David Uberti and Pete Vernon in The coming storm for journalism under Trump capture why Donald Trump tweets:
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As Trump explained the retention of his personal Twitter handle to the Sunday Times recently: “I thought I’d do less of it, but I’m covered so dishonestly by the press—so dishonestly—that I can put out Twitter…I can go bing bing bing and I just keep going and they put it on and as soon as I tweet it out—this morning on television, Fox: Donald Trump, we have breaking news.”
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In order for Trump tweets to become news, two things are required:
- Trump tweets (quite common)
- Media evaluates the tweets to be newsworthy (should be less common)
Reported as newsworthy tweets are unlikely to match the sheer volume of Trump’s tweeting.
You have all read:
Is Trump’s opinion, to which he is entitled, about Saturday Night Live newsworthy?
Trump on television is as trustworthy as the “semi-literate one-legged man” Dickens quoted for the title “Our Mutual Friend” is on English grammar. (Modern American Usage by William Follett, edited by Jacques Barzum. Under the entry for “mutual friend.”)
Other examples abound but suffice it to say the media needs to make its own judgments about newsworthy or not.
Otherwise the natters of another semi-literate become news by default for the next four years.