The death throes of Trump or fair journalism?

It’s all a bit of a blur, a fog of red and blue as numbers like 253 and 214 flit through my mind and phrases like ‘without proof’ invade my consciousness. No, it’s not a dream or a hangover, just too many late nights watching US politics.

When Donald Trump was elected president of the US, I wrote that I felt a sense of dread. It was a divisive presidency but at least world peace wasn’t torn asunder. Now I feel some relief, as Joe Biden declares his intention to “lower the temperature”, but I also feel unease at what Mr Biden and Kamala Harris will do, especially in promoting abortion and ‘woke’ culture in general. I hope Mr Trump’s judicial appointments in the Supreme Court will bear good fruit – at least that part of his legacy will live on.

While we have been watching the death throes of the Trump administration, we also seemed to experience the death throes of objective journalism. Ironically some liberals and journalists worried about Mr Trump’s Supreme Court nominees being partisan but they need to get their own house in order.

The pro-Biden and anti-Trump bias in the media was obvious over here and blatant over there. CNN is normally anti-Trump though for election night they mercifully concentrated on the facts, the results, and they did an excellent job of it. They soon reverted to form and by last weekend we were getting ticker tape headlines like ‘Trump’s first day as a lame duck President’. Of course, if you wanted cringe on the other side you’d watch Fox News, and after both you’d yearn for some journalistic neutrality. Most even-handed was EWTN’s News Nightly (available on YouTube) – just a pity it wasn’t on more often especially at the weekend.

Some commentators impressed – for example Larry Donnelly, though an avowed Democrat supporter, was reasonably even-handed and was critical of the Democrats for alienating middle-ground people who were not keen on the Democrats’ extreme stances on moral-cultural issues – on The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk) last Friday he referenced “the cultural agenda of the coastal elites”. One thing that annoyed me later last week was that when Mr Trump made a claim reporters, including RTÉ’s Brian O’Donovan whose reports I’ve usually enjoyed, felt the need to add “without proof”. This became so tiresome. Politicians are much prone to dodgy claims but up to now they didn’t constantly get the “no proof” stamp of disapproval. Many of Mr Trump’s claims were indeed dodgy, but please let the viewers assess and decide for themselves, or at least be even-handed and apply it across the board!  Mr Trump was playing a dangerous and irresponsible game when he claimed victory before he had it. His victory narrative was more the sin of presumption than the virtue of hope. Interestingly that was the very strategy recommended by former Trump campaigner Steve Bannon when he was interviewed on RTÉ’s Drivetime on the Tuesday evening.

One of the worst instances of media bias at home was last Saturday morning’s Playback (RTÉ Radio 1). An anti-Trump fest, it came across to me as sneering, condescending and contemptuous as Philip Boucher-Hayes gathered the worst collection of clips to show Mr Trump in a bad light (admittedly he often needs no extra help there!) When he played commentators that were favourable to Mr Trump (for example, the Mr Bannon interview referenced earlier) it felt just to mock. RTÉ did better with a more balanced review of the papers on the Brendan O’Connor show (RTÉ Radio 1) on Sunday. I liked Karl Deeter’s contribution that Mr Trump’s personality eclipsed his achievements, while Brian O’Donovan spoke of the friendly, articulate and nice people he met at Trump rallies and how important it was to get that side of the story.

It struck me as strange how across a whole range of Irish, British and American outlets they were all using the same language and tactics – Mr Trump’s claim were “without proof”, “without evidence”, “unsubstantiated”. More like campaigning than reporting, it felt like coordination and/or a severe case of groupthink.

Sky News on Sunday night led with scenes of Mr Biden going to Mass that morning, and commentary about how his religion was “at the core of his life”. The massive moral blind spot on abortion wasn’t mentioned. It might explain liberals worrying about Justice Amy Coney Barret’s Catholicism but giving a free pass to Mr Biden for his Catholicism and very faith-themed acceptance speech.

Pick of the week

Sunday Morning Live

BBC One Sunday November 15, 10.30 am

Last episode as Sean Fletcher and Sally Phillips take a look at the week’s talking points and explore the ethical and religious issues of the day.

Service

RTÉ One Sunday November 15, 11.00 am

The Irish Kidney Association’s annual Ecumenical Service of Light from Newman’s University Church, Dublin.

The Night Notre-Dame Burned

BBC 4 Monday November 16, 9 pm

A Storyville documentary that tells the dramatic story of the devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral on April 15, 2019.