News Media

The News Media And Public Opinion Polls On Trial On Election Day: Are They Reliable?

Ronald 6 Comments

Today, Election Day 2020, it is clear that the news media, particularly the establishment media–the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC–need to be demonstrated to be reliable and accurate in their coverage of the 2020 election campaign.

Or will they have “egg in their faces” again, as in 2016, when there was total shock at the result of the election, the victory of Donald Trump?

And the same goes even more with the multitude of public opinion polls, which misjudged what was about to happen, and also the prognosticators, many well known, and some like this author and blogger, NOT well known, who all believed Hillary Clinton would win the Presidency!

A one time blunder, or error, can be explained, as it was in 1948 when no one thought Harry Truman would defeat Thomas E. Dewey!

A second time, when all evidence is that Joe Biden will likely win a landslide victory over Donald Trump, would be fatal in many ways, making Americans unwilling to believe the major news media and public opinion polls in the future!

Hopefully, the right wing news media, notorious for lies and deception, most notably Fox News Channel, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal, all Rupert Murdoch owned and operated, will be repudiated beyond any redemption! The same applies to right wing talk show radio hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, and a host of other extremists who exploit the American people on a regular basis!

Hopefully, we will know sometime tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4!

Trump With COVID 19 Creates Turmoil And Crisis, And Brings Up 25th Amendment And Succession Law

Ronald 18 Comments

Donald Trump, having contracted the COVID 19 Virus, creates turmoil and crisis, and brings up the 25th Amendment of 1967, and the Presidential Succession Law of 1947.

Trump has been reckless in NOT promoting face masks and distancing, particularly at his close up rallies, but also in the Oval Office and at other White House sites, and his family refusing to wear masks at the Presidential Debate last Tuesday was totally irresponsible!

Trump should be sidelined for a week or more if he has a mild case, but if severe, it creates a real crisis, that requires the 25th Amendment to be invoked, and brings up the Presidential Succession Law, passed by a Republican dominated Congress in 1947.

If Trump is unable for a period of time to perform his duties, then Vice President Mike Pence can take over as Acting President, as George H. W. Bush did in 1985 when President Ronald Reagan had cancer surgery; and twice under President George W. Bush, having colonoscopies, Dick Cheney was briefly Acting President.

It should have happened when Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981, but it was not invoked.

Were Trump to fail to survive, Mike Pence would become President, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be next in line, followed by Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The fact that Pelosi is 80 and Grassley 87 is alarming, of course, and right after them would be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is 56, and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin who is 57.

Whatever one’s feelings toward Donald Trump, we should all hope for his complete recovery, but it certainly upends the Presidential Election of 2020, and makes the likelihood of a Vice Presidential debate next week less likely, and would seem to lead to the cancellation of the two remaining Presidential Debates, which really should not be occurring after the disastrous first Presidential Debate, in any case!

Time will tell of course, never a dull moment!

Finally, it is truly ironic that the news of Trump having COVID 19 occurs on the 101st Anniversary of Woodrow Wilson suffering a paralytic stroke in 1919, five months after contracting the Spanish Flu Virus while at the Versailles Peace Conference in France after World War I.

Wilson was never as energetic after suffering from the virus, and it seems to have undermined his case for the Versailles Treaty. And once he had the stroke, his wife ran cabinet meetings, and Vice President Thomas Marshall and the American people through the news media were NOT kept informed about his condition, and we had the longest period of incapacity of any President, lasting until he left office 17 months later in March 1921.

It Is Official: The Republican Party Has Become A Cult Around A Strong Arm Authoritarian Out To Destroy American Democracy!

Ronald 8 Comments

The Republican National Convention began today during the daytime hours, and Donald Trump and Mike Pence were renominated for President and Vice President of the United States.

Donald Trump avoided tradition and spoke for an hour, ranting and raving against his “enemies”, reminding those who know history of Adolf Hitler at his Nuremberg rallies.

We are witnessing the Republican Party officeholders swearing their loyalty to a man who has lied 20,000 times in office; has promoted racism, nativism, misogyny, white supremacy; has become a friend of authoritarians and alienated democratic nations; has undermined the judiciary, intelligence agencies, the foreign policy apparatus, and attacked the news media as “the enemy of the people”; has bullied and attacked all of his critics incessantly; has undermined our environment and civil liberties; has refused to take strong action against the CoronaVirus Pandemic; has shown no sense of compassion, empathy, decency or dignity in any form; and a legion of others sins and shortcomings that has never been matched by any previous President in more than two centuries of American history!

The party of such Presidential luminaries as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush has been shamed by Donald Trump!

The party of such Congressional luminaries as Charles Sumner, Robert LaFollette, Sr., George Norris, Arthur Vandenberg, and Everett Dirksen has been embarrassed by the weak kneed refusal of today’s Republican members of Congress to show some backbone to Donald Trump!

Face the facts: the Republican Party has become a cult, and is unlikely to come back into respectability, even after Donald Trump leaves the scene, as he has done so much damage and harm, that the Republican Party name may very well go into oblivion!

The So Called “Liberal News Media” Are True Heroes, Constantly Explain Facts And Truth!

Ronald 33 Comments

Donald Trump, as usual, condemns the “liberal news media” as a “hoax”, as “fake news”, as journalists who are out to get him, as if it is the job of news media to be “nice” to Presidents and other political leaders.

If one went back to the past, ask Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and other Presidents how they reacted to constant harsh criticism from the media of their time periods.

Of course, they did not like it, but NONE of them acted the way Donald Trump has, which is a threat to democracy and freedom of the press!

The news media, often called “liberal”, is only called that because they refuse to support corruption, racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, corporate wrong doings, religious hypocrisy, and lack of ethics and morality among public figures.

They are out to report the truth, the facts, and take a lot of flack from those who choose to ignore the fact of their accuracy and honesty, with an occasional, human trait, error, but not intended, not endemic, and not evil spirited!

It was the news media that saved us during Watergate, and it is the news media that is doing heroic service in working to prevent a Trump dictatorship, which he would love to impose on the American people.

Journalists worldwide and in this nation have often sacrificed their safety and even lives, in their mission to inform, and nothing will stop them from their commitment and willingness to sacrifice for the common good!

Harry Truman, “The Buck Stops Here”, And Presidential Responsibility For Failures Historically

Ronald 7 Comments

President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk: “The Buck Stops Here!”, as Truman made it clear if a government policy went wrong, it was the responsibility of the President of the United States to take responsibility for the failure, and attempt to learn from it.

Since then, a number of Presidents have admitted failure, including John F. Kennedy in the Bay of Pigs fiasco involving Cuba in 1961; and Jimmy Carter in the attempted rescue of American hostages in Iran in 1980.

But Donald Trump refuses to take any responsibility on the CoronaVirus Crisis mishandling, instead placing the blame on the news media, liberals, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and others.

For that alone, Donald Trump should be forced out of office pronto as a total disaster!

His stupidity and that of Vice President Mike Pence, who rejects science, is further shown by fact that neither had been tested for the virus, despite contact with people who have it. Now, this morning, we get the news that finally Trump has had the test, and is awaiting results.

And at the press conference yesterday with business leaders, everyone went around shaking hands, something the American people are warned NOT to do!

It is as if the top government leaders and corporate leaders who met with them think they are untouchable, and they are sending the wrong message to the American people, and particularly to crazy Trump supporters who think he is God personified!

The Death Of Truth: Facts Are Facts, Despite Right Wing Attacks

Ronald 2 Comments

America is in a sad time, when we have extremist Right Wing Talk Radio, Right Wing websites, and Fox News Channel creating fiction as truth.

If left up to them, we would have the death of truth, but facts are facts, despite the right wing constant barrage of propaganda, worthy of a dictatorship, not a democracy.

Errors are made by the major news media, but most of the time, what they report is factual and accurate.

When someone says do not trust the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN, along with lesser sources of mostly accurate news, the response must be to act vehemently in the face of those who wish to manipulate and lie and distort and divide America, and undermine its Constitution and Bill of Rights.

If not for the Washington Post and New York Times in particular, back in the era of Richard Nixon, Watergate would never have resulted in his resignation.

So hopefully, the readers of this blog are intelligent and educated enough to dismiss the right wing media, as pure propaganda and lies, and not to be trusted or believed.

New York Times: 168th Anniversary Worthy Of Celebration

Ronald 28 Comments

Today, September 18, is the 168th anniversary of the New York Times, the best newspaper in America, and maybe in the world at large.

Founded in 1851, it became famous as the newspaper with the slogan: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”.

The newspaper has had its ups and downs, and has made mistakes, and been controversial, as they are presently for their revelation about Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and sexual harassment, based on a lack of clear cut reporting on a new book on the Justice.

But despite that, there is still a recognition in the journalism profession that the New York Times has been in the forefront of so much important news in detail, and revelations that might not have occurred otherwise.

Despite its lack of perfection, the New York Times is still more to be trusted and revered than any politician, who does not like the willingness of the New York Times to be attacked for mostly telling the truth.

So Donald Trump attacks the news media, and particularly the New York Times and Washington Post, the two best newspapers who have held his administration to the fire in an appropriate manner to preserve our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

No President, no Senator, no Congressman, no public personality in any endeavor can rest, knowing that the New York Times will do what it must do to preserve freedom and democracy for the long run.

So when one might occasionally be angry or irritated by some article in the New York Times, remember they are not here to be popular, but to be our guardian, and so one should always be glad that the New York Times does well, because to imagine the paper’s demise would be a sign of the downfall of the American Republic,

And every scholar, including this one, is indebted to the New York Times, for having been of great assistance in the publication of books and articles. My two books could not have been published without using the New York Times Index, and being amazed at the unbelievable depth of reporting provided in the pages of the New York Times for so long a time frame.

The New York Times has survived many demagogues in the world, and will survive Donald Trump, for certain!

Journalism Keeps Us Free And Informed: Pulitzer Prizes In Journalism And Abusive Government In Conflict

Ronald 3 Comments

In the midst of a massive attack on the free press by Donald Trump and his supporters, it is instructive to look at the role of major newspapers in informing the American people and keeping us free.

This is the record of the history of the Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, the top eleven recipients over more than a century:

New York Times–127

Washington Post–47

Los Angeles Times–45

Wall Street Journal–37

Chicago Tribune–27

Boston Globe–26

Miami Herald–22

St. Louis Post Dispatch–19

Atlanta Journal Constitution–17

Des Moines Register–17

Baltimore Sun–15

Five of these newspapers are in the Northeast; Two in the Southeast; Three in the Midwest; and One on the Pacific Coast.

399 Pulitzer Prizes for the top eleven Newspapers in America!

“The Truth Shall Set You Free!”

The free press will outlive the threat of Donald Trump, as it has for other government leaders, most notably Richard Nixon, who have criticized the truth telling and revelations of the top news media!

The First Debate Mix: What To Expect

Ronald 19 Comments

The first debate among Democratic Presidential candidates takes place on Wednesday June 26 at 9-11 pm on NBC and MSNBC.

It includes the following ten candidates:

Elizabeth Warren

Beto O’Rourke

Coey Booker

Julian Castro

Tulsi Gabbard

Jay Inslee

Amy Klobuchar

Bill de Blasio

John Delaney

Tim Ryan

This is a mix of three US Senators; four former or sitting US House members; a former Mayor and Cabinet Officer; a Mayor; and a Governor.

The one who needs to shine, based on her high poll ratings, and therefore expectations being high, is Elizabeth Warren. This author and blogger would imagine she will do very well in this debate.

Beto O’Rourke has slipped from an early boom, and will decline further if he does not perform well, based on analysis of the news media and public opinion after. My gut feeling is he will disappoint and slip further.

My “favorites” among this group, Julian Castro and Amy Klobuchar, need to make a great impression, and I tend to think they will benefit by this debate.

Also to be watched is Tim Ryan, who represents the Rust Belt Midwest probably better than even Klobuchar, and while not well known now, seems likely by my gut feeling to do well enough to gain traction.

Jay Inslee, with his emphasis on climate change, should gain some attention, but it seems doubtful that he will make much progress.

Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, Bill de Blasio, and John Delaney are highly doubtful to gain much at all in this debate, in the judgment of this author and scholar, but we shall see.

This is all speculation, and there will be plenty of debate after about the reality of what this debate does to thin the field of candidates.

My projection is that the last five candidates mentioned—Inslee,Booker, Gabbard, de Blasio, and Delaney– will all lose financial and poll support, leaving the other five—Warren, O’Rourke, Castro, Klobuchar, Ryan–still in the race!

The Survival And Independence Of News Media Under Threat In Age Of Donald Trump

Ronald 1 Comment

America is in a crisis, with the attack on the news media by Donald Trump.

Unfortunately one third to 45 percent of the American people believe that the news media are promoting “fake news’.

They would rather believe Donald Trump, or Fox News Channel, or Talk Radio, and many of these people see the rest of the media to be the enemy, rather than their role of exposing evil.

Without a thriving media, corruption and scandal would run totally rampant.

America is blessed with journalists who often are threatened by mob mentality at Trump rallies.

These journalists are committed to pursuit of the truth, and many news media sources are failing to make a profit, and are closing up, causing the mass loss of brilliant young journalists.

The fact that the media industry is a business which needs to make a profit does not take away from their sacrifices in trying to learn the truth.

Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal would never have been exposed if not for two young cub reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post from 1972 through 1974.

Today, in the time of danger that Donald Trump represents, it is the Washington Post again, along with the New York Times, which is promoting the survival of constitutional government.