Complete Story
10/21/2016
George Rodrigue: Reporters aren't conspiring against Donald Trump, they're just doing their jobs
By George Rodrigue, The Plain Dealer
Donald Trump says "the media" are part of a conspiracy against him, involving at least the Clinton campaign, the FBI, international bankers, and the government of Iraq.
I have a different theory: Journalists are reporting on Trump because he has said and done newsworthy things, and because our mission is to tell the truth and look out for our readers.
To explain, I'll need to discuss the scrutiny journalists have given both candidates, and why equal levels of investigation have not produced identical results.
I'll start with an easy one. Trump says journalists reported on allegations of his groping women because they wanted to help Hillary Clinton. I recall that:
- He was caught on a tape from 2005 saying that he kissed and grabbed the genitalia of women he didn't know, because as a celebrity he could "do anything."
- During a debate, he was asked three times about whether he had sexually assaulted women. Finally, he denied doing so.
- Following the debate, multiple women said he had kissed them or groped them, and several former beauty contestants said he had walked into their dressing room while they were disrobed – something else he had bragged about doing.
- Reporters verified that most of those women had told friends or relatives of the assaults months or years ago. One woman's story was corroborated by six people.
Conventional wisdom urges candidates in tough situations to apologize and then move on, hoping the story will be forgotten. Instead, Trump called the women "horrible, horrible liars," too unattractive to assault. Then he falsely claimed the allegations had been "debunked."
When you're running for president and you do those things, reporters have a professional obligation to take note.
