{"id":71,"date":"2016-11-18T00:20:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T00:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/?page_id=71"},"modified":"2016-11-18T14:44:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T14:44:40","slug":"after-objectivity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/","title":{"rendered":"After Objectivity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row \"><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"col-lg-3 col-md-3 col-xs-12 col-sm-3\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-288\" src=\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png\" alt=\"mcnair_bw_again\" width=\"227\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png 197w, https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again-60x60.png 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"ProfileText1\">\n<p class=\"BIO\"><strong><span class=\"CharOverride-35\">Prof Brian McNair<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"BIO\"><em>Professor of Journalism, Media &amp; Communication at Queensland University of Technology. He is a Chief Investigator within QUT\u2019s Digital Media Research Centre. His books include Communication and Political Crisis (Peter Lang, 2016), Cultural Chaos (Routledge, 2006) and The Sociology of Journalism (Arnold, 1998).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BIO\"><span class=\"EMAIL\">Email: b.mcnair@qut.edu.au<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-261 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/US2016-Section-1-300x283.png\" alt=\"US2016 - Section 1\" width=\"300\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/US2016-Section-1-300x283.png 300w, https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/US2016-Section-1-768x725.png 768w, https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/US2016-Section-1-1024x966.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/US2016-Section-1.png 1098w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"CampaignQuote1\">Section 1: Media<\/h5>\n<div class=\"page-list\"><ul class=\"list-group-item\"><li class=\"page_item page-item-69\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/the-question-of-objectivity-in-the-2016-presidential-election\/\">The question of objectivity in the 2016 Presidential Election<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-73\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/journalism-and-the-illusion-of-innocence\/\">Journalism and the illusion of innocence<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-75\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/did-election-results-trump-frames-of-newspaper-endorsements\/\">Did election results trump frames of newspaper endorsements?<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-77\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/trump-and-mediatization\/\">Trump and mediatization<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-79\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/the-2016-election-and-the-success-of-fact-free-politics\/\">The 2016 election and the success of fact free politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-81\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/trump-truth-and-the-media\/\">Trump, truth and the media<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-83\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/rise-of-donald-trump-media-as-a-voter-decision-accelerator\/\">Rise of Donald Trump: media as a voter-decision accelerator<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-85\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/the-new-normal-campaigns-elections-in-the-contemporary-media-environment\/\">The new normal? Campaigns and elections in the contemporary media environment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-87\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/did-the-media-create-trump\/\">Did the media create Trump?<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"page_item page-item-89\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/trump-media-and-the-oxygen-of-publicity\/\">Trump, Media, and the \u2018oxygen of publicity\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p><\/div><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"col-lg-9 col-md-9 col-xs-12 col-sm-9\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"FIRST-PARA\"><span class=\"REGULAR\">As the results of the 2016 election came in, the mainstream media in America and around the world demonstrated their inability to cope with the challenge of a President Trump within the conventional paradigms of journalistic objectivity, balance and fairness; or rather, to cope with it without normalising the most conspicuously overt racism, sexism, and proto-fascism ever seen in a serious candidate for POTUS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Basic-Paragraph-US\"><span class=\"REGULAR\">As street protests broke out in Portland, Oregon in the days after the election, for example, BBC World noted the police definition of the events as a \u2018riot\u2019, in response to what it coyly described as \u2018some racist remarks\u2019 made by Trump during his campaign. A man whose comments were denounced even by his own party chief Paul Ryan as \u201ctextbook racism\u201d, and whose references to \u201cgrabbing pussy\u201d, \u201ca nasty woman\u201d, \u201cMiss House Keeping\u201d and other indicators of unabashed misogyny horrified millions in the US across the party spectrum, was now President. For the BBC, henceforth, criticism of even the most outlandish and offensive remarks \u2013 when judged by the standards of recent decades &#8211; would be severely muted, if not excluded. Suddenly, rather than call a spade a spade in coverage of Trump\u2019s hate-mongering campaign, his ascendancy to office legitimised\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"REGULAR\">those views, and the process of normalisation had begun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Basic-Paragraph-US\"><span class=\"REGULAR\">The \u2018quality\u2019 media have largely followed suit in this approach to Trump\u2019s victory, bestowing a new respectability on what before election day had been generally reported as absurdly offensive statements and policies. One could without too much imagination foresee Ku Klux Chan chief David Duke becoming an expert commentator on CNN or MSNBC (or at least on Fox News). In News Corp press titles all over the world, which had in any case been predictably ambivalent, if not outrightly supportive of Trump, commentators and pundits were to the fore in constructing legitimacy around policies such as US protectionism, weakening NATO, embracing Putin and so on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Basic-Paragraph-US\"><span class=\"REGULAR\">This descent into normalisation of the hitherto unacceptable, occasioned by Trump\u2019s democratically-endowed seizure of political power as of November 8, is of course very similar to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in 1930s Germany. Hitler\u2019s ascent, and all that came from it, was a product of free choices made in ballot boxes, and of free media coverage which moved to the extreme right with the ruling party. Then, as now, a demagogic populist exploited perceptions of victimhood and \u2018anti-elitism\u2019, targeting ethnic minorities as the Enemy. No-one forced national socialism on the German people, or on their media, nor on the many western media such as the Daily Mail in England which spoke out in his favour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Basic-Paragraph-US\"><span class=\"REGULAR\">Post-November 8 the mainstream media have shown their inability to engage with the enormity of what has happening in western and global politics within conventional paradigms of objectivity. Left to them, the slide into fascism will simply become another news story, another \u2018he said, she said\u2019 performance of balance, legitimised by the fact that this is what democracy has delivered. No matter that in the 1930s the same obeisance led to the Holocaust.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Basic-Paragraph-US\"><span class=\"REGULAR\"><a id=\"_idTextAnchor001\"><\/a>This tendency is not the fault of the mainstream media, nor of their journalists, who are simply applying the professional codes and practices with which they have been raised. For those in the media who wish to stem a slide into democratically-legitimised fascism in the next four years \u2013 and of course, similar processes are now unfolding in Europe, Australia and elsewhere \u2013 it is time to rethink the appropriate response of \u2018objective\u2019 journalism to the post-factual politics of extreme subjectivity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-71","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"US Election Analysis 2016\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-18T14:44:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/\",\"name\":\"After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-18T00:20:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-18T14:44:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US Election Analysis 2016\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Section 1: Media\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"After Objectivity?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/\",\"name\":\"US Election Analysis 2016\",\"description\":\"Media, Voters and the Campaign\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016","og_url":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/","og_site_name":"US Election Analysis 2016","article_modified_time":"2016-11-18T14:44:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/","url":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/","name":"After Objectivity? - US Election Analysis 2016","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png","datePublished":"2016-11-18T00:20:37+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-18T14:44:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.electionanalysis2016.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/mcnair_bw_again.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/after-objectivity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US Election Analysis 2016","item":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Section 1: Media","item":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/us-election-analysis-2016\/section-1-media\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"After Objectivity?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/","name":"US Election Analysis 2016","description":"Media, Voters and the Campaign","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71\/revisions\/299"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electionanalysis.ws\/us\/president2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}