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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe next false-equivalence epidemic
James Fallows
National correspondent at The Atlantic
... The problem with Trump is that he is not like anyone else who has ever held the office. He lies with abandon; he uses public office for private gain on a scale never before witnessed; and he seems to have no respect for, or even interest in, the institutions of self-government to which all of his predecessors have at least paid lip service.
Thus any of the normal procedural rules, applied to such an abnormal figure, can lead to destructive results. To be fair in covering him is to be unfairto the truth, to history, to the readers, to any concept of journalistic purpose ...
... Journalism is hard; criticizing journalism is easy. In this business were all doing our best, and we all make mistakes in real time. But the very difficulty of these calls is why its worth noting a similar, as-if-wed-learned-nothing-from-2016 case of false equivalence, which is unfolding before our eyes. This is the Ukraine problem.
Specifically, this is the idea that whatever Donald Trump may be guilty of, involving that country, is journalistically and historically comparable to whatever Joe Bidens son Hunter may have done there. Already leading media outlets have begun lumping these stories together. Scrutiny over Trumps Ukraine scandal may also complicate Bidens campaign was the headline on a big story in The Washington Post on Saturday. The day before that, a New York Times investigative reporter, Ken Vogel, went on MSNBC to argue that Ukraine complications were a significant liability for Joe Biden. Guests on talk shows have, reflexively, wanted to balance what they are saying about Trump-and-Ukraine, with observations about what Ukraine might mean for the Biden campaign ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/patient-zero-of-the-next-false-equivalence-epidemic/598573/

Thomas Hurt
(13,931 posts)doesn't seem to have the balls to say it outright.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)a bite size, poor impulse control strategy. Including instant rage gratification for whatever irritates him at the moment.
Hes attracted to himself a few people who can create some plan, though he shows no respect or thoughtful consideration when he overrides their strategy with his puffed up sense of superiority or his ever important rage.
Hermit-The-Prog
(36,631 posts)There is no "balance" achieved by giving defensive spin equal ink or air time with facts.
G_j
(40,464 posts)watching they way the media handles Trump is, for the most part, pure crazy making..
Yavin4
(36,887 posts)Trump's very real crimes, not just scandals, crimes are compared to any whiff of a scandal of his opponents.
spanone
(138,088 posts)Response to struggle4progress (Original post)
elocs This message was self-deleted by its author.