MSM Frets Over How/If to Cover Trump

Did you happen to catch the victory speeches that Donald Trump gave after both the Iowa and New Hampshire voting? They were rather inspirational and Trump was in a far more gracious mood than we’ve often seen on the campaign trail. Of course, if you did see them, that tells me that you were not watching the coverage on either CNN or MSNBC. They both cut away rather than let their viewers hear anything from the GOP frontrunner and likely candidate in the upcoming presidential election. It’s not the first time this has happened, particularly when it comes to MSNBC. (Or “MSDNC” as Sean Hannity likes to say.) The Associated Press somehow felt compelled to cover this lack of coverage this week, but they didn’t seem to find this vanishing act among the journalism corps to be particularly disturbing. They describe the former President’s public appearances as “a riddle” that network executives have yet to solve.

Even as Donald Trump seeks his third straight Republican presidential nomination, his live appearances still present an unsolved riddle for many news outlets: How do you cover him?

The question hung in the air as CNN, MSNBC and some streaming outlets started — then stopped — showing Trump’s speech following Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. There was little hand-wringing at Fox News Channel and Newsmax, networks that appeal to Trump supporters. They carried the former president’s remarks in full.

Outlets weigh whether an event’s newsworthiness justifies live coverage when there’s a risk Trump will make false statements that are difficult, if not impossible, to correct in real time — or go completely off script with something entirely unexpected.

ABC and NBC also only carried a portion of Trump’s speech before cutting away to “correct” him. Fox News was among the only outlets to cut off their own guests and carry the various speeches in full.

Allow me to share a breaking news flash with the AP. This is not “a riddle.” The man is the winner of the first two primaries and he leads the GOP in the national polls by a huge margin. He may very well be the next President, accomplishing a feat previously only managed by Grover Cleveland. When he has something to say, it is newsworthy. If people are considering voting, it is the responsibility of competent, honest journalists to bring them all of the information from both sides and allow them to make up their own minds.

If Trump says something blatantly untrue (and he drops a few clunkers now and again), there will be plenty of time to address those items after he’s finished. If he offers an opinion that liberal journalists disagree with, which is far more often the case, it is not “fact-checking” to offer a differing opinion of your own. Making an intentional decision to cut away and refuse to cover speeches by Trump, Haley, or even Biden (on the rare occasions that he tries to speak these days) is not a service to your viewers. You are intentionally trying to block them from having all of the available information.

And then there is Maddow’s absurd claim about there being “a cost” if they are found to be “knowingly broadcasting untrue things.” What a bunch of malarkey, as their favorite President would say. How many times have CNN and MSNBC broadcast either Joe Biden, Mayorkas, or KJP looking into the cameras with a straight face and saying “The border is secure?” Where was the fact-checking and correction activity then? Why didn’t they cut the cameras away? It would appear that the “cost” of broadcasting Democrats spouting blatant lies comes at a very discounted price as compared to Republicans or conservatives.

People notice these things. Is it any wonder that recent polls show that faith in the American media has declined to record levels? Why would people have faith in a group of alleged journalists who behave in this fashion? If anyone is unable to tell the difference between actual news coverage and poorly concealed election tampering efforts, they need to shop around more for their news. I have recently been enjoying the coverage provided by NewsNation and Rising, where you frequently see spirited debates between people from both the left and the right. And you can say what you like about Sean Hannity, but he has featured debates and interviews with people including Gavin Newsom, RFK Jr., and others from the left. He’s invited them all and stressed that it’s important for both sides to be heard, regardless of where his own opinions fall. In short, he’s doing his job. The people at CNN, MSNBC, and the alphabet networks could take several pages from his playbook.