Ezra Klein: The media amplifies Trump's racism. Should it stop?

[babylonsister]

The media amplifies Trump’s racism. Should it stop?
Perhaps, to receive the coverage he seeks, Trump should have to normalize himself.
By Ezra Klein@ezraklein Aug 2, 2019, 9:00am EDT


snip//

Does sunlight disinfect, or does it make things grow?

I don’t write this piece as a media critic. I write it as a journalist who believes our fundamental duty is to inform. I started Wonkblog at the Washington Post, and then co-founded Vox, with the intention of shining light on important stories that went ignored, or unexplained, amid the frenzy of the news cycle. As a writer, I have written tens of thousands of words about Trump’s worst comments. As an editor, I have assigned dozens of stories on them. I know the peculiar mix of moral urgency, journalistic values, and competitive pressure that generates our news cycles.

But it is hard for me to look at American politics in 2019 and say that what we are doing is working. Is the public more informed? Are the incentives we’ve constructed leading to a healthier national debate? If the answer is no — and I think it is — then we need to be open to rethinking the decisions that drive our coverage.

Let me start by being transparent about my own thinking. When I choose to cover racist comments like the ones Trump made, my implicit rationale for focusing on that story rather than anything else is something like this: It is newsworthy that the president of the United States is an unreconstructed racist. It is important that the public knows he is an unreconstructed racist. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

But as the media scholar Whitney Phillips has argued, the problem lurks inside the metaphor. Sunlight isn’t only, or even mainly, a disinfectant. What sunlight mostly does is help things grow. When Trump says of his racist arguments that “many people agree with me,” I agree with him. I believe, as many do, that there’s a lot of racism in America, and that one reason we don’t see more of it is it’s held in check by social opprobrium.

What I fear Trump is doing, with the media — including, at times, me — as his accomplice, is suffusing one of the hardiest weeds in American life with sunlight. These controversies are a constant signal to racists. They say, in short: You are not alone. You do not have to hide. You have powerful allies.

more...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/2/20702029/donald-trump-racism-squad-tweets-media-2020

[Pantagruel]

1. It's the age of the internet

and this is a valid concern:

"What I fear Trump is doing, with the media — including, at times, me — as his accomplice, is suffusing one of the hardiest weeds in American life with sunlight. These controversies are a constant signal to racists. They say, in short: You are not alone. You do not have to hide. You have powerful allies."

The good news is that bringing them out of the shadows often creates a record that will be used to fight their racism at a later date.
Just days ago, technology preserved and exposed Reagan's well hidden ugly side for all to see.

[tulipsandroses]

2. The media can decide how they are used. MLK also used the media

He knew that it would shock the conscience of good people to see people hosed and being attacked by dogs. The media framed the story. So the media can frame the story now. For instance Trump speaking about inner cities - No one has challenged him by going into the rural areas where the Opioid epidemic or Meth has taken hold and poverty is a big problem. Those places are run by Republicans. Put that in his face. Ask him why its OK to speak about the challenges of one neighborhood but not the challenges of the other. Then they wouldn't be letting him use them in whatever way he wanted. But if all they are doing is reporting his tweets, then where is the journalism?


When the Revolution Was Televised
Martin Luther King Jr. was a master television producer, but the networks had a narrow view of what the black struggle for equality could look like.
[link:https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/televisions-civil-rights-revolution/554639/|

[lunatica]

3. Not talking about racism has worked so well hasn't it?

[YOHABLO]

4. Like I have any control over what the media covers.

Let's face it, it's merely entertainment at this point. Lot's of things are happening throughout the world but we have to go and find out for ourselves.