Politics and the Press

When I grew up, we got our news from the daily papers and from the 3 network news broadcasts at 6:30 each evening. That was it. Even then, conservatives talked about the “liberal bias” of the media. I am not sure how biased it was because that is the model that gave us Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan along with Kennedy, Johnson and Carter. Then in 1980 upstart firebrand Ted Turner founded CNN and political coverage would never be the same. 1996 brought us Fox News and MSNBC and the internet was taking hold. Now days, news consumers can literally choose the news they want to see and hear and filter out the rest.

The problem is, when you run for President, you have to interact with any and every outlet deemed to be a “legitimate” news source or your message might not get heard. I watched Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway yesterday morning on CNN complaining that the media was “badgering” the Trump campaign about different issues that Trump has refused to address like his tax returns and his medical records. I have news for Ms. Conway. It only seems like badgering because you refuse to answer the questions. The Trump campaign keeps saying that voters don’t really care about his tax returns as if it is some issue ginned up by the media. A recent poll indicates that well over a half of the electorate does indeed believe it is an issue. So answer the questions, release the information or suffer the consequences.

I hear the media saying constantly that Trump is like no other candidate who has ever run for President but they want to cover him like he is. It is my belief that Trump really has no desire to be President. He is just in it for the publicity and the exposure which in the long run will increase the value of his “brand”. The media complaining about him incessantly on the cable news shows are playing right into his hand. If the media really wanted to impact the Trump campaign, they should stop. Stop all the coverage, stop the televised rallies, stop inviting his surrogates on to their programs, just stop. It will drive Trump crazy with a capital “C”. If he truly makes news or if he comes to the table and starts playing the Presidential sweepstakes like everyone else, the coverage can resume but in the meantime, my advice to the media would be just to stop the insanity and stop covering Trump. You are just giving him what he wants.

“Please, Br’er Fox, please don’t throw me into the briar patch”
                                            
                                                        -From ‘Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby’ a Georgia Folktale

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