The Media Want to be Neutral, but Trump Won’t Let Them ...

With Donald Trump claiming that he has been treated extremely unfairly by the press, the mainstream media are fighting back. He has often referred to The New York Times as “dishonest” and “failing.” And the Times seems to be pulling out all the stops in its efforts to discredit him. There is no doubt that this is the most vitriolic and hate-filled campaign season in the television era. But now Times columnist Jim Rutenberg and others are suggesting that their normal journalistic standards are being tested. Normally, journalists argue, they would be equally hard on both sides. But in this case, Donald Trump is so uniquely crude, provocative, and dishonest that reporters can’t and shouldn’t be expected to stay neutral.