The media had a role to play in the rise of Trump. It's time to hold ourselves accountable.

[mcar]

The media had a role to play in the rise of Trump. It’s time to hold ourselves accountable.
Opinion by
Karen Attiah
Global Opinions editor

...For those who firmly believe in the promise of the American experiment, that multicultural democracy is worth fighting for, Joe Biden’s inauguration feels like a reprieve, a cooling balm on the second- and third-degree burns that Trump and his enablers have inflicted on our country. The essence of it arrived the historic moment that Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice, swore into office Kamala D. Harris, the first female, Black and South Asian vice president....

Since the Capitol siege of Jan. 6, federal and local officials have been scrambling to fortify Washington and its institutions against the threat of white supremacy and violence, but one national institution remains painfully vulnerable: the mainstream media.

The breaches to our Fourth Estate came long before Jan. 6, of course. From the moment Trump entered the 2016 race, endless oxygen was given to his racism and lies. White supremacists were deemed worthy of profiles noting their haircuts and wardrobes or allowed NPR airtime to rank the intelligence of the races. The breaches continued as ex-Trump officials were allowed to profit from distorting the truth to the American people, through TV analyst spots, book deals and Harvard fellowships.

Our media ushered all this through the door, under the aegis of “balance” and “presenting both sides” — as if racism and white supremacy were theoretical ideas to be debated, not life-threatening forces to be defeated. Never would I have imagined that I would say Biden’s stance on white supremacy is more progressive than the media’s. But here we are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/20/media-had-role-play-rise-trump-its-time-hold-ourselves-accountable/

[lapucelle]

1. It's remarkable that the opinion writer "disappears" the genesis of the problem:

the coverage of the 2016 presidential race.

Hillary Clinton Gets Gored

By Paul Krugman
September 5, 2016

Americans of a certain age who follow politics and policy closely still have vivid memories of the 2000 election — bad memories, and not just because the man who lost the popular vote somehow ended up in office. For the campaign leading up to that end game was nightmarish too.

You see, one candidate, George W. Bush, was dishonest in a way that was unprecedented in U.S. politics. Most notably, he proposed big tax cuts for the rich while insisting, in raw denial of arithmetic, that they were targeted for the middle class. These campaign lies presaged what would happen during his administration — an administration that, let us not forget, took America to war on false pretenses.

Yet throughout the campaign most media coverage gave the impression that Mr. Bush was a bluff, straightforward guy, while portraying Al Gore — whose policy proposals added up, and whose critiques of the Bush plan were completely accurate — as slippery and dishonest. Mr. Gore’s mendacity was supposedly demonstrated by trivial anecdotes, none significant, some of them simply false. No, he never claimed to have invented the internet. But the image stuck.

And right now I and many others have the sick, sinking feeling that it’s happening again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/opinion/hillary-clinton-gets-gored.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

[mcar]

2. Yes, it goes back well before 2016

but at least someone is "holding their feet to the fire."

[MyOwnPeace]

3. THIS is where it went wrong.............

"under the aegis of “balance” and “presenting both sides” — as if racism and white supremacy were theoretical ideas to be debated, not life-threatening forces to be defeated."

And claiming to be "fair and balanced" has been used as an "excuse" to propagate the RepubliCon "ideals" and aims.

We MUST demand better.

[mcar]

4. Yes!

[NoRoadUntravelled]

5. This. nt