Five rules for covering Donald Trump in 2024
We’re just days into the first of Donald Trump’s criminal trials, the New York “hush money” case, and several of the worst media habits of the Trump era are already rematerializing.
There’s the general thirst of the legacy media, camped out in Manhattan for this historic occasion. There’s the “octobox” analysis and crowded panels on cable news, breaking down the action like it’s the NFL playoffs. There are the breathless live blogs documenting each side-eye Trump delivers, as audiences must rely on the media to distill what’s happening without cameras in the courtroom. This tactic will eventually give the press the opportunity to launder and sanitize the salacious content we’re headed for, as we dive into the world of porn stars and liars.
We know Trump himself is embracing this — CNN reports he has told his advisers he “wants as much media coverage of his court appearances as possible.” He thinks this charade is ultimately good for him. We’ll see over the weeks and months ahead whether he’s right.
But in the interim, this is as good a time as any for the press to take a hard look at how they cover Donald Trump in 2024 — in a way that best serves their audience, and adheres to the principles and ethics they should (in theory) strive to live up to.
Here are five rules for the media as we approach the election.
Power of precision: There were a lot of embarrassing journalistic fails in George Stephanopoulos’s interview of New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday, but perhaps the worst was this line of questioning: that if Trump is convicted in the New York case, Sununu (and by extension all Americans) should be wary of supporting a “convicted” felon. It’s a foolish argument on its face. If Trump is acquitted in New York, would Stephanopoulos and his colleagues ask every Democratic politician if they will admit Trump is not a criminal? Would Stephanopoulos himself admit that, and believe it?
Of course not. But worse, it’s a wholly imprecise argument. What are the details of this particular case? How is it different from the ones in Florida or D.C.? Precision matters, as does context and nuance. And it’s incumbent on the press to keep that precise, contextualized mission in all its reporting.
Most Americans aren’t following the news every day. They would benefit from some background. When the press paints with the broadest brush possible, it is subconsciously — or, perhaps, consciously — conflating many different stories and blurring the clarity of the single one being dissected. That does a disservice to the public.
Show, don’t tell: I’ve had an ongoing argument with friends who work in the mainstream media over the reasons the press was losing trust during the Trump years. It’s multifaceted, but let’s take one specific claim — that Trump is a unique, existential threat to America and our democracy. I don’t believe this, but for now let’s just take it as a given for these journalists who do. If you really believed it, then now would be the time to double down on your principles. The only way you’re going to convince a wide swath of Americans — right-leaning, independent, apolitical — is by showing it, doing the work and making the case.
But we’ve seen the press go in the other direction. Instead of two sources, maybe you just need one, or none at all, as long as some friend at the New York Times already reported it. Screaming hysterically, hyperbolizing and, most crucially, abandoning the principles you once held in high esteem is the exactly wrong approach. Keep the ethical guardrails on and show, don’t tell.
Save emotions for your therapist: It feels like every few days there’s a viral clip out of President Joe Biden’s favorite show, “Morning Joe.” This week, it was co-host Joe Scarborough attacking those on the right who “hate America,” among other insults to half the country.
Scarborough is not a journalist, so he’s performing and emoting, and that’s one thing. But when actual journalists adopt this posture, overtly or more subtly, it shows through in their coverage.
Suppress your disdain for Trump when it comes to your reporting. Save your emotions for therapy. At a bare minimum, don’t fall into the trap of attacking Trump supporters with the same vitriol of the man himself. You want to favor “truth” over “objectivity,” as is in vogue these days? Fine. But telling the truth doesn’t require additional dramatic flourishes.
Embrace introspection: There are still some journalists who make the case — as former Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi did just this week — that the mainstream media properly covered the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020, after it was broken by the New York Post.
It’s absurd — but it’s instructive.
The legacy media drank from a firehose during the Trump years, and undoubtedly they got many stories correct. But there are also clearly Trump-related news items they fell flat on, from Russiagate and the Steele dossier to the Hunter Biden laptop. Embracing a level of introspection will ingratiate them with a skeptical public as we enter the thick of 2024. Taking the L doesn’t undermine trust — it enhances it.
What may happen isn’t news: I always remember a “breaking news” CNN lower-third chyron from the Trump Era that served as a perfect encapsulation of the moment: it alerted viewers that Robert Mueller’s team had “deliberated seeking” a subpoena for then-President Trump to be interviewed. “Deliberated” in this context is the tell — it connotes an event that didn’t happen. So what is the “breaking news?” That something might have happened but didn’t?
For decades, journalism was about documenting what happened. With the advent of cable news, it became about what was happening right now. With Trump’s presidency, too often it became about what may happen or, more specifically, what simply hasn’t happened. And what might happen, or what almost happened, is simply not news.
We’re entering an insane and bizarre 2024 election cycle. But if there’s one final message I’d leave the mainstream press it’s this: Do your job. At least the job you thought you were supposed to do back when “Celebrity Apprentice” was still on television.
Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor, is the author of “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People” and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.