A Daily Mail editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Don’t think for a moment that Donald Trump doesn’t know what he is doing.
The 70-year-old tycoon, reality-TV star and originally thought-to-be unlikely GOP nominee is claiming the mainstream media is biased against him, overlooking Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton’s wrongdoings while highlighting his many misdeeds.
According to an Associated Press poll reported on in Friday’s Gazette-Mail, 56 percent of voters agree.
If it really matters, Trump and those polled appear to be correct. For no telling how long, there has been, or so it seems, an inherent tilt toward liberalism in the media.
“People with the talent, temperament, and personality to be journalists might also be inclined toward liberal political causes,” wrote economist Daniel Sutter in a 2001 study on the economics of media bias for the Cato Journal.
Mass media is not perfect and never will be because it is run by humans.
Yet a “liberal media” didn’t deter Ronald Reagan from being elected in 1980 and again in 1984. It didn’t deter George H.W. Bush in 1988 and George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004.
Trump is trying a different approach. He’s fostering resentment and inciting anger to get people to act on their belief that the “liberal media” is conspiring for Clinton.
This is intentional, because he subscribes to the publicity theory attributed to another legendary self-promoter, 19th century circus founder P.T. Barnum: “I don’t care what people say about me as long as they say something.”
In that theory, all publicity is good publicity. Trump uses it like an expert card shark, getting the media to report and hang on his every phrase across multiple news cycles.
Such manipulation of the media has brought Trump $3 billion worth of free exposure during the primary — rendering discussion of policy ideas and other reputable candidates all but moot.
“The coverage of Trump is so lopsided that it’s impossible to deny anymore,” wrote Stephen L. Miller for National Review back in March. “According to NewsBusters and the Media Research Center, 62 percent of all Super Tuesday evening network news coverage (NBC, CBS, ABC) went to Donald Trump alone.” For February, Trump had more than three times the coverage of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The other candidates didn’t even make the list.
Yes, it is accurate to generalize that there is a bit of media bias in favor or Hillary Clinton. Yet Donald Trump is not being victimized by that, he is using it as a weapon.
