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But these are not normal times. And it’s not a legitimate story not when weighed against the President and Vice President refusing to rule out a coup. (4/17)
Trump has used this deeply rooted tradition of American journalism — when covering politics, “objective” means “being critical of both sides” — to his advantage for last 6 years. (5/17)
That’s not to say (obviously) that there haven’t been more critical stories about Trump than Biden - and this year has been (much) better than ‘16. (6/17)
But Trump and the Trump administration are so corrupt and dishonest that overall he’s still huge beneficiary of that tradition. You could have the entire A section of papers cover Trump dishonesty/malfeasance before you got to issues where Biden had similar problems. (7/17)
Imagine a baseball game. Pitcher from Team A is throwing knives at batters, moves the mound 10 feet closer to home plate, and is pitching w/golf balls instead of baseballs. (8/17)
Pitcher from Team B threw a pitch that was inside and nicked a batter’s uniform. There is no scenario in which “team B’s pitcher hit a batter” would be a legitimate story to write the next day. (9/17)
In last few weeks alone, Trump has issued a call to arms to white supremacists, put everyone at a fundraiser and in his WH at risk of a deadly disease, refused to disclose who he owes $400 mil+ to (which means not disclosing if it’s to foreign interests)... (10/17)
…and essentially said he’s willing to start a civil war rather than accept loss. W/in that context, reporters spending any time at all harrumphing about Biden non-answer re: whether he’d take legal, legislative steps to add SCOTUS justices if he wins, Dems win Senate... (11/17)
… and GOP forces through a justice weeks before election is absolutely nuts. (Equally infuriating is reporters writing/tweeting/talking about how they’re only covering it b/c it’s a story when they are quite literally in the act of making it a story.) (12/17)
“I’m covering this because I cover stories and if I cover something that makes it a story.” (13/17)
Anyone who knows me know that I’m a huge defender of journalism. I think the overheated hysteria (by both left and right) about how media does a horrible job at x or y is both wrong and offensive. And I think people who are covering politics in 2020 deserve our… (14/17)
…eternal gratitude (and hazard pay). Which is why crap like this annoys me so much. It’s an unnecessary, unforced error. We’re in the midst of a moment in history when free/independent press is absolutely crucial to functioning of our democracy and our society. (15/17)
Journalists at outlets across the country are doing amazing, inspiring work. There are reporters writing multiple stories/day, any one of which I’d be proud to produce in a week. (16/17)
Which is why when there’s a collective “ooh, look at that shiny thing over there!” moment, it’s so frustrating. (17/17) (OOPS! There's more still tk.)
Rant over. I’m going back to a world without social media. Actually, this rant is *why* I shouldn’t be on social media: There’s no world in which I’m better off getting worked up about 5 million things a day. (—30—, er, 18/17)
(Also - apologies for not including the 1st 3 tweets as part of the same thread - I'm out of practice!)
