TOW #6 - “The Media’s Moment of Truth”

Frank Bruni, who has been a journalist for the New York Times for more than 20 years and even acted as a White House correspondent, comments on the media’s responsibility for Trump’s success in his editorial “The Media’s Moment of Truth” (“Biography”). Written with confidence that Trump will lose the presidential election, this editorial is primarily written to democrats and others who recognize that Trump is not the best candidate for President of the United States. With this acknowledged, Bruni focuses less on exemplifying Trump’s political blunders, but rather on the pivotal role the media had in supporting bad candidates in order to prevent the media from interrupting the essence of democracy. Bruni has multiple uses of parallel structure to emphasize the media’s large role in supporting Trump: “Was he ridiculous? Beyond measure. Relevant? Beyond doubt” (Bruni), and “His reckoning comes on Nov. 8. Ours comes shortly after that” (Bruni). The first quotation gives context as to why the media would possibly provide coverage for Trump: he is not an ordinary candidate; he is willing to make unsubstantiated statements that lend themselves perfectly to news headlines. Additionally, Bruni concludes the essay saying that while Trump will get the immediate results of the election on November 8^th, the American population will be tasked with a serious question about the role of media in politics. Bruni also used invective to deliver his message, stating “Trump’s mendacity, viciousness, vulgarity and lack of preparation encouraged a kind of political journalism that […] can’t become the new normal, not in a country that’s already this polarized” (Bruni). Bruni, describing Trump’s character with a string of charged nouns, used this invective to deliver his message that it is dangerous for the media to provide coverage for candidates who are unqualified to be the next President. In his editorial, Bruni provides a solid argument that systemic reforms must be made within the profession of media coverage to prevent unqualified candidates from becoming President. With support of the advanced rhetoric used to drive Bruni’s claims, the argument that the media should not support a candidate like Donald Trump is very stable, creating a motive to change the way media covers future elections in order to preserve democracy.

 Works Cited

“Biography: Frank Bruni.” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/ref/dining/bruni-bio.html.

Bruni, Frank. “The Media's Moment of Truth.” The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/opinion/sunday/the-medias-moment-of-truth.html?ref=opinion&_r=0.