NY Observer ‘Endorsement’ of Trump Far Worse Than Just Absurd Conflict of Interest
If the New York Observer was still an influential newspaper (or website for that matter), their endorsement of Donald Trump yesterday would be a huge story. After all, when basically the only media entity in America to endorse Trump is owned by Trump’s son-in-law, that’s sad. When the editorial attempts to convince readers that the choice is not a result of its corporate owner, that is an even sadder day for the journalists who work there, and even journalism as a whole.
Displaying a level of disingenuousness for the ages, the paper’s “editors” wrote yesterday:
“Donald Trump is the father-in-law of the Observer’s publisher. That is not a reason to endorse him. Giving millions of disillusioned Americans a renewed sense of purpose and opportunity is.”
The editorial went on to mention “making America great again” three times, and yet in mirroring Trump’s campaign, offered no specifics about exactly how that might transpire. Then, in an especially farcical twist, they attempted to distance themselves from the tiny New York City media bubble which they cover and inhabit:
“The media tried very hard to construct excuses and rationales for his success. Mr. Trump was a celebrity, an entertainer; he knew how to play the media and gain its attention; his policies grabbed headlines but lacked the specificity of his rivals—which gave him an unfair advantage. But what every pundit’s platitudes missed was simple: they failed to recognize that Mr. Trump’s success is the result of one thing—optimism. Mr. Trump was tapping into the pent-up desire of millions of voters to make America great again.”
Right, the pundits are utilizing platitudes instead of appreciating the pent up desire “of voters to make America great again.” Now let me finish this tomahto soup.
Without getting bogged down in the minutiae surrounding the ongoing conflict for the paper, suffice it to say that ten years ago, this Observer editorial would have been a major media scandal. Instead, most media entities simply mentioned the so called endorsement with little more than bemused sarcasm.
Sadly, this represents a broader problem; no one really seems to expect more. The public, even fellow journalists, appear nonplussed at what sure does feel like a complete corruption of the editorial process. Americans’ distrust of media is at an all time high for a reason.
So while many will dismiss this editorial as nothing more than an “all in the family” affair — and it’s true that an endorsement from The Observer is really irrelevant these days — what it says about the media as a whole is beyond troubling.
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follow Jon Nicosia on Twitter at @NewsPolitics
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
