Amid storm of Trump developments, a call for calmer, more centrist media
This guy gets it: The media has been over the top about Trump, wildly animated, clearly biased and advocacy-driven. All that does is make things worse.
As a columnist, I am not eager to say anything that might sound like I am calling for a tighter leash in language, attitude or latitude.
But even I was a little shocked last week to read Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus describing Trump's behavior during his first week in office as "unhinged." It came in a column that began: "Week One of the Trump administration was among the most alarming in the history of the American presidency."
The primary definition of unhinged: mentally unbalanced or deranged.
Where do we go from here when the language in one of the nation's most important newspapers is already at this fevered pitch just two weeks in? Will the impeachment columns start appearing next week?
Some people are still jacked up and freaked out by the election. I have friends and family members who have been walking around in a daze of disbelief since November.
I think we in the press should help them try to understand this landmark shift of power between two radically different visions of America with facts, balance and perspective. We should not be exploiting their fears for clicks and Nielsen ratings by telling them their president is mentally deranged.
If he is, let's do our jobs and prove it with real reporting — not allege it with over-the-top rhetoric.
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This guy gets it: The media has been over the top about Trump, wildly animated, clearly biased and advocacy-driven. All that does is make things worse.
As a columnist, I am not eager to say anything that might sound like I am calling for a tighter leash in language, attitude or latitude.
But even I was a little shocked last week to read Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus describing Trump's behavior during his first week in office as "unhinged." It came in a column that began: "Week One of the Trump administration was among the most alarming in the history of the American presidency."
The primary definition of unhinged: mentally unbalanced or deranged.
Where do we go from here when the language in one of the nation's most important newspapers is already at this fevered pitch just two weeks in? Will the impeachment columns start appearing next week?
Some people are still jacked up and freaked out by the election. I have friends and family members who have been walking around in a daze of disbelief since November.
I think we in the press should help them try to understand this landmark shift of power between two radically different visions of America with facts, balance and perspective. We should not be exploiting their fears for clicks and Nielsen ratings by telling them their president is mentally deranged.
If he is, let's do our jobs and prove it with real reporting — not allege it with over-the-top rhetoric.
.
