In perhaps one of the first interviews with Gov. Gavin Newsom following the outbreak of the recent California wildfires, CNN’s Anderson Cooper couldn’t help but negatively frame the conversation by invoking, you guessed it … Donald Trump.
“I hate to even ask this question, but the president-elect chose to attack you, blame you for this,” Cooper said, referring to Trump’s claim that the wildfires could’ve been prevented had the state not pursued such radical leftist environmental policies.
The CNN webpage defined the video clip this way: “While Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was working to stop unprecedented wildfires from spreading around Los Angeles, President-elect Donald Trump blamed him for the fires on social media.” [Emphasis added.]
Other reports were similar. ABC, PBS, CNN and the BBC offered fact-checking information about Trump’s claims, with the AP framing the sentiments in perhaps the starkest terms: “As Wildfires Rage in Los Angeles, Trump Casts Blame.”
These instances serve as evidence that, despite previous media claims about covering Trump differently this time – i.e., not losing their mind over every little thing the new president says – many in this declining institution simply cannot help themselves. Said another way: the next four years are likely to be similar to the previous eight, and reporters will fret over style and verbiage while Rome literally burns to the ground.
A closer look, however, reveals a deeper truth: The media is hell-bent on protecting liberalism even in its darkest, most harrowing days, even at the cost of human life and livelihood.
How else can we examine such a petty, narrow response to such a grand and catastrophic event?
An honest and reasonable way of reporting the event would highlight the fact that, contrary to how the media is slanting the story, Trump believes strongly about this issue, and, as can be seen with the numerous video clips surfacing on the internet, has been making his case for a long time. The truth is – and this is likely the biggest driver of the media’s undignified reaction — he has largely been vindicated.
But this is too dangerous for the modern U.S. media. To them, liberalism has been dealt a deathly blow by the facts of this story, a reality that forces them into a defensive posture.
All this prompts the question: is liberalism so important that it must be defended, even in the face of national carnage? Further, is it so delicate and, in the end, unlivable that it needs an entire industry of media defenders as well as an entire major political party to circle its wagons in times of crisis, lest it smolder into obscurity by the flames of its own impracticalities?
This ideology is on the ropes right now. It was defeated in November but still exists in the desperate refusal of many to accept the reality of its outcomes. The Democratic Party is unlikely to recognize this, but, although the media is also likely in this category, I nevertheless have a message for them.
Please stop. Stop trying to prop up this lifeless corpse of a political philosophy. Because of your doctrines, people are dying and homes are being destroyed, and no amount of manipulation is going to change the realities of the outcomes of your governing strategies. The time has come to change your model, away from advocacy and toward unbiased journalism in which acts and events are merely reported on, and each political side is given a voice. This way, the people themselves can decide. It may sound risky from your standpoint, but have a little faith: it was the people, not the media, who founded this country.
“In America, the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever,” Oscar Wilde said. This is true. And the time has come for better government.
Along with his father, Allen Keller runs a lumber business in Stevenson, Alabama. He has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Florida State University and an MBA from University of Virginia. He can be reached for comment at allen@kellerlumber.net.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
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