How False Equivalence Ruins Trump-Clinton News Coverage
The other factors besides false equivalence that factor into this:
- Trumpster fire rubbernecking - any grenade that Donald tosses will get an inordinate amount of media play, no matter how ridiculous because media is a business and a guaranteed audience exists on the right from supporters, and on the left from detractors that hangs on Donald's every word.
- False social media buzz: The right blogosphere and the Alt RIght network collective will inflate this artificially (the left does the same, but are less prone to do it with pro-Hillary posts,) - it doesn't matter that most of that buzz is artificial, and usually at least a third is outraged people expressing ire, debunking, and countering the post. Regardless of reality, the false buzz about a nothingburger makes it become a thing in itself and validates extra days of coverage. Beyond that artificial inflation is the quest on the left and the right to gain a link from Drudge and infowars.
In typical elections, news outlets often treat both major presidential candidates as relatively similar — comparing their flaws, scrutinizing their respective scandals, and framing the election as a choice between two comparable options.
That approach hasn’t been appropriate this election cycle. Clinton is not a flawless candidate — her campaign has been dogged by conspiracies surrounding the Clinton Foundation and her use of a private email server as secretary of state. But she is a relatively conventional one — abiding by both constitutional and political norms.
Trump, on the other hand, represents a dramatic break from mainstream American politics. He threatens the First Amendment, demonizes minority groups, cozies up to white supremacists, championed the birther movement, invites Russian interference in the election, promises to arrest his political opponent, lies constantly, lacks the most basic interest in and knowledge of public policy, says he may not accept the results of the election because he believes it to be “rigged” — the list goes on and on.
More: VIDEO: How False Equivalence Ruins Trump-Clinton News Coverage