US election: concerns for media as voters back Trump on reporters’ bias

So Donald Trump thinks the media has it in for him? Well, it seems most Americans now agree.

Donald Trump in Warren, Michigan, yesterday, says journalists are ‘dishonest’, ‘sick’ and ‘corrupt’.

So Donald Trump thinks the media has it in for him? Well, it seems most Americans agree. A poll has found almost nine out of 10 people believe the US media wants Hillary Clinton to win next week’s presidential election.

This might explain why Trump has stepped up his attacks on the media to the point that wearing a press pass at his rallies elicits angry stares from those in the crowd who might wish they had pitchforks and muskets to ­encourage more balanced coverage.

In this election the media, like never before, is an integral part of the story.

With each rally, Trump repeats accusations that journalists are “dishonest”, “sick” and “corrupt”, and he points out the press pack to his fired-up supporters.

The Suffolk University/USA Today poll asked: “Who do you think the media, including major newspapers and TV stations, would like to see elected president: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?” It found 75.9 per cent ­answered Clinton, while just 7.9 per cent picked Trump.

It follows an Associated Press/GkF poll that found 87 per cent of Trump supporters believe the media is biased against the billionaire — something 51 per cent of Clinton supporters agreed with.

Many will argue that Trump has bought this on himself with his maverick, unconventional and sometimes offensive behaviour and that the media is merely doing its job in calling him out when he stretches the truth, fails to provide details or acts in such a way as to raise questions about his temperament or lack of political experience.

Yet even some major media players now admit that Trump’s candidacy has caused barely disguised horror among many journalists, leading more of them to blur the lines between straight news reporting and opinion.

Carl Cannon, the executive editor of the influential US political website RealClearPolitics, has said “the 2016 election will be remembered as one in which much of the mainstream media all but admitted aligning itself with the Democratic Party”.

Last week, veteran CNN political reporter Wolf Blitzer asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway why Trump kept ­attacking the media, adding it was becoming potentially dangerous for young journalists covering the campaign.

Conway said Trump attacked reporters largely because of what they wrote on social media.

“Their Twitter feed is, for some of them, almost — we’ve done an analysis — 85-95 per cent negative towards Donald Trump. You didn’t hear anything good to say? There’s nothing good to report that day that you would actually put on your Twitter feed? So I think the responsibility has to go both ways. But you’re right, I am open-press, I believe in a free press, I believe in an honest press,” Conway said.

Blitzer replied: “I hope in these final days he doesn’t continue to point at them as he does at these rallies (and say), ‘Look at them, they’re disgusting,’ because God forbid, there could be an ugly incident and it worries me every time I hear that.”

But as Trump continues to rail against journalists, the media ­verdict increasingly comes down against him. Almost every US newspaper that has editorialised about the election has endorsed Clinton. Yesterday, the Clinton campaign put out a press release boasting about the latest editorials.

“These endorsements continue the unprecedented, near-universal nature of this year’s editorial board endorsements of Clinton,” the Clinton campaign said.

“Even newspapers that have historically backed Republicans have either refused to support Trump or have offered their endorsement to ­Clinton.

“This weekend’s endorsements include one from The State in South Carolina, which had not ­endorsed a Democrat in 40 years.”

Whatever the outcome of the election next Wednesday (AEDT), journalism schools will enjoy raking over the rights and wrongs of how this presidential race was covered for many years to come.