Media scapegoating is our national psychosis
Major U.S. news organizations took a short while to post their initial stories on the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Butler, Pa. Though their journalists fully suspected that such an attack had taken place, there was only so much they could nail down right away.
So the initial headlines were tiptoeing works of lawyerly circumspection. The Post’s early offering: “Trump escorted away after loud noises at Pa. rally.”
Not good enough, countered media critics on X who saw an alleged effort to minimize the event. “Someone tries to assassinate the presumptive GOP candidate for president. And behold, your media,” wrote one poster, citing a few headlines. Thus began yet another round of media-blaming in a summer bursting with this perennial activity. We’ve now reached the point in the United States where no breakdown, no screw-up, no tragedy can be the fault alone of leaders, principals, presidents, CEOs or a sick society. Somewhere, somehow, every single time, there’s an argument or two for media complicity.
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors