Saturday, January 18, 2020

Make America Informed Again

Not to pick on Rich Kirchen and The Milwaukee Business Journal, but is this, President Donald Trump Touts Economic Record At Downtown Milwaukee Campaign Rally, really journalism?

The article repeats all of Trump's lies and then, I guess for counterpoint, it gives a quote from Mayor Tom Barrett.

Reporting needs to have context. It's fine to recap the many claims Trump spewed at his rally, but the reporting on such should include context, corrections and details regarding the claims made by Trump. In this instance, it should have been pointed out that most of what Trump was claiming is not true.

Such as the claim the country is experiencing the lowest average unemployment rate in history. It's just not true. And, also, much of the low unemployment is due to policies undertaken during the Obama administration.


Trump made claims of wage growth and a blue-collar boom. Also, just not true. 

Wage growth is being held back by political decisions and the Trump administration is on the wrong side of key debates
Weak job and wage growth weigh on these Trump states

The article then went on to list the many derogatory names Trump has for his opponents. Such a list would be fine if it were (dis)qualified with something about maturity, decorum and how unbecoming such behavior is for the office, but no such admonishment was included.

It went on reporting of Trump claiming the Make American Great Again strategy was the "greatest movement in the history of the country." Yet, no push-back on this either. Not equal rights, civil rights or women's rights. Make American Great Again isn't a movement. It's a lie and an embarrassment. 

The article closes with Pence parroting false or inflated job creation and wage growth claims.

US job creation slowed under Trump in 2019 to the lowest growth in 8 years
US job creation in 2019 slowest in 8 years

A media that doesn't give context doesn't really present reality. This type of vapid regurgitation acting as reporting is why so many Americans are misinformed and we have an orange buffoon for president. Our media must do better. 

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