[Reader Comments on
"The Mutual Dependence of Donald Trump and the News Media"
The New York Times
written / Jim Rutenberg
March 20, 2016]
> Rsalt Massachusetts
____ By enabling Trump with all this free coverage, the media actually has created its own nightmare of a candidate. Thanks, guys.
> Neildsmith Kansas City
So if the media hype is all about ratings... and ratings are all about ad revenue for the media companies, then I eagerly await the analysis that shows how this advertising actually works to generate sales.
Surely there is a better way to sell a product than to destroy civilization as we know it with hatred and conflict. Surely...
> KJ Portland
The sad part is that we have to pay outrageous cable rates to be subjected to endless commercials that provide the enormous profits to the networks that are selling our democracy down the river.
How different is this from the capture of families who must pay exorbitant prison phone call rates (discussed in today's op-ed) just to stay in contact with loved ones?
And the "Place for Politics", MSNBC, can run Lock Down when it is not profiting from Trumpet.
Please media journalist, explore that connection.
> Jean
So, when will the mea culpas start? When President Trump starts his program of widespread censorship of the press? It will be too late, then. History will show this was a period of shameful media negligence in the face of a real threat to democracy and the First Amendment.
Citizen Kane
> NYT PICK Mpalfreyman4 Leno
The New York Times is complicit in this. As an entity whose advertising revenue is based on eyeballs and clicks, it seems pretty clear from the # of times the word "Trump" appears in the headlines and the first paragraph of an article that the Times is using search engine optimization to strengthen its profitability vs. editorial integrity. It's smart business for the media, but stupid over the long term in terms of the well-being of our country.
> langelotti Washington D.C.
And here I am clicking, reading, and commenting on a NYTimes article with Drumpf's name in the headline. Well played, NYTimes, well played.
> Longleveler Pennsylvania
If Bernie Sanders had received the same press coverage as Trump, everyone would now be predicting a Sanders landslide.
Trump is a monster created by the press.
The media profits from other people's tragedies. Will they profit from a tragedy of their own making?
> Beantownah Boston MA
Trump is laughing all the way to the White House. As the Times itself noted recently, he has received almost a billion dollars' worth of free advertising from the mainstream news outlets, who explode with indignation at every flippant over the top remark he makes. He is literally a man with nothing to lose. And he is running a campaign that only a post-modernist (or maybe a Dada-ist, or maybe both?) could love.
> Elizabeth Ca
And what about you, NYT? You, too, have featured Trump on a daily basis (while ignoring Bernie Sanders for the first half of this election season.) Stop giving this bully free publicity! You've contributed to the feeding frenzy.
> Devin Los Angeles
NY Times included...
> Monroe Santa Fe
Suddenly the NYT is sensitive about Media Bias? That is rich considering their blatant prejudice for Hillary Clinton and against Sanders.
> David California
Trump's campaign has been propelled all along by the media attention he gets by being the biggest clown in the show. He is no different than Sarah Palin or Joe the plumber, and the media cannot resist his buffoonery.
> Blue state Here
You media people need a 12 step program, or some drugs, or something. Just stop, just say no. Ask yourself: Is that next click really worth a President Trump?
> Liberty Apples Providence
This is an institutional problem, running throughout broadcast and print. Just like the candidates themselves, the folks yapping and reporting on the events just aren't very good.
> David Boston
Hey Jim, welcome to the scrum. Thanks for putting some numbers behind the press coverage of you know who. I swear, money is like a lion: it picks off the weakest one in the herd (CNN), and when the rest stop to stare, it eats them too.
> D. Cary Hart
Trump's amusement value evaporated many months ago. Not only is this blowhard an ignoramus but he proudly proclaims that he is his best advisor. Trump is dangerous
All The King's Men (1949)
> The Buddy Astoria New York
I don't have cable television,
but this Saturday at a visit to my folks house, we were flipping between MSNBC (supposedly a liberal beacon) and CNN. Both were covering the Trump campaign rally. They even broadcast the entire speech live, seemingly breathlessly awaiting brawling to take place between supporters and protesters. If someone gets seriously hurt, the media will have some responsibility.
> MoneyRules NJ
Dr. Goebbels could not have said it better himself...lets put the fascist on TV so people will tune in
> Joe NYC
Simple solution; stop allowing him to do call-in interviews and shame all the shows who allow him to do it. If Trump actually had to show up, his stupid answers could be challenged properly.
> David Sanders Boulder, CO
Isn't this article kind of ironic?
> Robert Cambridge, MA
Trump says the media is very dishonest. Anyone disagree?
> Kinsey Lillian
I would be OK with ZERO coverage of Trump! whatever he says changes the next day, anyhow.......
> Robert Roth NYC
The damage is already done. The Times has done its disgraceful bit. Nothing you say will undo it.
> Joe Iowa
"Trump gets too much press" says the outlet that gives him the most coverage, in yet another meaningless story.
> Ralphie Seattle
Spare us the mea culpas. The Times, as much as any media outlet, loves a good fight. The bulk of Times' stories follows a predictable format:
A said something
B disagrees
Call it "a debate" and it's all good. No real news reporting needed. A Trump-Kelly feud? Holy mackerel. Both of them are playing you for saps. Knock it off already.
> Skbpdx
I don't have a degree in the history of political journalism, but to me it seems pathetic that we have news organizations that cover this person non-step for profits, and the USA be damned.
Network (1976)
> Tracey Waters Columbia SC
You left the New York Times off the list and it certainly deserves to be there. The majority of Times headlines has "Trump" in them.
> Joyce Vermont
With "nearly 1.9 billion worth of news coverage" the media has virtually created the monster. What one hath given, one can taketh away.
> les gottlieb New York
Jim Rutenberg's article is long overdue. The media has been a VERY willing accomplice to Trump's rise. If they really want to keep readers and viewers - print and electronic media should stand up with integrity not bow down to a demagogue.
> rantall Massachusetts
Ethics, morality and integrity are at least three things that have fallen by the wayside in the media, business, political and in social discourse.
I totally get the race for ratings and the fight for survival, but failing to expose Trump for what he is, a con man, is inexcusable.
Allowing him to lie, incite violence, denigrate entire groups of people, and hawk products without harsh analysis and rebuke is little more than prostituting the profession.
> c harris Rock Hill SC
A true race to the bottom. Endless inane words by Trump are gold.
> Oh Wise One Vermont
Selling ads trumps keeping America safe from fascism.
> Dominic Astoria, NY
Funny, I always thought the role of the fourth estate in a democracy was to speak truth to power, and act as a check and a watchdog upon the activities and political decisions of the powerful.
Mainstream media is now little more than a reality tv show. The media chases the most vapid, stupid, and sensationalized flashes in the pan....
> John Smith DC
Well Trump seems to prove that Madonna was right. The only bad publicity is no publicity.
> Tina Mpls.
This column weighs in far too late. Too little, too late.
> Michael Pa
A press without journalistic integrity is not so much free as it is out of control. It is operating in its own commercial interests and no longer in the public interest.
> rebirth nm
Congrats on reporting about yourself reporting on Trump. BTW, it's not just the for-profit media. Every morning I listen to NPR run down the latest news from the Trump campaign. There may or may not be a sentence about the other people running for office. Capitalism has destroyed the mainstream news media and Trump is laughing all the way to the bank.
> Christopher Mexico
In the USA,
the marketplace has become the fundamental ideology.
So why shouldn't our political system be just another marketplace? And why shouldn't the news media profit from it? And because the costs of covering a presidential campaign season are so low, the season can be lengthened from the present two years to... well, why not make it a neverending reality show? Who needs governance when you can get entertainment?
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