Bob Woodward, Washington Post journalist since 1971, his current position as associate editor had some advice and analysis to offer in a Newsweek interview. Woodward, in conjunction with Carl Bernstein earned their stripes doing the majority of the original reporting during the Watergate scandal. Quotes offered by Woodward in the Newsweek interview are quite enlightening, including his advice to journalists to "Shut up…and just listen," and "It’s important to get your personal politics out," stating "The emotion should be directed at doing more work."
Some of his assertions make those of us that have been documenting the failures of the MSM over the last couple of years, shake our heads in amazement, wondering if he has been reading the same "news" as we have been seeing throughout the Trump presidency, and in other areas his "advice" that he teaches in classes, seems spot on.
You’ve described the Trump presidency as being a “test” for the news media. Do you think the media is failing the test?
First of all, journalists can always do better. Myself at the top of the list. I don't think journalism is failing at all in the Trump era. But we have a lot of work to do. A number of reporters have at times become emotionally unhinged about it all, one way or the other. Look at MSNBC or Fox News, and you will see those continually either denigrating Trump or praising him. I think the answer is in the middle, and in this class I talk about how it’s important to get your personal politics out. It's destructive to become too politicized. The emotion should be directed at doing more work, not some feeling or personal conclusion.
Personally I would vehemently disagree with Woodward's assertion that journalism isn't failing in the Trump era, but wholeheartedly agree that a number of reporters have become emotionally unhinged.
Throughout the interview one can see such a vast difference between his ability to admit the "evidence" simply isn't there to claim the Russia/Trump collusion story amounts to a Watergate-type scandal, and other Wapo reporters that have been spent a year harping on that very point, but the entire interview is worth reading.
EMOTIONALLY UNHINGED INTERNET ROUNDUP
I have spent the past week watching chat forums, social media and comment sections and have noted it is not just "journalists" that have become "emotionally unhinged," but rather whole segments of society, where NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch is being attacked relentlessly by gun control proponents, some of the names she is called are so vile I wouldn't even type them here, but worse than that, they are openly calling for her children to be slaughtered, for no other reason than she speaks out about the constitutional right to bear arms.
Believe it or not, that screen shot is from one of the less offensive attacks Loesch receives on a constant basis, many of which end up either deleted or Twitter suspends/deletes their accounts for actual threats and harassment, but others phrase it in a way where they make their point without violating terms of service.
Going through almost any one of Dana's comment threads we find accusations calling her a child killer (Dana Loesch has never killed anyone), blaming her and NRA for every death by firearm, without any mention of the person that , you know, actually pulled the trigger, calling NRA a "terrorist organization," etc etc... you get the point. It isn't just random internet users, but also blue-checked verified Hollywood types that attack Loesch, some bravely from behind a block (They block Loesch, then bad-mouth her on their threads where she cannot see it), like Rosie O'Donnell.
Gun grabbers and NRA aside, we see other areas where those with Trump Derangement Syndrome, aka "emotionally unhinged" people are literally set off by any thought or statement that doesn't fit in with their own beliefs, completely unable to help themselves from going completely off topic, just so they can attack.
For example any journalist that is usually a favorite of the liberal crowd, such as CNN's Erin Burnett, causing a liberal meltdown if they dare to stray from the official "Everything Trump does is BAD" narrative,. She stated that if President Trump solves the North Korea problem he "would be going down as a great president, and there's no way around that."
You would think Burnett committed a crime by the way liberals reacted, telling her to get her head out of her.....errrr.... butt, saying her comment was "stupid," teller her to get a grip on herself, and more.
Another example. The jobs data came out today, outlets like NYT, MarketWatch, WSJ, and Bloomberg reported on it, but when Fox News reported the very same numbers, social media users say "More bull$hit from faux news." When VP Pence touted the job numbers on Twitter, the abuse and vitriol was utterly unhinged, with one user actually posting a picture of Jesus, overlaid with a moving hand shooting a bird. Who does that? Really, what kind of sick mind deliberately creates and/or posts that type of image? (Linking to the Twitter comment because I will not upload that trash to the site)
The level of crazy online these days is unparalleled. From Kathy Griffin, the woman who thought it would be "funny" to pose with a mock, bloody severed head of the President Trump, posting a picture with Hillary Clinton and saying "It’s #InternationalWomensDay....I don’t want to brag, but I just had to post this picture of me with the President of the United States," to Joy Behar mocking the Vice President's Christian faith by saying it is a sign of "mental illness," the examples of how "emotionally unhinged" many celebrities, gun-grabbers and liberals across the internet have become, seem to be never-ending.
Initially, after the 2016 election, most conservatives simply took the crying, screaming, rioting and protesting by liberals as a sign of how blindsided Hillary Clinton supporters felt, as they bought what the liberal MSM was selling, convinced because (Insert network here) told them Donald Trump had no chance to win, or that Hillary Clinton was guaranteed to win by a landslide.
As the first few weeks went by the media hyped the "recount" of certain states, giving those same blindsided Clinton supporters false hope that the whole election night could be negated if votes were recounted. Trump ended up with more votes, the recounts failed. Then they created a campaign to threaten electoral college members hoping to intimidate them into note casting their vote for Donald Trump.
It finally became real to them on inauguration day, but they had been put onto such a roller coaster ride by the MSM, who literally cried on television on election night, that some truly became unbalanced.
It isn't normal partisan divisions as the examples above show us, which are just the tip of the iceberg if one looks around the internet, but a deep-seated need to actually attack anything Trump-related, and even attack the President and his supporters during conversations that have nothing to do with Donald Trump or political issues.
One can say "Good morning," and there are literally people out there that will screech out "How can it be good when Trump is president???!!!!??"
For those that think I am being snarky or exaggerating, remember this is not new, it has just gotten worse. In February 2017, a little over a month after inauguration day, we saw plenty of news articles describing "post election stress disorder," where people admitted "I feel angry, really, really angry, far more angry than I expected to be," as was reported by PBS Newshour.
Pfingsten is not alone in his politics-induced anxiety — it’s so common it’s been given an unofficial name: Post-Election Stress Disorder. Mental health professionals around the country, especially those working in Democratic strongholds, report a stream of patients coming in with anxiety and depression related to — or worsened by — the blast of daily news on the new administration.
In the past, therapists say it’s been fairly uncommon for patients to bring up politics on the couch. “It is big money to talk about politics with me ― that is not what we do!” said Maria Lymberis, a psychiatrist in Santa Monica, Calif.
But that was before “fake news,” “alternative facts,” “repeal and replace,” contested confirmations, travel bans, protests and suits over travel bans, suspicions about Russian influence and the departures of the acting attorney general and the new national security adviser. Among other things.
Requests for therapy appointments to Talkspace, an online therapy portal based in New York City, tripled immediately following the election and have remained high through January, according to the company. In particular, Talkspace has seen a steady increase in requests from minorities, including Muslim-Americans, African-Americans, Jews, gays and lesbians.
“In my 28 years in practice, I’ve never seen anything like this level of stress,” said Nancy Molitor, a psychologist in the Chicago suburbs. She says the vast majority of her patients — from millennials to those in their 80s — are bringing up politics in their therapy sessions. “What we’re seeing now after the inauguration is a huge uptick in anxiety.”
Over a year later, "post election stress disorder" has turned into full-blown Trump Derangement Syndrome and much of the blame falls onto those "emotionally unhinged" journalists that Woodward spoke of. They push their "emotionally unhinged" rhetoric to their viewers and readers every single day, then those people come online and start attacking Trump supporters or anyone that agrees with any of Trump's policies.
BOTTOM LINE
I have been reporting on politics since 2006 and I have never witnessed the level of hate and vitriol as I see today as I browse chat forums, comment sections and social media. Test it out for yourselves, highlight one Trump policy you approve of on any platform, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or in a comment section, and watch how fast the personal attacks or the complaints about things that have absolutely nothing to do with your topic, start coming at you.
We have hit brand new levels of crazy.
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