Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

One No Trump

7/18/2015

0 Comments

 
Yesterday, the Huffington Post ran a huge banner headline splashed across their home page explaining that they will no longer be cover Donald Trump in the Politics section, but instead only on the Entertainment page.  As they explain in full --
After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.
While I completely, in the fullness of my heart agree with the sentiment -- and have stated something similar here, that Mr. Trump is a joke of a person, isn't a serious candidate, and that I don't intend to spend much time analyzing his political positions -- I think this is a very wrong-headed move by the Huffington Post.

It's also very different from what I've said.  If Donald Trump chooses to act like a clown on the political stage, so be it, then cover him like a clown on the political stage, as I intend to when it's called for.  But he's on the political stage.  Also, another big difference:  I'm not a news website with a big paid news staff...

Donald Trump is a joke of a political candidate, someone who is only interested in the Donald Trump Brand.  But he's a declared candidate, he's filed his official papers -- and at the moment, he's leading some polls for the Republican nomination for president -- including the Huffington Post's own "Pollster" that averages 100 polls.  How a news organization can't cover him in politics is utterly beyond me.

While polls today have almost no meaning in relation to the final results, they do show what the public is focusing on right now.  They also have significant meaning in that they're what "Fox News" will be using to determine who will be on their debate stage.

To be clear, I can see making the editorial decision that until Donald Trump registered as an official candidate, you'd only treat him as entertainment.  Or until he reached more than two percent of voters' choice, you wouldn't deal with him as political news. But at this point, he's passed both thresholds. 

There's no obligation for the Huffington Post or anyone to cover every single thing Donald Trump says.  This is something so many news organizations tend to forget.  Just because a political candidate opens his or her mouth, the words that fall out don't all need to be reported.  With staff editors, you actually can pick and choose, and decide what is actual political news and what is Trump Bombast for personal attention.  Berate him all you want when you feel it's deserved.  Ridicule and sarcasm are powerful tools.  Lambaste his faux pronouncements.  Ignore when his words hit the totally pointless.  But...he is a political news figure.

When Donald Trump made his outlandish, offensive statements about some Mexicans, it had a real-world impact on both politics and the business world. Notably, it got other Republican candidates to comment.  It also got many major corporations to cut business ties.  That's not entertainment news.

When Donald Trump appears at the first GOP debate, will the Huffington Post only report in their political coverage what the other candidates say?  And will they put the Trump portion of a debate exchange on the Entertainment page?

I suspect that the Huffington Post will find places where coverage of Mr. Trump fits their political coverage and will explain that at such times it is deserving of being considered political news.  The thing is -- they don't say they'll do that in their statement.  What they, specifically and clearly, is that they will not cover Donald Trump as politics, period.

That's another problem with this decision.  To make such a monumental news decision is deserving of a thoughtful explanation.  But the Huffington Post gave it one dismissive paragraph.  Five sentences.  That might be all that Donald Trump deserves -- but their readers deserve more.

In fact, it's hard to see how this decision will even work.  It's one thing to say, after all, that you're not going to cover him except on your "Entertainment section."   The thing is - entertainment stores regularly make the Huffington Post's home page.  Some even as banner headlines.  Indeed, as I write this, the home page has a story about a movie trailer for a Leonardo DiCapprio film, there are separate stories about Taylor Swift, Amy Schumer and Kim Kardashian, and a trailer story for The X-Files TV series, along with stories about cute videos with puppies and kittens, and whether or not to refrigerate butter.  To think that Donald Trump, even as a clown, doesn't fit somewhere into all that is hard to figure.  Though if given the choice of finding space for a front page story on Donald Trump or butter, I might go with the butter.

Already, in fact, only hours after making their pronouncement, the Huffington story about Donald Trump on its home page -- the #3 story, in fact -- about Mr. Trump's response to the HuffPo proclamation.  (The article itself was bizarre.  It references that Trump notes he's #1 in the Huffington Post Pollster -- and the story dismisses this by saying how unimportant polls are at this point.  Well...yes, they basically are, except -- as I said, that's how "Fox News" is determining who'll be in their debates...and also -- geez, if you think they're that unimportant to the point of disparaging your own, why waste readers' time and your money and have them at all??)  But then, why have the story about Donald Trump #3 on your home page in the first place just hours after you just said you'd only write about him in the Entertainment section?!

The decision also plays into making Donald Trump a "martyr" to the "liberal media."  In saying that they're not going to give Donald Trump political coverage, they are likely going to give him more political coverage elsewhere.  Not that that is a concern of any publication, which makes its editorial decisions on what it thinks best.  But it's worth at least noting the reality.

I think Donald Trump is a joke.  He's not going to get the Republican nomination for president.  He's interested in himself and the Trump Brand.  He panders to racists.  And he's not deserving of having every word out of his mouth covered as serious political commentary.

But he's a real political candidate.  Who -- today -- is leading some polls as the favorite candidate for the Republican nomination for president.  And to say you're not going to cover him except on your "Entertainment section" (which tends to repeatedly bleed to your front page) is something that is not only irresponsible, but -- as far as I can see -- unworkable.

In the end, here's how wrong the Huffington Post's decision is -- and what a big mistake Donald Trump made.  He should have registered here as a California resident.  Then he could have run for governor here.  With his name recognition and ludicrous statements, he could have stood a serious chance to be the GOP candidate two years ago.  And given our checkered celebrity-driven history, having occasional brain-freezes to vote for a Schwarzenegger or Reagan based on fame only with no experience at all, gotten elected.  And then, as the actual Republican California governor, he would have been a formidable challenger this year for the Republican nomination to be president.

There's almost no difference between that Donald Trump and the pathetic joke running today who the Huffington Post says they will no longer cover as political news -- except the grace of Gad.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.

    Picture
           Available on Amazon

    Picture
           Available on Amazon

    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    International
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2025
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like