Posted on 05/15/2018 11:02:27 AM PDT by ethom
During an appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof admitted that the media has an addiction to covering President Trump, leading them to avoid covering other newsworthy topics. He flushed this argument out further in a recent New York Times op-ed titled “Our Addiction to Trump.”
Host Brian Stelter appeared to agree with Kristof, declaring that “I'm a Trump addict. I think I’m willing to admit that. I think all roads lead to Trump right now.” Kristof then admitted that he also suffered from Trump Addiction: “My wife and I, we find ourselves, our pillow talk is sometimes about Trump.”
Kristof acknowledged that many in the media saw Trump as an antidote to their old business model: “As long as we have our cameras focused on him, then audiences will follow.” Kristof also admitted that the media breathed a sigh of relief that “there was somebody we could cover that could generate these subscriptions.”
Stelter and Kristof then played footage of President Trump’s recent rally in Elkhart, Indiana, where he argued that despite their intense hatred for him, the “fake news media” does not want President Trump to sail off into the sunset, telling the enthusiastic crowd “when I’m not here, their ratings are going to sink.” While Stelter stated that “I don’t think that’s entirely true,” he did mention that The New York Times and other publications have seen increases in subscriptions in the age of Trump.
In his column, Kristof wrote: “I'm not arguing that we avert our eyes from Trump or mute our criticism. Far from it. But we have to figure out how to spare bandwidth for the genocide in Myanmar, opioids in America, and so on.” Kristof said that this task might be easier said than done because any network that decided to abandon their round-the-clock coverage of President Trump to cover one of these less appetizing and less scandalous stories would risk losing viewership to “a rival network that puts a Democrat and a Republican in a studio and has them yell at each other.”
Towards the end of Kristof’s appearance on Reliable Sources, he pointed out that “as a nation, we tend to have our worst policies towards issues that are difficult to talk about or that are invisible. We can be part of the solution. We can help leverage these issues and, you know, put them on the agenda. And it's hard, and we have to figure out how to build a business model for that kind of thing. But maybe a starting point is to have a conversation about that.”
Kristof cited the decline of American life expectancy as a result of suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and crises in work, self-esteem, employment, and living standards as examples of “difficult” and “invisible” issues.
By and large, it does not look like the media will take Kristof’s advice to dial down their coverage of President Trump and focus on the issues that affect “invisible America.” The love-hate relationship between President Trump and the legacy media will continue for the foreseeable future. It remains to be seen how many more journalists will follow Kristof’s lead and admit to their Trump addiction.
So am I!
CNN’s Brian Stelter Admits to New York Times Columnist: ‘I’m a total loser.’
They’re negatively obsessed, like drivers who go out of control and see a solitary tree, and it fills their entire vision until they crash into it, unable to avoid it.
let them keep doing it until November 2018 and beyond!
He's like a zany pro wrestling promoter who guarantees huge TV ratings on a daily basis.
It will be 100 years before the U.S. can even dream of finding another president who can command the public's attention -- for better or for worse -- like Donald Trump.
Which I'd imagine he attributes to the folly of the Trump presidency.
Now that’s just unfortunate...
“:^)
looks like a horror movie extra.
Poor guy, on the inside and out...
jared fogel put on 100 pounds and escaped prison
I’ve thought that too, the Democrats may see this and think they should convince Mark Cuban, Oprah or Moochie to run..they are so desperate
Married?
to what..
I don’t think these idiots understand, that if their coverage was positive a couple things would happen.
1. You would increased sizably your audience as you would then get the Trump supporters to listen to you. I for one, NEVER, and I mean NEVER listen to you.
2. You would actually come to find out that Trump is a decent sort of guy. He is more down to earth than anyone else holding that position in our lifetime.
3. That Trump himself will give you more time with him, again increasing your audience.
4. You will actually be doing a service to Americans who will listen to you, during those times where you might disagree with Trump or have some real issue.
5. You will be doing a service to your country by addressing the silent coup that has been going on for several months now before and after the election.
I’m sure there are many others, but it really comes down to the fact that you offer nothing from your negative coverage of Trump. You call it an addiction, I call it an obsession to report everything and anything on him that you can spin as negative.
As in Obama telling folks who lost their jobs in flyover country "Your jobs aren't coming back, you have to deal with it and move on!", or Hillary telling folks with serious issues needing addressing that they're deplorable and she was busy with LBGT concerns. It's the society-wrecking democrats who have the worst policies towards issues they won't address; President Trump addresses the important issues and enacts good policies to fix them! He brought back jobs and is helping the people who matter (citizens!).
I don’t mind all the negative coverage. It means I can scream from my rooftop at the top of my lungs
“6 more of Trump’s appellate court judges got confirmed this past week” and the libs don’t notice.
MAGA
Hating Trump has become their religion. Trying to get them to report fairly on the president would be like someone trying to get me to consider Christ could be a fraud. Ain’t happening.
Their entire beings are invested in hate for Trump/Conservatives/Christians. They simply cannot think their way out of this. It’s the spirit of anti-Christ. Your points are correct - it would benefit them greatly to be more open, but their Church of the Left would decimate them.
If the MSM Trump haters could have just one brief moment of clarity........
They would admit that commenting on Trump is what gives their life meaning. Their employers have staked their profits on that scrutiny.
They collectively ignore the supreme rule, that governs all others, about public life:
Being boring is the only unforgivable sin.
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