Bob Schwartz

This is a replay of a post from April 30, 2019. It is repeated not only because at that time we were deep into the first Trump administration. It is repeated because here and now, the attempts to “balance” coverage of the second Trump administration are–hoping not to sound over-dramatic–existentially dangerous for America.

While we regularly employ balancing and weighing in our personal and public lives–the traditional pro-con lists–there is a special provision. The “joke” describing Mussolini’s fascist regime was “he made the trains run on time.” Yes, and he was a brutal fascist. The provision is that at some point, the weighing must end, because the damage is so overwhelming that balancing has no place.

The news principle of balance is considered almost sacred, and has its place under many circumstances. But not all circumstances. On the one hand, on the other hand, you decide, is no longer enough. For example, on the one hand, a president is by all evidence physically and psychologically unwell and perhaps unstable. On the other hand, he says he is in excellent, unparalleled, psychological and physical health. We report both, you decide.

Six years later, there is better news about news. Many more independent outlets are doing reporting that is reliable and “balanced” in favor of reality. Still, some of the major once-respected news organizations are shying away from reality, sometimes running away from it, out of their own leanings or out of fear.

You may have seen or heard about Samantha Bee’s Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on TBS. The first one of these two years ago was meant to point to Trump’s attempt to diminish journalism by not attending, as president’s have for decades. In years past, the WHCA Dinner became known as the Nerd Prom, combining a celebration of a free press, journalists, celebrities and sharp roasting—including roasting the president.

This year, thin-skinned Trump not only held his usual alternative rally at the exact same time, but somehow cowed the White House Correspondents’ Association into abandoning roasting, humor and celebrities entirely, in favor of earnest attention to journalism. Samantha Bee would have none of it, instead offering her own combination of humor, entertaining discussion, and celebrities.

The segment getting the most attention is probably her closing roast of Trump, which was no holds barred. But in the analysis category, no segment was better than the one on how media attempts to offer “balanced” coverage is useless when the matter covered doesn’t really have two civilized and defensible sides. The segment was grounded in this from an op-ed piece by Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann:

We understand the values of mainstream journalists, including the effort to report both sides of a story. But a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality. If the political dynamics of Washington are unlikely to change anytime soon, at least we should change the way that reality is portrayed to the public.

Our advice to the press: Don’t seek professional safety through the even-handed, unfiltered presentation of opposing views.

“Balanced” media coverage, not calling out demagoguery, venality and incompetence at an early stage, is part of how Trump managed to get elected, and how the current devolution of American democracy continues. For more than two centuries, a mostly two-party America could say that there were very fine people on both sides. But it is not only possible that that is not eternally true; we are living through the proof.

April 30, 2019