Donald Trump was an emergency and journalism wasn't up to the task.
A must-read by journalist and journalism professor Dan Gillmor
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Neutrality, objectivity — pick your journalistic norm — should not apply to these topics, not logically or morally, if we want to achieve that more perfect union and sustainable planet. Yet they remain entrenched, in too many journalistic circles, even when they are failing us.
Why? Probably because — and I’m being charitable — too many journalists can’t bring themselves to believe that these dangers are here today, or imminent, or necessarily even real.
That’s most evident when it comes to the growing threat to our republic. The people who report our news can’t, or won’t, imagine how close we may be to a tipping point that leads to the collapse of the great, unfinished American experiment in liberty.
Caution: It’s vital to take the growing threats to democracy seriously —and beware that we don’t allow our battle against the real authoritarian threat become a backdoor to a different kind of authoritarianism, the way we turned the 9/11 attacks into an years-long curbing of civil liberties at home.
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