My exclusive Trump-era tour inside the media’s brain
What were America’s journalists thinking? I have strong suspicions.
It’s been a decade since Trump announced he was running for president. I was in the mainstream media back then (as metro editor of the Chicago Tribune). I’m a freelance media critic now.
What follows is my year-by-year timeline of the media’s mindset in covering Donald Trump. It’s not always what the media admit out loud – it’s me imagining their inner thoughts based on their actions. Let’s just say it’s “based on a true story”…
2015
Trump is running for president. We’ll cover him as a carny show.
Our audience loves Trump content. Terrific engagement. Order up more Trump content!
We’ll over-cover Trump for a while until he burns out. Which he will, of course.
2016
He’s not burning out, to our surprise. But we’ve discovered a rare perfect alignment between our journalistic duty to expose Trump’s bad behavior and the corporate desire to make money from the “Trump bump.” CBS’ CEO Les Moonves declares: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”
Trump is the GOP nominee. Which means media types like us have to accept him as legit.
Trump just invited the Russians to interfere in our elections. He’s kidding, right?
Let’s find bad things to say about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton so we look unbiased.
It’s Election Day and surprise – Trump wins. Not our fault. Maybe he’ll turn presidential.
2017
He’s not turning presidential. He keeps lying and lying and lying. Possible upside: This may be a heyday for fact-checkers.
Or not. It’s the heyday of “alternative facts,” not fact-checkers. So what do we do? We could call the Republicans liars to their faces, but then they’d never come on our TV shows again.
2018
Let’s not call lies “lies.” That makes us look mean. Let’s say Trump is “untethered to truth” or “inverting the facts” or making “unconfirmed accusations.”
Trump congratulates a Montana politician for a criminal assault on a reporter, saying, “Any guy who can do a body slam is my kind of guy.” But news people like us shouldn’t let that affect our objectivity.
2019
Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, issues a summary of the Mueller Report on Russian influence in the 2016 election, so we report it as fact because, after all, he’s the attorney general. Only later do we learn he was lying. Oops.
The public doesn’t understand the Ukraine impeachment stuff. Someone should’ve arranged for a sex angle so we could sell the story better.
2020
Trump is lying about Covid. Let’s save it for the book.
The election is close, but it looks like Joe Biden will eke it out and we’ll be back to normal. The White House Correspondents Dinner can be fun again. As they’re counting the votes, Trump ex-aide Mick Mulvaney assures us: “If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully.”
2021
Trump attempts a coup. It’s must-see TV. Huge audience engagement.
But the second impeachment isn’t great box-office because Trump is out of power no matter what happens. The real issue is whether to ban him from running again, but most of us think he is done anyway, so we don’t make a big deal about it.
Trump keeps saying the election was rigged, and a shocking number of Republican voters agree despite the complete lack of evidence. But media types like us are doing our part, calling it “the Big Lie.”
Biden is much more boring than Trump. He’s killing our engagement.
2022
The guys in the C-suites don’t want us to use the phrase “Big Lie” anymore. They think it makes us look slanted, and it annoys right-wing billionaires.
After Trump-friendly Republicans underperform in the midterms, the New York Times’ Bret Stephens declares: “Donald Trump is finally finished.” If Bret Stephens says it, it must be true, so we won’t make a big deal about Trump calling for “termination” of the Constitution. Let’s stick it on Page 13.
2023
After our past coverage has upset Trump, we have a wonderful opportunity for Biden-bashing to show our evenhandedness. So let’s keep talking about the coming recession even though it never comes.
Breaking news: Biden is taking the short stairs into Air Force One instead of the long stairs.
Fox pays a $787 million settlement for spreading lies about the 2020 election. To Fox, that’s just the cost of doing business, and a lesson to lie more carefully next time.
2024
Biden sure looks old. We can steal viewers from those right-wing networks if we do more stories about Biden being old and fewer about Trump being fascist.
Biden bows out, and Kamala Harris takes the Democratic nomination. She has way more government experience than Trump, but let’s emphasize accusations that she’s a “DEI hire” because that adds drama to the race and makes us look more fair.
Trump wins a second term. Again, not our fault.
ABC News gives $15 million to Trump’s library to settle a lawsuit it could have won. Because… no real explanation… just because.
2025
In covering Trump’s inauguration, let’s avoid phrases like “convicted felon” and “twice-impeached.” Stating facts makes us look biased.
The Trump regime bans the Associated Press for calling the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of Mexico” instead of a name that Trump made up. But we can’t boycott White House briefings in solidarity because our bosses want us to be part of the show.
Trump extorts $16 million from CBS News to settle a completely bogus lawsuit. What can people like us in the media do? It’s just the cost of doing business.
Even though Trump says it should be illegal for news networks to criticize him, let’s keep avoiding the obvious fact that he’s building a dictatorship. After all, if the news gets too negative, that would be bad for engagement.
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Mark, this could be titled "Ya can't make this stuff up, no one would believe you!"
I was making notes of which of these hit home with me, starting with...the first one when I remember wondering why the media didn't call out an unqualified candidate (to put it mildly) , and then 'We could call the Republicans liars to their faces, but then they’d never come on our TV shows again.' (which explained what had been a mystery to me) and then each and every one of these hit home, so...well done, Mark Jacob. Someone needed to say this.