troops” — that advocated deploying the military to quell protests in American...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWith the country in turmoil over racial injustice, a public health crisis and devastating job losses, it should be no surprise that journalists are caught up in the tumult.Still, the extent of that upheaval is remarkable.Consider just a slice of what’s happened in recent days:Numerous New York Times journalists publicly denounced their editorial page management for publishing a commentary article by a U.S. senator — headlined “Send In the Troops” — that advocated deploying the military to quell protests in American...WW…