The NY Times ran an opinion piece titled “Can Donald Trump Survive Without Twitter?”
I think the question that may be even more important is “Can the Media survive without Donald Trump?” Trump’s constant sowing of division and outrage has been a bonanza for media. Not just “are they able to survive”, but also “are they willing to give up talking non-stop about Donald Trump?”
It is ironic that the Times’ opinion piece also serves to keep Trump in the news. They just can’t quit. (Even more ironic, I’m now guilty of the same thing. Mea Culpa)
The media must stop giving attention to Donald Trump. Earlier in Trump’s term, I got so sick of talking about Trump that I stopped posting to this blog. I only started up again for the midterms, but after that the 2020 election was in full swing.
I’ll try harder now to ignore him. Wish me luck.
UPDATE: A reader sent this in a comment. It is definitely apropos.
9 Comments
People seem to forget that, before Donald Trump, there was still news worth reporting. American media had a more global lens, and we as a nation were given information about things happening in other parts of the world on a regular basis. One of the greatest tragedies of the Trump years is how our focus turned more inward toward ourselves, and how we lost sight of global issues.
As time goes on, I hope that our news outlets will return to reporting news from around the world, and help us see how we impact and are impacted by what happens outside our borders.
Amen!
I am personally really looking forward to spending a bunch of time traveling in *other* parts of the world after Covid is under control.
I think that is an important point. I am going to European sources for news that just doesn’t appear locally.
One of my favorite scenes in a movie is this scene from “Private Parts.”
Some people love him. Some people hate him. But everybody wants to know what he’ll say–or do–next.
Trump himself recognizes this and has remarked a few times on how he’s made the media companies millions because everybody is tuning in.
The problem with the media is that they don’t want news because news is boring. What they want is drama. Yes, they could do a story on, say, the effect of government revenues by increasing taxe rates on income over $1,000,000 a year. Or they can put some people on who will yell and scream about how the government is taking all our money and we need to stand up and fight against these socialists who will take all of your money and leave you destitute! That’s something more watchable.
There’s always Shep Smith on CNBC. Also all the news and info on PBS. There are alternatives, you just have to not want to be entertained. It is also useful to fact-check what you hear. the Annenberg Foundation’s “FactCheck.org” is a very good place to start.
We need him to be talked about.In agonizing detail so that every American will know what was “elected” in 2016.
There’s just no reason to mention his name–everyone will know who you/we/I will know which traitor is being talked about.
I choose to view a lot of news as ‘poison’. It often doesn’t help or inform us, yet we can’t turn away- like a car crash. I imagine if someone were to offer me a cup of poison, telling me, “Here, drink this. It’s poison & will make you angry and feel really sick!” So we drink it & then remark, “OMG, you are right! It was poison, I’m angry & feel SICK!”. Then you pick up ANOTHER cup (news story) and repeat the process.
Yet we can’t seem to stop ourselves.
I agree with the author. Now if I could just follow that advice.
Yesterday (or was it the day before?), there was a headline in the NYT that a jumbo jet went missing on a domestic flight in Indonesia. And I was stunned that ANYTHING was happening outside of this echo chamber we’ve been inhabiting for the last 4 years.
@ Fink that poison is called “fear.” To quote Yoda, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering…”
Forgive the Star Wars reference, but it’s quite apt…