Kristof: How to cover a charlatan like Trump
If a known con artist peddles a potion that he claims will make people lose 25 pounds and enjoy a better sex life, we don’t just quote the man and a critic; we find ways to signal to readers that he’s a fraud. Why should it be different when the con man runs for president?
Frankly, we should be discomfited that many Americans have absorbed the idea that Hillary Clinton is less honest than Donald Trump, giving Trump an edge in polls of trustworthiness.
Hello? There is no comparison.
…even if Trump seems to be a Teflon candidate, to whom almost nothing sticks, we must still do our jobs. We owe it to our audiences to signal that most of us have never met a national candidate as ill-informed, deceptive or evasive as Trump.
What I suggest isn’t the sharp departure from journalistic custom that some accuse me of. In the early 1950s, journalists were also faced with how to cover a manipulative demagogue — Senator Joe McCarthy — and traditional evenhandedness wasn’t serving the public interest. We honor Edward R. Murrow for breaking with journalistic convention and standing up to McCarthy, saying: “This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent.”
Likewise, in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, it was not enough to quote from news conferences by each side. Great journalists like Claude Sitton and Karl Fleming took enormous risks to reveal the brutality of the Jim Crow South.
Our job is not stenography, but truth-telling. As we move to the debates, let’s remember that to expose charlatans is not partisanship, but simply good journalism.
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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
10 responses to Kristof: How to cover a charlatan like Trump
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anothertoothpick September 25th, 2016 at 10:54
Has there ever been a bigger waste of a year and a half?
Larry Schmitt September 25th, 2016 at 11:21
Not to mention all that money that could have been spent on some good cause. But not by Trump, of course. He’s the only cause he’s aware of.
Larry Schmitt September 25th, 2016 at 11:23
Title of a story in today’s Post: Trump Vows to ‘destroy ISIS’ – but refuses to say how
Subtitle: Experts: GOP nominee’s ideas contradictory, impossible or illegal
That pretty much sums up just about everything he has said, doesn’t it?
Suzanne McFly September 25th, 2016 at 12:47
I say either cover him truthfully, say what he is saying he will do and then back it up with some form of evidence that his claim can or can’t happen or don’t cover him at all.
Budda September 25th, 2016 at 12:49
I say don’t cover him…no more free air time
Suzanne McFly September 25th, 2016 at 12:51
I am fine with that.
Larry Schmitt September 25th, 2016 at 13:51
Report on what he says, but stop giving him wall to wall coverage of his campaign rallies. Have a reporter do a standup outside the meeting, run a couple of excerpts of his blather, the same way they do with other events. And call out his lies.
amersham1046 September 25th, 2016 at 18:28
all the free time the network can afford, repeating what is is saying now compared wih what he has said in the pass
amersham1046 September 25th, 2016 at 18:24
Cover him truthfully and his backers will accuse the media of making him look bad
Jeanne173 September 26th, 2016 at 10:39
This has got to be one of the best articles of this election cycle.