If you were a journalist intent on exposing Donald Trump as a danger to the country you might use the power of your press or broadcast the way Edward R. Murrow did against Senator Joe McCarthy. But chances are, in today’s media rich environment, you would have a difficult time piercing the noise.
The point was made in an op-ed last week in the Los Angeles Times that lamented the loss of the iconic news anchor in American life.
Keith Olbermann(Bill Clinton and George W. Bush), Rachel Maddow(Chris Christie and Rick Snyder) and last week Joe Scarborough(Trump) have all tried the litany of facts technique – made famous by Murrow – to take down various politicians over the years, but they have never really succeeded. The reason is the size of their audience.
While the iconic anchor could hold as much as a third of the national audience on any given night – today’s broadcast and cable hosts reach only a fraction of that number. And often the audience already agrees with the host – so the host is preaching to the converted.
Is the absence of the iconic anchor good or bad for the country?
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