"The Media Learned Nothing from 2016"

James Fallows, national correspondent and writer extraordinaire, has an editorial column out in the September 16, 2020 issue of The Atlantic. It is a must read for every American. It is the editorial I wish I had written, so I will direct you to his wise and frightening words instead. Here is the link: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/media-mistakes/616222/

For a taste of this powerful criticism of the role of the press in promoting Donald J. Trump, here is a sample from Fallows' article: "Now it’s four years later. And we’re waking up in Groundhog Day, so far without Bill Murray’s eventual, hard-earned understanding that he could learn new skills as time went on. For Murray, those were things like playing the piano and speaking French. For the press, in these next 49 days, those can be grappling with (among other things) three of the most destructive habits in dealing with Donald Trump. For shorthand, they are the embrace of false equivalence, or both-sides-ism; the campaign-manager mentality, or horse-race-ism; and the love of spectacle, or going after the ratings and the clicks."

Incisive critical review of the the role of the media in the delicate balance of trying to preserve our democracy. Good reading. Vote.