The Age of Trump

Lessons from History and Richard Harding Davis:


Xenophobia...Nativism...Jingoism...Misogyny...Racism...Militarism...Imperialism...


In this day and age of exaggerated and sensationalized "news" coverage...what could fit more perfectly than "The Donald"?


Experiment:

Turn on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox and record how many seconds it takes before one of the talking heads mentions Donald Trump.  I'll bet it was less than a minute.

Next, count how many times Donald Trump is mentioned in a 30 minute "news" segment.

Richard Harding Davis
1864-1916

Richard Harding Davis is arguably one of the most well-known and influential journalists in US History. He was the primary American news correspondent to the Spanish-American War and WWI. But most importantly, his writing greatly influenced the military/ political career of his friend Teddy Roosevelt and the future history (The Imperialistic Age of Roosevelt) of the world.

Davis once stated:

"A good reporter could put a man on the pages of history."

There is no doubt that he made legend of Roosevelt at San Juan Hill (and kept others like The Buffalo Soldiers out of the news)...himself one of the most famous journalists in America...and sold millions of papers and magazines.

Ponder:

Can a good reporter put anybody (or omit) on the pages of history?


Is the glib 24 hour news cycle and the temptation to "get our information" from Twitter, Reddit, YouTube and other social media outlets a reflection of our society or an indictment of it?