or to offer its complete title, OPEN LETTER TO THE MEDIA: In the Name of Decency, Stop Tipping the Scale for Trump as it appears at Blue Nation Review, of which Peter is the head.
Several points before I get to the content.
1. As is noted on each piece he writes,
Peter Daou is a former adviser to Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and a veteran of two presidential campaigns. He is the CEO of BNR.
2. While I am NOT employed by BNR, I have had discussions about the possibility of writing for them.
I am going to push fair use, offering the entire intro of Peter’s address to the National Media:
I write this letter as a concerned American, a father who fears for his children in the event of a Trump presidency. And I write it as the CEO of a political media company with a community of over one million people whose engagement rates rival the largest media platforms in the U.S.
On the one hand, I know most of you understand that Donald is a menace to America and that Hillary is the only plausible president in the race. On the other hand, I recognize these facts:
a) You’re chasing clicks.
b) You face relentless (and ridiculous) accusations from the right that you have a “liberal bias.”
c) You feel compelled to appear even-handed in a misguided quest for “balanced” reporting.
d) The price of entry into the elite media club is open disdain for Hillary Clinton.
And so you twist yourselves into rhetorical pretzels trying to legitimize Trump’s unhinged behavior.
What follows is extensive documentation, starting with The New York Times, that illustrates what Daou is arguing.
He also points out how it seems to be a part of being accepted as part of the club of journalism to be prove how hard you can be on Clinton. Further, he points out that were the media being truly equal handed it would be far more challenging to and hard upon Trump.
Or as it puts in near the end of this piece:
So I say this to you respectfully: Get your act together and start covering Donald the same way you cover Hillary — with dripping disdain, boundless skepticism and utter indifference to his voters.
There are two more paragraphs. I will again push fair use and offer them, while urging you to read — and pass on — the entire piece.
But first let me note this, and I may write separately on this.
There is no doubt that polling doubt shows a great deal of distrust of Hillary Clinton. That to a large degree falls upon how the media has treated both Clintons over more than a quarter of a century. The coverage of the issues about the Foundation make that absolutely clear. Even though some journalists have clearly pointed out the bogus nature of the AP story, pundits and reporters are still reporting on it as if there is some there there. For example, they make an issue of Clinton meeting with representatives of Bahrein and connecting that with a large contribution to the Foundation.
But as Matt Yglesias noted in a tweet written with more than a little tongue in cheek:
So let me close as does Peter Daou, with his final two paragraphs. He starts by writing about Trump:
Stop acting so mystified by his obnoxious behavior. Stop pondering if he magically lives outside the normal rules of politics. He doesn’t. He’s a frighteningly dangerous blowhard (and deep down, a coward) who knows you won’t cover him with the same contempt you reserve for Hillary. So far, he’s been right.
You have fewer than 80 days to show us your humanity, prove him wrong, and help save your country from a demagogue.