ABC Spells CAVE
Another Major Media FAIL
Issue #782 The Choice, Thursday, December 19, 2024
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In an excellent Columbia Journalism Review article dated December 16, Richard J. Tofel suggests that, at the very least, ABC News owes fellow journalists an explanation for why they decided to cave to Donald Trump. As you probably know by now, ABC News settled with Trump for $16 million after Trump sued the company because he was mad that ABC’s George Stephanopoulos essentially accused him of being a convicted rapist. Which he is. If you want to parse the details about which part of Trump’s anatomy he used to penetrate E. Jean Carroll against her will forcefully, then that’s your business. Personally, I’m good with the fact that the trial judge himself said that Trump was “found to have committed rape.”
But Trump has issues with the truth, and now that he is the president-elect, he is making it part of his mission for whatever remains of his sordid life to stamp out and erase whatever truth makes him look bad. And by settling with Trump, ABC News has essentially said “Here, let us help you with that.”
Maybe they figured navigating a Trump tantrum wasn’t worth the trouble. Live to fight another day or whatever. Unless, of course, the next fight is also deemed not worth the trouble. Etc. On and on. So then maybe they figured Stephanopoulos wasn’t worth the trouble. Or maybe they are just plain scared. As Tofel points out, as much as we may want to speculate, we don’t know the real reason yet for why ABC caved, and ABC isn’t talking. Which would explain the reasonable request from Tofel that they at least answer a few questions to help their colleagues in the media better understand WTF. To review those questions, I suggest reading the article in full, which, as I said, is very good. It is reasonable and even-handed. It is fair. Tofel chooses not to shriek about ABC’s cowardice or about how the organization is shirking its responsibility as a huge and respected (??) journalism institution to stand by the truth, and I can appreciate that. He chooses to do what actual journalists do and take an honest look at the facts.
As it should be. But in the meantime, as we examine those rather unsettling facts, we should also consider the fact that this type of behavior by the mainstream media, bowing down before Trump, has been previewed on a continuous loop for the past eight years. During that time ever since Trump was first elected in 2016, the media has been both infatuated with and addicted to the man. He was – and is – sickening, repulsive, grotesque, obscene, and amazingly good for ratings. It wasn’t long before the media figured out that using Trump’s dependable insanity as a ratings/circulation booster via regular updates on his often pre-calculated Outrage of the Day worked a lot better for the bottom line (and clicks) than actually trying to hold the man accountable and educate their audience on who he really is and why that matters.
It’s hard to exaggerate the challenge of adjusting to Trump for the first year or so because Trump was unlike anything the media had ever encountered. The normal rules did not apply, and an entirely new set of rules should have been put in place. Nixon and Watergate were cotton candy compared to this.
But it’s hard to believe they still can’t manage to get it right eight years later without suspecting some form of complicity. Like virtually ignoring – or barely covering – Biden’s remarkable accomplishments while anxiously awaiting Trump’s next Outrage, to be covered with no context. Like grading/covering President Biden and Trump on such an unequal curve that is favorable to Trump, it would almost be laughable if it hadn’t become so predictably favorable to Trump. Like the way the Washington Press Corps, supposedly among the most elite members of the journalism profession, effectively treated Trump with kid gloves during his years in office as he shut them out and tossed them crumbs but then puffed out their chests in righteous indignation while screaming and shouting at President Biden and his press secretaries demanding answers to questions that sometimes did not matter or, more often, had already been answered.
Now that ABC has caved, Trump feels predictably emboldened and is suing the Des Moines Register because he didn’t like the results of a poll taken just before the election that didn’t manufacture the favorable result he expected. Maybe he’ll win, maybe he won’t, but he will never stop. He will just keep pounding on the gates until they crumble. And he feels confident they will crumble because, after all, how long did it take ABC to fall in line? Or the Washington Post? Or Gannett, which is the largest newspaper chain in the country?
At least the Washington Post once upon a time tried to stop a clear and present danger from remaining the leader of the world’s largest democracy. They largely succeeded, and Nixon had to step aside. A complete success would have been for Nixon to be found guilty and placed behind bars. This year, the Post – or rather the Post’s Trump-fearing owner, Jeff Bezos – decided not to allow its editorial board to run its endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris out of fear that the current clear and present danger might win and, well, you know, it’s easier to call in a favor if you play along.
But you can only ‘play along’ for so long before you’re no longer playing. This is likely to get considerably worse before it gets better. How long before it gets better depends on how long we keep quiet.
Thank you!
Well said!