I have been incredibly frustrated this year by the media’s failure to challenge Donald Trump when he blatantly lies. The media has let Trump get away with things they would slam Hillary for doing. Over and over again, the news media has acted as if Trump isn't subject to the same rules as Hillary Clinton or any other political candidate.
And what annoys me most is that the media realizes that Trump is getting away with his lies and ridiculous actions, but they haven't realized that they're the ones who are letting him get away with it. How many times have we heard the talking heads ask each other “Why is Trump able to get away with lying to the American public?”, and “Why don't facts matter for the Trump campaign?”? They ask these questions and either don’t know, or pretend not to know the answer.
Well, someone finally called the media out. Last night, after day one of the convention was over, Al Franken sat down for questions on MSNBC from their “road warriors” (the reporters that have been traveling with the campaigns), including Andrea Mitchell and Kasie Hunt. Franken was his usual soft-spoken self, sitting calmly and answering the various questions the panel had for him, including some silly ones. But at the end of the segment, he finally said something that I have been waiting to hear someone say for months now, and I was really happy that he did. (link to video)
Franken brought up the fact that Trump is a “birther” and that Trump completely lied about sending investigators to Hawaii to dig up dirt on President Obama’s birth certificate. Franken plainly said that Trump “is a liar . . . all the time.” Andrea Mitchell, sitting next to him, followed up by saying “Facts don't seem to matter in this campaign. What has happened to our politics?” And Franken’s response was brilliant:
“I think they still matter. I still think, at the end of the day, they will still matter. And you know what, I would challenge you, all of you (pointing his finger at each of the reporters), to make them matter. To repeat them when there are lies. I would say that the media — you know, I used to write quaint books like ‘Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them’, and things like that, and I do think people think like, ‘Oh, wow, there used to be books about when people lied, and now no one cares.’ You guys have kind of a job to do."
Al Franken is absolutely right. The media has a hugely important job to do, and so far, they have been failing in that job. It is up to the media to call Trump out on his lies, and to keep calling him out until he apologizes, corrects the lies, or is exposed as a shameless liar. Sure, the media does point out some of Trump’s lies, but they rarely make a big deal about it, and they always seem to drop the story after a couple of days, even when Trump persists in spreading the lies. If the media wants to do its job, it has to keep talking about Trump's lies. It has to keep asking Trump and his campaign about the lies, and not accept Trump’s obfuscations and evasions. The media has to make sure that they don't stop talking about Trump’s lies and just move on when the next news story happens. They need to hold Trump’s feet to the fire and not let him get away with his lies.
Specifically, the media needs to keep asking Trump about the fact that he was a Birther and that he blatantly engaged in a nasty, racist, lying campaign against President Obama. They need to ask him about why he persisted in questioning the President’s birthplace and legitimacy, and why he kept lying about the “evidence” his investigators were digging up. And the media needs to keep asking Trump about it, and to keep talking about it, until it is plain to the public that Trump is a racist liar.
As another example, the media needs to keep demanding that Trump release his tax returns. I have been amazed how the media has let him get away with not releasing his tax returns. If Hillary Clinton, or any other nominee, refused to release their tax returns, the media would slam that candidate for weeks and weeks without end. But with Trump, while this was a big news story, it was only for a couple of weeks, then the media seemed to drop the issue. I get enraged when Chuck Todd, or some other reporter, obtusely asks “How does he get away with not releasing his tax returns?” Well, Al Franken just told you how Trump has been getting away with it — because YOU, the media, have been letting him get away with it. The media must ask Trump, in every interview, why he hasn't released his tax returns yet. And they can't be deterred or distracted by his lies and excuses (which they wouldn't accept from anyone else). They need to keep asking that question until Trump releases the returns or until it is crystal clear to the world that Trump is hiding something.
Al Franken just called the media out, on live TV, to their faces. I hope they answer his call, and start to do their jobs. Before it’s too late.