Crazy Talk at the Republican Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/opinion/crazy-talk-at-the-republican-debate.html?comments#permid=16119460
The GOP has been living in a parallel universe, where "data" and "facts" are nuisances to be ignored or even made fun of. Most people in the US , even in the world, judging from my daily read of German press, are just shaking their head about the Reality Show that is the current GOP primary. And "the press", journalism and the media are a big part of the reason for the Trump phenomena and for the "parallel universe" existence of the GOP - the nonsense spouted by most of the candidates is never seriously challenged - a rather weird interpretation of the "fair and balanced" doctrine, and a "business decision", especially by the cable TV media, that sensational, even dumb sensational statements, gets viewer share and ad revenue. Our news media, especially, but not only the cable media, spend by far most of their time speculating, with the help of an endless stream of talking heads, about political tactics, rather than reporting on real events and facts, and amplifying in their sound chambers every ridiculous comment made by a candidate. CNN now seems perplexed by the continued "success" of Donald Trump - but they are largely the unwitting tools of this "success" by giving media coverage to every ridiculous comment made by him - starting with the whole "birther" episode. Donald Trump is an extreme example of what happens when our news media concentrate on hype and speculation at the expense of "news" and reasoned analysis.
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