On Wednesday morning, the conversation on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” spiraled out of control while discussing Donald Trump’s comments on the political power of gun owners.
Panelist Mike Barnicle fretted that journalists were being too objective in their Trump coverage, asking, “Do we legitimize Donald Trump’s performances—and they are performances—by trying to be objective about it? … I don’t think you can be.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski leaped in: “No. You can’t.”
Objectivity is the bedrock of news media. When Barnicle admits to abandoning it, the result vindicates historic decline in public trust reported by Rasmussen and other polls. Rasmussen’s 2013 poll found that 42 percent of Americans don’t trust the news media, and only 6 percent rate news media as “Very Trustworthy.”
Barnicle tried to justify media bias when, regarding Trump’s comment, he asked, “Has there ever been anything even close to this in history?” In truth, he could just as easily have been addressing the rampant liberal bias in “mainstream” media.
