The media’s inflated coverage of Trump is a serious problem in our politics and democracy.
By Heather Gehlert / Berkeley Media Studies Group March 18, 2016
When billionaire real estate investor Donald Trump announced he would run for president, the media blanketed the Internet and airwaves with news of his candidacy. Since then, wittingly or unwittingly, they have built a platform for his (often hate-filled) messages, with every headline and sound bite making his already outsized brand that much bigger.
Trump has now garnered close to $2 billion in free, or “earned,” media coverage — that’s about twice the cost of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history. He has also attracted more airtime than all other candidates combined, receiving a total of 175 minutes on ABC, CBS and NBC, compared to just 60 minutes for Hillary Clinton, 44 minutes for Bernie Sanders, and 32 for Ted Cruz.
As the media continue their wall-to-wall coverage, I, along with countless others, watch aghast. That’s because more than unbalanced coverage is at stake. As someone who works for an organization that analyzes news coverage I know that the media have tremendous power to influence public opinion and politics. We have seen this connection again and again, on issues ranging from vaccines to violence prevention. And if Trump’s performance in the primaries is any indication, the media’s amplification of his campaign is having an effect on voters.
In many ways, Trump’s media maneuvering should come as no surprise. Although his rhetoric, bullying and bravado are shocking, particularly for someone striving to become the country’s commander-in-chief, his tactics for gaining media coverage are not. In determining what stories are newsworthy, the media have long favored the extreme over the mundane, the famous over the obscure, and pithy sound bites over long-winded policy explanations. Trump no doubt knows this and appears to be treating the media like a marionette.
But journalists are not puppets. They can, and should, recognize Trump’s bait when they see it. And when reporters find themselves defending their coverage because it is newsworthy, or because Trump makes himself so accessible to the media — two of CNN’s favorite rebuttals — they may want to ask themselves this: What other newsworthy stories are not being covered because of our focus on Trump? Responsible journalists don’t rely solely on sources to come to them; they seek out their own sources and stories, ask critical questions, and dig deeply to find answers.
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http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-trumps-manipulation-media-matters
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