“We fiddle, and the republic burns.“
Bob Garfield wrote those words in an article aimed at his fellow journalists. Garfield is no stranger to media criticism; it is the focus of his weekly radio show, “On the Media.”
Now, though, his critiques have reached an extreme level of urgency.
The Huffington Post reports that Bob Garfield has been railing against his colleagues for the way that they have been covering the rise of Donald Trump. He titled his column “Silence = Death.”
Frightening and powerful words.
https://twitter.com/RealJamesRisen/status/739136907448225792
Garfield says that all parts of the media have been sucked in by the hype and splash of Trump’s campaign. Ratings have soared every time Trump makes another racist, xenophobic, hateful statement. Garfield understands the power of ratings, but warns that Trump represents an immediate threat to the United States as we know it.
This man is not kidding. He insists that the press has a responsibility to wake up and start challenging Trump. They are, he warns, letting Trump control the message far too much.
“It’s about slapping a somnolent media into realizing that the stakes are extremely high. It’s a rare moment in American history where someone so fundamentally anti-democracy is in position to vie for the presidency.“
Garfield points out that instead of pushing Trump when he lies, journalists ask him about his tax returns. Instead of forcing him to explain his dangerous foreign policy ideas, they talk to him about possible Supreme Court choices.
The media always strives to be neutral, he says, to avoid becoming a part of the story. But by staying neutral, Garfield warns, the press has actually made its choice. That choice is to sit back and watch the nation fall instead of trying to save it.
Garfield labels Trump as a misogynist, a xenophobe, a racist. He reminds his readers that Trump shows no respect for the Constitution or the balance of powers in the government.
He points out that Trump proposes to increase torture, to kill civilians in foreign lands, and to weaken the first amendment.
In his article, Garfield wrote:
“So if all of his horrifying disqualifications are as stated — and they are — why has there been no media crusade to deny him the presidency? The press jumps to warn America about missing children, tainted meat and approaching dustings of snow? Why are we not on high f*cking alert?”
What a great question. Why the hell aren’t we all on high f*cking alert?
Watch Chris Hayes talk about the Trump effect here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fu6Hnavvjk
Featured image by Ed Ouimette via Flickr. Available through a Creative Commons Share-Alike license 2.0.
