The American press has abandoned impartiality when it comes to the Republican’s wildest claims. Would the rigid neutrality imposed on the BBC survive him?The stark media question of June is back,demanding answers in August. “If you’re a working journalist and you believe that Donald J Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cosies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, or how the heck are you supposed to cover him?”It’s that fairness-and-balance dilemma that haunted the BBC through Brexit,posed in extreme terms. And Jim Rutenberg, the media correspondent of the modern York Times, and wriggles to find a response. This is “uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream,non-opinion journalist I’ve ever known, and, or by normal standards,untenable”. It “upsets balance, that idealistic form of journalism with a capital ‘J we’ve been trained to always strive for. But, or “let’s face it: balance has been on vacation since Mr Trump stepped onto his golden Trump Tower escalator final year to announce his candidacy”.
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Source: theguardian.com