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Just before the dawn of the Trump administration, journalism in Washington, DC, faces an existential crisis -- but virtually no one in the profession is willing to diagnose it.
Here it is: For the first time, words don't matter. In August, as a guest on MSNBC's Meet the Press Daily, I noted that voters take Donald Trump seriously but not literally, while journalists take him literally, but not seriously.
[...] And journalists keep falling for it because they, like politicians, over-value words -- and they are now covering a politician who does not. President-elect Trump still takes the same cavalier approach to verbal description as he would in hawking a condo tower that's yet to be designed. And more than enough voters don't seem to mind. Trump has spent a career interacting with journalists, but as the first president never to serve in the military, the cabinet, or another public office before his election to the White House, he's never been immersed in the word culture that drives political journalism. [...] Most recently, when Trump announced he had chosen South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations, journalists raced to re-tweet a March rant from Trump in which he said the people of South Carolina should be embarrassed by her.
[...] Writing endless columns on this or that flip-flop based on Trump's conflicting rhetoric is wasting the time of the readers and viewers who have decided that's not what matters with this particular President-elect. [...] If the press covers Trump the way it covered prior presidents -- too literally -- it may find its own customers take journalism itself a lot less seriously.
Source: CNN
(Score: 4, Touché) by istartedi on Thursday December 01 2016, @08:48AM
n1, you should be ashamed of yourself for submitting this article.
This is the kind of story that will ruin SoylentNews. You ought to be banned
immediately. Maybe then we can get down to the business of making
SN great again. BTW, would you like to help? You would make an excellent
chief of staff.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday December 01 2016, @10:42AM
istartedi, somebody has to submit stories that are not about graphene or Tesla, and which do not contain bad puns, silly sci-fi/fantasy references, or inane jokes/questions.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @02:16PM
But why? Sure I'll accept them occasional BREAKING earthquake story, where we talk about architecture and geology, but overall I'm fine with the basket of deplorable topics you mentioned.
(Score: 1, Troll) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 01 2016, @03:47PM
...do not contain bad puns, silly sci-fi/fantasy references, or inane jokes/questions.
Unfortunately, Trump is a physical embodiment of all those things.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday December 02 2016, @01:45PM
So am I, you insensitive clod!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 01 2016, @03:54PM
It's infuriating. But, it's also True.
I like the story.
There was an open call for editors the other day, by the way, instead of bitching why don't you choose stories yourself?
(Score: 2) by n1 on Friday December 02 2016, @12:32AM
Thank you for your endorsement, I would be proud to serve the community to make SN great again.
My years of experience filling this swamp gives me much needed experience to implement the mandate that has been set by the hard working community. I stand before you to say we have the best website in the world and I am humbled by the support you, the community, have shown this campaign. You have now enabled me to guide this exceptional website into a new era of prosperity. We're going to do it bigly.