You would have been foolish to think that the Mueller report would unify the country around a common set of facts. That’s not how things work in 2019.
Over in one world, established news organizations reported the news. 1) The Mueller report detailed the Russian contacts with the Trump campaign, but did not establish a criminal conspiracy, and 2.) That Trump repeatedly attempted to curtail the investigation. Journalists also pointed out that the Mueller report corroborated much of the reporting that’s been done for the last two years.
But over in the other world, the one dominated by pro-Trump, right-wing media personalities, a completely different narrative unfolded. Commentators exclaimed « NO COLLUSION » while willfully drowning out the other findings of the report. The focus was on revenge. This universe also favored the demeaning of journalists, asserting the report had forever tarnished the reputation of the press. One of the chyrons on Laura Ingraham’s show blared, « MUELLER REPORT EXPOSES LIBERAL MEDIA ALLIES. » Another asked, « WHERE IS THE LEFT’S APOLOGY TO FOX NEWS? » Much of Fox’s prime time coverage was about the media « melting down. » This isn’t true, but tens of millions of people believe it.
The point: Just one Mueller report was released on Thursday, but what it said really depended on which media ecosystem it was digested in. If you’re only reading/watching one of the two worlds, you’re blind to what’s unfolding…
Thursday in ten quotes
Brian Williams: « First and foremost, we urge everyone to read the report. »
David Muir: The report is « far more damning to the president than the Attorney General initially indicated. »
Andrew Napolitano: « He’s out of legal jeopardy, but he’s certainly not out of political jeopardy… »
Kellyanne Conway: « The best day since he got elected. »
George Conway: « Trump is a cancer on the presidency. Congress should remove him. »
Rachel Maddow: Volume two of the report is a « road map for how to charge this president with multiple felony counts of obstruction of justice. »
Yoni Appelbaum, who wrote The Atlantic’s « IMPEACH » cover story earlier this year: « There is sufficient evidence that President Donald Trump obstructed justice to merit impeachment hearings. »
Nicole Hemmer: « As a presidential scholar who works in the Nixon White House tapes: At this point, the only reason Trump isn’t Nixon circa late-1973 is Congress and conservative media. »
Ari Melber: « What are Americans supposed to take from this? »
Don Lemon: « Just read the report. »
The bottom line
This Katelyn Polantz story was the lead on CNN.com overnight. She wrote: « If Robert Mueller wanted to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction, he found all he needed to do it. And he found it on multiple fronts. But he didn’t make a decision on whether to bring the case. » Read on…
Carter: « It’s the biggest challenge our free media has ever faced »
I asked Bill Carter, who’s been on the media beat for decades, for his impressions of Thursday’s news and how newsrooms should handle the days to come. He wrote: « What’s going to happen in the next days and weeks will go far past gaslighting and reach outright arson. The Administration is trying to rewrite history and burn down the rule of law, and the media — the non-Trump media — may be the only force to counter the ultimate fake news story: That somehow a report that details shockingly corrupt activity by a President sworn to defend our Constitution and uphold our laws is actually a statement of exoneration. »
Carter continued: « The media has already been used and abused by an Attorney General determined to establish a false narrative… So it’s essential that the media refuse to let go of the tail of the real narrative: the truth about what the Russians did, what the Trump campaign did to embrace what the Russians did, and what Trump did to try to cover all that up. That means not allowing the intimidation effort to come, nor the inevitable distractions of some new Trumpian outrages, nor the lure of conventional reporting about a new presidential campaign, to reduce the magnitude of this scandal. The drumbeat will come as ‘old news; that’s all settled; this is media sour grapes for getting it all wrong; it’s presidential harassment!’ It’s not. It’s the biggest challenge our free media has ever faced. Keep ringing the bell of truth or watch it get cracked, and maybe never repaired. »
Questions for Friday and beyond
— The president has no public events scheduled on Friday. Will we see him on camera?
— When will we hear Robert Mueller’s voice?
— Trumpworld and Foxland are pushing the « investigate the investigators » line very hard. What will come of this?
Does Sarah Sanders have any credibility left?
Well, « not founded on anything » is the new « alternative facts.
