Headlines Are Easy, Journalism Is Hard

Gather ’round as we embark on a journey through the looking glass, where the bizarre becomes banal and the outrageous is just another Tuesday. Yes, we’re diving into the curious case of how the mainstream media has transformed the antics of Donald Trump into the new normal, like turning a circus into a daily commute.

Consider, if you will, the recent Wall Street Journal interview with Trump. Here we have a man who speaks of the January 6th rioters as “we” and accuses the police of wrongdoing, yet the Journal’s editorial board dismisses concerns about his authoritarian tendencies, assuring us that checks and balances will keep him in line. It’s as if they’ve handed the keys to the asylum to the inmates and told us not to worry because the walls are padded.

Then there’s the New York Times, which, in its quest for neutrality, often presents Trump’s most egregious actions alongside opposing views as if they’re two sides of the same coin. When he declares the press the “enemy of the people,” they dutifully report it, then balance it with a quote from a supporter who believes he’s making America great again. It’s like reporting a house fire and giving equal time to the flames.

Over at CNN, panels of pundits dissect his latest falsehoods with the seriousness of scholars debating ancient texts. They fact-check his lies in real-time, yet continue to broadcast his rallies live, providing a platform for the very misinformation they decry. It’s akin to decrying obesity while handing out free donuts.

Even NPR, bastion of measured reporting, often falls into the trap of normalizing the abnormal. In their efforts to remain unbiased, they describe his dismantling of democratic norms in the same tone they’d use for a story about a local bake sale. The erosion of institutions becomes just another segment between the weather and the traffic report.

And let’s not forget the parade of experts who assure us that his more ludicrous proposals will never stand. Remember when legal analysts confidently predicted that his travel ban would be swiftly overturned? Yet, versions of it persisted. Or when political commentators laughed off his claims of widespread voter fraud, only to see them fuel a movement that culminated in an insurrection? It’s like watching weathermen predict sunshine during a hurricane.

The problem, dear readers, is that by treating these actions as just another part of the political landscape, our news media become desensitized to the erosion of norms. Most in the media are extremely smart, diligent and couragious. But when Trumpism 2.01 is applied to the sometimes less-than-noble news businesses that employ them, the outrageous becomes routine, the shocking becomes mundane, and before we know it, we’re frogs boiling in a pot, wondering why it’s getting so hot.