What Happens When Journalists Rationalize Lying in the Age of Trump

This article, “Trump, ‘Lies’ and Honest Journalism,” by the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever seen. Where I come from a lie is a lie and the only true currency one has is credibility where your word is your bond. To rationalize lying is to normalize it. If the media dilutes the significance of lies coming from the most powerful person on the planet, it gives license to everyone to deflect by lying. Honest journalism is fact based. Period! 

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Paul Ryan's Unique Opportunity

Paul Ryan has a unique opportunity right now – the opportunity to flush some substantive truth out of Donald Trump. Trump’s refusal to endorse Ryan aside, one of the main thorns in the proverbial side of Trump’s campaign is his refusal to open his tax returns to the public. Since Trump has no history of public service for voters to judge him upon, his tax returns would provide some hard records on what he’s actually accomplished, especially considering that he’s selling himself to the American public on his business prowess and integrity.

With the spotlight on Paul Ryan due to Trump’s vindictive refusal to endorse him, Ryan should use this opportunity to turn the tables. He should demand that Donald Trump make his tax returns public in exchange for his continued support. Not only do the American people need to make sure Trump doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet, but it would be good for Ryan to truly test how dedicated Trump is to the political party he’s dominating in what looks like a hostile takeover. Additionally, it may push the media to press harder on Trump’s background, which until this point has remained largely unchallenged by the American press. If Ryan decided to really push Trump at this moment, it could be a turning point in the US election. 

Image via The Fiscal Times

Donald Trump Knows Nothing About Sexual Harassment

At the risk of sounding exhaustive, Donald Trump’s statements on sexual harassment are clearly inane – he’s talking about a subject that he obviously knows nothing about. His suggestion that a woman should change her career (regardless of her actual ability to do so) in the face of harassment shows a fundamental lack of empathy and serious regard for an issue that should concern both women and men everywhere. In fact, protections should be in place that prevent a target of sexual harassment from having to switch jobs or careers at all – that’s the whole point. Additionally, Eric Trump’s later attempt to save face by implying that “strong women” don’t allow themselves to be harassed is thinly veiled victim-blaming – plus, his suggestion to go to Human Resources doesn’t take into account that, in many cases, HR can be part of the problem. Targets of sexual harassment in the workplace need to gather documented evidence of the issue so that they have substantive protections when filing a claim, with HR or legally. By continuing to stand with Roger Ailes, Donald Trump is showing how little regard he has for sexual harassment as a problem in and of itself – and how little regard he must have for working people everywhere. Maybe Ivanka is staying “mum” on this subject because she knows her family is wrong on this one, despite being at the center of this debacle. You can read more on this at The New York Times. 

Image: Donald Trump and his children in 2014. Image Credit: Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency via NYT

Hate to Break It: The Media and Donald Trump

The sentiment of this scathing article, written by Jonah Goldberg, the senior editor of the National Review, is exactly correct. Time and again, we see pundits in broadcast news brush aside any suggestion that they are directly culpable for the rise of Donald Trump in the United States. It’s true of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and it’s true of countless other shows as well – calling Trump racist, bigoted and ignorant may make you feel better, but if you’re giving him near-constant free news coverage, it’s a net win for Trump. By falling into the bully’s trap, many in the news media have contributed to Trump’s campaign, essentially handing him the election. The free publicity Trump has gotten is a huge reason he’s now the presumptive GOP nominee, and ultimately, history will judge those who failed in their job to question Trump, comment knowledgeably on his positions, and inform the public with viable information. For more on this, read Goldberg's article in the National Review.

The Need for a Media "Mea Culpa"

On American television, the last few days have seen an unprecedented amount of conversations concerning the television media’s role in Donald Trump’s rise in the 2016 presidential race. These conversations, held on panel television shows by the same talking heads who couldn’t get enough of Trump a week ago, sound like excuses. This “mea culpa” from Nicolas Kristof of The New York Times is a good first step towards diagnosing how the media aided Trump’s ascendancy. However, as I’ve written before, it may be too late for the television news media to start standing up to Trump. He’s already captured the imaginations of a huge population of Americans. We can all hope that he won’t be the Republican Presidential nominee, but beginning to question him now may be too little too late. The news media should do all it can to rectify the damage it’s already done acting as “lapdogs” rather than “watchdogs,” as Kristof says. However, at this point, the purpose of the media acknowledging its role in Trump’s prominence should serve as a wake-up-call and a reminder to never allow financial concerns and audience building outweigh the duty of any news organization: to question, analyze, contextualize and inform. Read the full article at The New York Times.

Photo credit: Andrew Spear for NYT