The Trump storyline that reporters must not fail on

photo illustration by gerd altmann

After being understandably maligned in the aftermath of November’s presidential election, much of the national news media has responded to President Donald Trump’s early grenade throwing exhibition with some excellent journalism.

Media critics and Trump haters rightly still vent about weak word choices. Trump’s Gaza idea, for instance, is worse than “audacious” (New York Times’ first version) and worse than “brazen” (revised version). They also vent about a seeming routineness to story presentations. One respected critic wondered why TV networks aren’t doing wall-to-wall coverage as they do for natural disasters and why they aren’t writing chyrons that say “America in Crisis.” And corporate media bosses who have bowed down to Trump with Mar-a-Lago visits, lawsuit settlements, inauguration donations and squelched candidate endorsements deserve every ounce of the outrage.

But it’s still possible for ethical newsrooms, where publishers and owners aren’t meddling in day-to-day stories and editors aren’t self-censoring, to do good work. Although it’s mentally hard for many people to read or watch the news these days, the good work has been out there since Trump Part II began. Outlets large and small, legacy and digital-only, are uncovering news and placing it in the necessary contexts of political retaliation, crony enrichment and an attack on the rule of law and the Constitution. The non-stop pace of controversial actions from the White House makes it hard for media and citizens to keep up, but the alarms are audible to anyone listening.

This work needs to continue. But it will not be enough.

The most important story facing the press is just now unfolding: Documenting the impact that presidential actions and policies will have on the lives of people, especially (but not exclusively) groups that are targeted and vulnerable. Like this story. And this one. This crucial reporting must not be done with some sort of artificial, 50-50 balance of good and bad because that’s not going to be the reality.

Nor can it be done to maximum effect through statistics, political opponent sound bites and experts expounding. It means, instead, talking to real people who will lay bare the facts and emotions of their lives at the moment. It should be the most powerful storytelling of the next few years.

The obligation to show consequences, which will demand a commitment over time, belongs not just to national news organizations. Local ones that know their communities and citizens are better positioned to pound the pavement and find the impacts.

All big stories like this have endless angles, of course. Here’s another one the media should not shy away from: the voter remorse angle. It may seem pointless and even antagonistic to ask for self-reflection from Trump voters who don’t like what they’ve seen this time around or, more significantly, discover that their lives got worse. Not easy to admit you got snookered. And they might not even believe that they were.

But remorse, or lack of it, remains a legitimate news angle going forward, with big implications for the election process, for how the news media should play their role, and for understanding the way many Americans think.