I’m angry. I am so unbelievably angry with the absolute failures of the press in this country.

Remember in September when Trump wouldn’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power and specifically said “get rid of the ballots?”

That was a pretty startling thing, right? Major red flags!

Know where NYT covered the story the next day? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/us/politics/trump-power-transfer-2020-election.html

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For months Trump has been saying he would do exactly this, but the same people who go, “No, no, no, you’re supposed to take him SERIOUSLY, but not LITERALLY!” or whatever kept brushing it all off.

There were plenty of articles warning about this specific situation, but beyond that, THIS IS WHAT HE SAID HE PLANNED TO DO.

September: https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/when-trump-sought-delegitimize-ballots-counted-after-election-day

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/major-newspapers-bury-trumps-refusal-commit-peaceful-transfer-power

I wrote about the role tech companies and news outlets could play in helping him scam his way to an illegitimate second term. https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/pro-trump-disinformation-efforts-could-tilt-entire-election-if-media-outlets-and-tech

But hell, just... 3 days ago George Stephanopoulos sat there quietly while Trump advisor Jason Miller made this same false argument. https://www.mediamatters.org/abc/no-pushback-when-trump-adviser-suggests-counting-votes-after-election-night-stealing-election

Look, I understand that journalists WANT to PRETEND that Trump isn’t an authoritarian in the process of obliterating the last remnants of US democracy. They’re the same people constantly talking about a “pivot” or a “new tone.”

It would be nice if this was all bluster. But it’s not. When he makes threats, he is *actually* threatening to do exactly what he says.

Journalists are being willfully naive.

But here’s what gets me: we are four years into this.

Here’s something @brianstelter, who just released a book called “Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth” (I read it and liked it, fwiw!), tweeted last night.

If you’re the host of CNN’s big media analysis show and author of a book about Fox’s war on the truth, random people on Twitter shouldn’t be able to more accurately ppredict what will happen in media.

Unsurprisingly, Fox this AM: h/t @revrrlewis

That’s just what kills me about the state of political media. There’s so little introspection. So little deliberation. So little willingness to challenge the industry status quo.

And it’s why most media criticism shows are pointless. You get the same views over and over and over. You don’t get challenged on the way things work and who they work *for*.

Know who you’ll see on places like Meet the Press or Reliable Sources? Hugh Hewitt, Erick Erickson, a random newspaper publisher here and there, a pundit who doesn’t understand the internet.

Know who you don’t see places like that? Me, or anyone who actually challenges norms.

Last time I was on one of the big cable networks was... 6 years ago? Yeah, I think it was 6 years ago.

But I’m just going to keep writing my articles, keep shouting into the void.

For instance, it would be great if any of the big media analysis shows spent time discussing whether it’s helpful/harmful to amplify false statements without correcting them. I’ve written extensively on that topic.

Example: https://twitter.com/markknoller/status/1324011442253811713

See?