WTF MSM!? Trump didn’t build media mistrust, the media did

“Ethics” summit …

It’s not about Trump … Yesterday, CNN media critic/cheerleader Brian Stelter was a moderator at Poynter’s inaugural Journalism Ethics Summit in Washington, D.C. A common theme of the summit was a search for how to counter President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media. The lesson Stelter seemed to learn is that anyone who distrusts the media does so because of Trump. At least that is the impression one gets reading his daily email. Donald Trump is a symptom of the distrust Americans have for the media, not the cause. It’s not like conservatives woke up on Jan. 21, 2017 – the day after Trump’s inauguration – with some sort of new found distrust.

They can’t see their bias … One of the most striking quotes coming out of the “ethics” summit was from New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen, who said – presumably with a straight face – “Asymmetrical polarization means the right has been drifting right faster than the left has been drifting left.” Let’s unpack that. This journalism professor thinks the Right has been drifting further right, than the Left has been drifting left. Why? Could it be because he is so far-left that the Left is now drifting towards him? The Left now fully disbelieves the biological fact that there are two genders. Isn’t that proof enough of the magnitude of the Left’s drift?

Jim Acosta weighs in … Also at the summit was the poster boy for the Resistance at the White House, CNN’s Jim Acosta. The man still thinks he is not biased or partisan. Here’s what Acosta is reported to have said at the summit, “We’re not part of the 'Resistance,' that’s not our job.” He added, “But if journalism is under attack, we should resist.” Acosta also said, “That day with Stephen Miller ...  All I did was quote the Statue of Liberty to him and he imploded.” Sounds so non-confrontational the way he puts it. But his tone was confrontational, and the quote was selected to call into question the policy of the president — not to report on the facts of what that particular policy was. Acosta strayed into opinion, not reporting. He doesn’t seem to get that.

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Driven to the bottle …

Smooth as Tennessee whiskey … Are you finding yourself stressed out by the constant drip of fake news? Are you so stressed that you are drinking more? Probably not, but according to this article at Vice, there is a whole group of people with a new “disorder” that is being driven to the bottle. You can read all about “headline distress order” here. No, really.

Ross off Trump beat … It remains to be seen whether or not ABC’s Brian Ross will return from his four-week unpaid suspension. According to this CNN report, the head of ABC News was livid, not just at Ross but at his whole team. Why? Because they didn’t wait to verify Ross’ account and they didn’t come quick with a correction. ABC News is performing a full review of what happened, and Ross has been barred from covering the Trump administration.

Another ABC correction … Even after the blowup over Ross, ABC had another bit of fake news to deal with yesterday. ABC first reported that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had recently worked with a Russian intelligence official on an op-ed. ABC News had to correct its story to say that the person that Manafort worked with was a Russian intel-connected individual, which is completely different. CR's foreign policy correspondent Jordan Schachtel says that, in effect, ABC was saying that Manafort worked with the Russian government to ghost write an op-ed, which is not what happened. This is just another misstep for the organization.

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