Disrespect of Former President Trump by Black Journalists is just a symptom of media's problems

President Trump's appearance at the National Association of Black journalists conference in Chicago pulls back the veil on how political and unprofessional American journalism has become

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Politics/Wednesday/July 31, 2024

If you needed any more evidence of how far American journalism has fallen over the years from their pinnacle as champions of free expression, and fair and objective coverage, all you need do is read the stories about former President Donald Trump’s appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago on Wednesday.

Or, watch the NABJ interview. (Click here)

Trump is a former president of the United States. And while he is controversial in today’s polarzied world, he has many haters and he has many supporters, too. So it is truly embarrassing to watch as the NABJ members, journalists, criticize each other for inviting him to speak at their conference.

Trump fixated on the “rudeness” of the introduction but he addressed many of the issues that has been twisted and distorted by media bias.

I give Trump credit for accepting the invitation but it wasn’t a waste of time. If you listen to the “interview” (or confrontation if you will) you can hear him address issues fully that the news media rarely reports on fully.

The first question was filled with general assertions of racism by him against Blacks and he called it “a very rude introduction.” But beyond that he hit many topics.

Trump was told he couldn’t do the interview by Zoom, but the NABJ said they were offering zoom to Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump was falsely told Harris and Biden would be at the conference, but that’s not true.

The NABJ members were disrespectful and were itching for a fight. Instead of being journalists, they became politicians themselves, making accusations and spinning news to fit their beliefs that Trump has been anti-Black. The addressed many important issues, but in a clearly biased and unprofessional way intended to be confrontational.

Isn’t there anyone left in journalism who wants to get the facts not their own judgments? Or is every national major journalist today just a precinct worker for their favorite candidates?

He said he wanted to stop illegal immigration into the country, but he was criticized for saying that illegal immigrants would take “Black jobs.”

Instead of understanding the meaning of that phrase, “Black jobs,” he was challenged and asked, “What is a Black job?” suggesting it was racist.

It wasn’t racist. Trump was at a conference of Black Journalists and he has said repeatedly that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from all Americans. And if he were in front of a Hispanic audience, chances are he would have said the illegals are taking jobs from Hispanics.

The fact is you can hear many African Americans discuss the devastating impact that illegal immigrants are having on the Black community, taking jobs away from Blacks.

If you watch it, you will hear Trump explain his views on illegal immigration that the media continually distorts. What he said was simple and clear and so different from the baised media spin. Trump said he would prohibit anyone coming ito the country illegally but would welcome immigrants who came in legally. You will never see that paragraph in a mainstream news media story because it contradicts what they are falsely reporting over and over again.

While Trump tried to address the issues, the panelists and hosts instead focused on their criticism of him.

It was truly disgraceful. Embarrassing. What was embarrassing was how partisan journalists attacked the NABJ for hosting the former president, despite the partisan contentiousness of the questioning. You can bet it was a contentiousness you will never see when the NABJ interviews by Zoom, Vice President Harris.

Trump tried to explain his call to give police immunity, noting that it wouldn’t be a blanket immunity for every officer and he tried to explain immunity depends on circumstances. But that didn’t seem to answer the concerns that were expressed.

Trump defended police, as he should. He accused his political rivals of weaponizing the justice system.

Trump also hammered ABC News and called “Good Morning America” news host George Stephanopoulos, who did a softball interview with Biden several weeks earlier, “George Slopolopolis” in a satirical jab that is clearly so justified. Stephenopoulos soft-balled questions to Biden to try to help him recover from his terrible debate performance the week before. Yet despite the easy questions and the comfortable, friendly environment — that how journalists want to be described by the way? — Biden wasn’t able to recover. Click to read the transcript.

The journalist’s questions tended to return closer to professionalism when it came to Trump’s vice president J.D. Vance.

But Trump managed to turn the hostility to his advantage.

Trump said he supports abortion for “the three exceptions,” involving the life of the mother, rape and incest, something that you rarely hear the news media clarify. He said he supports “bring it back to the people” state by state.

In the end, Trump’s appearance allowed many Americans, especially Blacks, to hear his views unfiltered by the biased news media and despite the biased media’s efforts to “spin” his views.

The majority of the interview was troubled by audio issues and the president couldn’t hear all of the questions.

Despite the news reports that spoke about him being booed during the appearance, the truth is much of the audience seemed respectful. It’s the bigger debate by Black journalists outside of the NABJ convention that is more troubling.