Palumsha8Dec 4, 2022
Jay Rosen

Politico put it this way:

"The former president and the person that polls show is still the most likely GOP presidential nominee in 2024, today on Truth Social called for the suspension of the Constitution."

This poses a problem for journalists who would cover the 2024 election. By what logic can that coverage proceed?

Neutrality makes sense only within a constitutional order that his candidacy is trying to upend. "Just report the news" pretends this will be a normal campaign.

#journalism

Dec 3, 2022 at 10:35pmWeb
Show threadDirty HippieDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu That is being a traitor, by definition. No credible news source should be giving any airtime/print space to a traitor.
Show threadchetsimagesDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
Trump is still working for Putin to upend democracy.
Show threadA L KatzDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Hear, hear! "Both sides do it" turned healthy journalistic skepticism into toxic corporate cynicism.
Show threadMichelle MarkelDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I'm still haunted by a conversation I had with an opinion piece writer in late 2016. He looked scared. He said journalists won't know how to report on Trump. I didn't know what he meant then, but I sure do now. #journalism
Show threadChrizDec 4, 2022
@mgmarkel @jayrosen_nyu I wonder if it wad that same guy who was yelling something to the effect of “this is a 911 emergency!!” at some journalist conference around that same time. That had haunted me ever since.
Show threadStan DiegoDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu my fear is that the corporate mainstream media will normalize this, just as somehow the theft of government documents was forgotten about, and his putsch, and Helsinki, and his dinner with nazis etc etc. In the corporatist state the corporate media isn't impartial; it's complicit. He's their boy. IMHO of course.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 4, 2022
@stan_diego @jayrosen_nyu #TraitorMurdoch has tried to normalise this in the #US, #UK, and #Australia
He needs to be in the prison cell beside Trump.
Show threadZēntifåDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu “Suspending the U.S. Constitution may seem unthinkable to some elites on America’s coasts, but patrons at this diner in Lebanon, PA are more concerned about Hunter Biden’s laptop.”
Show threadMayor McCheeseDec 4, 2022
@zentifa @jayrosen_nyu Oh man this post just made me miss the NYT Pitchbot on Twitter.
Show threadJohn3182Dec 5, 2022
@zentifa I’ve heard the same thing at the many truck stops I frequent driving all across the US. All this talk about Hunters laptop and nothing to really show for it. Same with the list of people on a private plane. It’s all just distraction from issues that truly matter and affect the average citizens.
Show threadEmma Builds 🚀Dec 3, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu

Didn't a CBS executive come out and say the mainstream press wanted him to win in 2016 because it be great for viewership and revenues?

Show threadKeegieDec 4, 2022
@emmah @jayrosen_nyu
Les Moonves, who headed CBS in 2016, said having DJT in the election might be bad for the country, but that it was great for their ad revenue. Didn’t express the desire that he would win, iir, but still pretty gross.
Show threadEmma Builds 🚀Dec 4, 2022

@Keegie @jayrosen_nyu

Moonves is a racist and a serial sexual harasser, so I'm sure he was rooting for Trump.

Show threadBill KimzeyDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu generally speaking the more coverage of Trump the better Dems do at the polls. So ok. And I personally have become good at turning the channel, the page, or scrolling past Trump coverage.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 4, 2022
@wkimzey @jayrosen_nyu True, but that doesn't excuse it or reduce the #Sedition
Show threadKarlDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu unreal
Show threadJonathan D. Cope, Esq.Dec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Where are the old-time sedition acts when you really need them?
Show threadDebra BarconDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
Not just suspend. Terminate. Yup, unfuckingbelievable.
“termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Show threadJ David EisenbergDec 3, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Every Sunday show host absolutely has to ask every GOP guest if they support Trump’s statement.
Show threadFred C. Trump (dead/deceased)Dec 3, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu The only thing that should cover my son?

A shroud.

Show threadDouglas E. WelchDec 3, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu

He will continue until he is MADE to stop.
That should be our goal.

Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 4, 2022
@douglaswelch @jayrosen_nyu Correct
Show threadNelly JaneDec 4, 2022
@douglaswelch @jayrosen_nyu same in UK & Aust
Show threadOnemanwufpackDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu then he can't run for president as it no longer exists.
Show threadDonnie CatfingerDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
The press loves to play pretend.
Show threadmmalcDec 4, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu
“Neutrality” doesn’t mean “neuter”.

As so many others have noted, “both-sides-ism” isn’t “even-handed” if — for example — you’re describing a firefighter and an arsonist.

If a candidate is trying to upend constitutional order, then call them out on it.

Perhaps look to some British journalists for inspiration (maybe particularly notoriously the now-retired Jeremy Paxman), though Jon Stewart is now following in a similar vein.

Show threadChris CarlinDec 4, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu
By what logic can coverage of current events proceed?
Well, by the logic that it's the job of a journalist to cover current events.

You're overthinking it.

Neutrality only makes sense within a constitutional order?
Really?
You can't make sense of the concept of neutrality without a political institution sanctioning it?

This is the kind of thing that has people losing respect and faith in journalistic institutions.

Show threadmczoodtDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Start every article with "Donald Trump, who still believes he won the 2020 election and called for termination of the US constitution, today <did whatver >..."
Show threadShamanDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu TrumptyDumpty swore to defend the constitution when he was sworn in as POTUS ... #electaclownexpectacircus
Show threadM HorstmeierDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
You would think all of the self-righteous blowhards with their John Birch Society pocket constitutions always at hand would have more to say
Show threadBenj Soule🫂💙HumanityFirst🌅Dec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Suspending the constitution is treason and deranged, it's up there with KanYe's openly confessing his love for Hitler.
Show threadronpDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu From wiki -- "Journalists should acknowledge, humbly and publicly, that what they do is far more subjective and far less detached than the aura of 'objectivity' implies. He proposes that this will not end the charges of bias, but rather allow journalists to defend what they do from a more realistic and less hypocritical position."
Show threadMargaret CushingDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I don’t understand why it’s being reported that he wants to *suspend* the Constitution when he clearly says *terminate*—even more reason to address the content head on
Show threadSharon Rose 🌹Dec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
One theory on why the press didn't undermine the Trump candidacy with basic research on his previous presidential forays other politically relevant behavior in the first place is that it neatly distracted from how they quietly buried Bernie Sanders candidacy and the Democratic Party's successful sabotage of it, because the moneyed class class whom they serve thought him the greater threat.
Show threadBlake LeonardDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu https://www.wordnik.com/words/fascism
fascism — definition, examples, related words and more at Wordnik

All the words

Wordnik.com
Show threadArio2022 (She/Her)Dec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu Horrendous. But I've come to learn that polls are not the end all.
Show threadtoxtethogradyDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I'm absolutely, positively convinced Trump will belly-flop, and the GOP nominee will be someone else. And that Trump could just as easily be behind bars by 2024...
Show threadOregon Animal LoverDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I wish there was a way to know to what extent various journalists are steered to cover politics in particular ways (by their employers). My feeling is that MSM employers want Republicans controlling congress (and prez) so they'll get tax breaks.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 4, 2022
@dswidow @jayrosen_nyu That was blatantly clear in our Australian election this year but happily they lost, and may never recover. Their naked #Bias has destroyed their credibility with the majority of the population, especially younger voters
Show threadOregon Animal LoverDec 5, 2022
@rkd993 @jayrosen_nyu That's interesting. We desperately need for Americans to approach all media with an intelligent/critical eye, esp. online rightwing websites. But I do worry about weakening the good journalists. We need a strong and assertive press. It's a bit of a quandary.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 5, 2022
@dswidow I agree it is a quandary but it is a self-created one; those employed by news companies supposedly have an ethical code but that is MIA for many. They've shot themselves in the proverbial foot and unless they work to force their managements to do better (via unions or shareholder revolts) then they will continue to decline in relevance. We now, in Oz, have far more trustworthy independent journalists along with a tiny handful left in the the mostly #ToxicMSM. I don't hold out much hope that the MSM will be fixed; regulation is weak to zip; ethical standards are a joke, management is full of people who suck up to #TraitorMurdoch and the like in the other majors and they lose credibility by the day with every propaganda piece they do. #SocialMedia calls them out so they can't really hide any more either.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 5, 2022
@dswidow @jayrosen_nyu We should be tightly regulating the MSM and locking some of them up for gross misinformation and for their direct roles in stoking the #USInsurrection
Show threadOregon Animal LoverDec 6, 2022
@rkd993 @jayrosen_nyu You make excellent points. I'm torn about the regulation of media though. If Trump were in charge and he had the ability to direct regulating agencies, he would have no qualms at shutting down any media critical of him. Argh!
Show threadNelly JaneDec 4, 2022
@dswidow @jayrosen_nyu if you read any WW2 recounts from French Dutch European resistance forces you’ll find Hitler lines up perfectly with republicans in USA libs & nats in Aust & Tories in Uk ..it’s their last stand to hold onto the money & power .. and they are losing it
Show threadOregon Animal LoverDec 5, 2022
@truthofLindsay @jayrosen_nyu Boy, I hope you're right. It keeps me up at night worrying that these forces already have taken control of so much of American society. We are kind of unsophisticated when it comes to questioning info fed to us by media.
Show threadTopKnotDec 4, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu

Well said.

Show threadpacanukeha❎Dec 4, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu "there's no way they can ignore this!"

ah, well, nevertheless

Show threadZelmo ZiggyDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu He called for its “termination,” not its “suspension.”
Show threadJeffreyDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I'll make this argument: it's impossible to be neutral in covering Trump.
Show threadJohn CarlsenDec 4, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes it pretty clear that Trump is now ineligible to hold office.

We should sue to keep Trump off ballots anywhere in the USA, as well as his seditious conspirators.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - Wikipedia

Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Dec 4, 2022
@johnlogic @jayrosen_nyu The US is so damaged that many argue against this. #Broken
Show threadMatthew Pepper, MD MBADec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu @johnlogic To paraphrase (for who are wondering) “Section 3. No person shall…hold any office, civil or military, under the United States…who, having previously taken an oath …to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”
Show threadMy OpinionDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu
Really clean copy. Bravo! your writing style.
100% with you on the content.
Show threadOlavDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu quite a lot of what trump says is way outside the bounds of neutrality, but there is definitely no bothsides a political figure advocating the dissolution of the government to put him back in power.
I know y'all are trying that. Don't. Seriously don't. You give him legitimacy
Show threadWTFDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu I’m already weary of hearing about trump. MSM has to stop reporting on him 24-7. Every stupid asinine dribble that comes out of his mouth is delved into ad nauseam for ratings I assume. All that free advertising. Report it and move the fu*k on FFS! Stop with the constant punditry.
Show threadTerrible LudditeDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu It’s wild that neutral coverage isn’t damning enough.
Show threadDavid HeathDec 4, 2022
@jayrosen_nyu He must be treated as a would-be dictator. A lot will change when he’s indicted.