Did you know that a historic march for women’s rights that involved nearly 3 million people across the globe happened on Saturday? Well, if you spent time watching any major news channel, you might have missed it because there was an even bigger and better news story out there. Did scientists cure cancer? No. Did the European Union dissolve? No. Did the intelligence community finally prove that Russia “influenced” the election? No. What story was so important that every news channel devoted their prime coverage to it as opposed to one of the largest peaceful protests in U.S. history?
Well, it was, by my estimation, a fake news story.
Instead of focusing on the Women’s March, the major news outlets devoted most of their coverage to a sophomoric schoolyard brawl with the Trump administration over the size of the crowd at the inauguration on Friday.
It started with President Trump lamenting over supposed false news reports on the inaugural crowd size when he spoke at the CIA, then escalated when his press secretary, Sean Spicer, spent five minutes aggressively scolding the White House press corps over this, and concluded with the likes of Chuck Todd and George Stephanopoulos duking it out with Trump’s counselor, Kellyanne Conway, on air Sunday morning. This wasn’t real news, it was a fabricated distraction that was meant to steer attention away from the protests.
The net result was that the protests were underscored, only earning a brief few moments of passive coverage that went more or less like this:
“Oh hey, look at these protests! Women’s rights, wow! See, we told you Trump is unpopular, let’s pat each other’s backs. Anyways, more on Trump and his inaugural crowd size after this short commercial break!”
This is the sad condition of “news” media in the Trump era.
The mainstream media is, supposedly, supposed to be sympathetic with, if not outright supportive of, progressive and liberal causes. There is a well-established bipartisan consensus that the media has a left-leaning bias, Fox News notwithstanding. If there was any recent event that epitomized progressive causes that the media should have been doting over, it was the women’s march. Yet, the media did not take it seriously and instead took the bait set by the amateur hour taking place over at the White House.
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The alleged media champions of America's left missed a major opportunity to really stick it to the candidate, and now president, who they so openly detested.
Yes, Trump and his staff looked petty and defensive this weekend. They were clearly desperate for attention. Their arrogance and contempt for the media were proudly on display and they did themselves no favor for their image except with Trump’s already galvanized base of supporters.
However, they won this round because they successfully diverted attention from the Women's March to the latest lunchroom drama. Many people still underestimate the power of Donald Trump, despite his unreal ascent to the helm of government, because, in their eyes, someone so ridiculous, over the top, dishonest, crude, and repulsive cannot and should not, be taken seriously.
Yet here we are.
The worst part? It was so painfully obvious that the White House was using this non-event over crowd size to distract people from the Women's March. They were also hogging the spotlight so the new government could quietly start dismantling social programs, the Affordable Care Act, and protections for lower and middle-class Americans. This is only the beginning too. Just imagine what they’ll try to distract us with when they stop enforcing civil rights legislation, start destroying the environment, or try to normalize Vladimir Putin’s regime.
This might not seem like a serious issue. After all, the Women's March was successful in a lot of ways. Maybe the news missed this, but those who were paying attention did not.
Most Millennials don’t rely on cable television for their news and have a decent record of deciphering newsworthy events over non-stories. The logic often goes; it does not affect me, therefore it does not exist. But millions of other Americans do rely on cable news for information. Many are older and less-educated, are more inclined to believe whatever the TV says, and, given their demographics, are more likely to vote. Not everybody is like you and me. Not everybody has the means or the access to pay attention to what is actually important. We don't all live in the same bubble.
Now that Donald Trump has assumed office, it is paramount that we pay attention to what his administration is saying, how they’re saying it, and who they are saying it to. We must continue to peacefully oppose his agenda if that’s your prerogative, but it has to go beyond protesting. It was made clear this past weekend that millions of protesters, many of whom were women of diverse backgrounds, were sadly not enough to appropriately capture the attention of the press.
We must hold the press accountable, just as we must hold our government accountable, for their actions. Not only should we demand that they do their jobs in an ethical and honest manner, we should demand that they are reporting on what is actually important. Regardless of the truth, the size of Trump’s inaugural crowd does not matter. It makes absolutely no difference if there were one thousand people there or one million, he is still the president either way.
However, it’s not just the press that needs to be held to a higher standard. Millennials also have a responsibility to hold Trump accountable while providing coverage to important events, such as the women’s march, through social media outlets and news organizations under our control. Maybe we should spend a little less time making asinine listicles and ironic GIFs and put more effort into quality journalism and activism. Click bait accomplishes nothing and it’s annoying.
This past weekend was inspirational and impressive, but ultimately a lost opportunity for the Trump opposition to effectively capture America’s attention. I wager, that if, or when, this opposition movement gets serious, organizes, and suddenly starts winning elections and enacting policy, more people will start paying attention, but only if we require them to do so.
