We live in polarized times.
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the inbox of this office reminds us every single day how polarized we are.
It is really hard for people not to see the world through their own lens.
If “your” guy is president and you don’t like coverage, then you accuse reporters of bias. It’s really hard to remember how the media covered a president who wasn’t “your” guy, or to remember how the media covered the previous president even if you have no dog in the fight.
This issue shows up in many different ways and some of you are keen to share your thoughts with this office.
Jerry Kaplan raises an issue that irks many of you: “I have a small but irritating complaint. We have been long time viewers of the News Hour and supporters of PBS. Judy Woodruff consistently calls President Trump by his previous name, Mr. Trump. I don’t ever recall her referring to previous presidents as Mr. instead of President. Neither my wife and I voted for the current president but he did win and should be show the respect the office deserves.”
Theresa Boin of Yonkers, N.Y., adds, “It is noticeably disrespectful that pbs newscasters refer to President Trump as Mr. Trump and/or Donald Trump. I have been a fan and pbs subscriber since 1978 but no longer. Sorry to see it do blindsided one sided political bias.”
For what it's worth, this is not a new complaint. When I was executive editor at NPR, it was a common complaint, too. Only, it was seen as disrespectful to President Obama, to President Bush or any other president to address him as Mr. as opposed to President.
I asked PBS NewsHour for their policy on this issue. Nick Massella, director of audience engagement and communications, responded, “Our policy on first reference is to refer to sitting presidents by last name with title, as in President Trump and previously, President Obama. On second and subsequent references, the last name is preceded by 'Mr.' as in 'Mr. Trump,' and previously, 'Mr. Obama' or sometimes, 'the President.' The NewsHour has been affording the 'Mr.' title on second reference to presidents for years.”
Here’s a news wrap from NewsHour just a couple of weeks ago that uses President Trump as a first reference and Mr. Trump on second reference:
And one from the Obama presidency:
I took a look at a range of news stories this morning across media, and all of them used President Trump as a first reference, but went different ways with the second reference. The New York Times appears to use Mr. Trump as a second reference. The Washington Post, Weekly Standard and Fox News all use just the last name, Trump, as a second reference.
FYI, a lot of news organizations defer to the AP Style guidance on issues like this and their style states the following:
According to AP Style, use the first and family name on the first reference to a current of former U.S. president or the president-elect.
- former President Ronald Reagan
- President Barack Obama
- President-elect Barack Obama
On all subsequent references, use only last names.
It is clear that newsrooms adopt different style when addressing the president in first and then subsequent references. Interestingly, so-called conservative organizations even drop the title Mr. when referring to the president in a second reference.
I hope that this helps the viewers who think they heard something that they thought was disrespectful and makes them rethink their criticism of PBS NewsHour.
Who Won the Election?
Recently, NOVA had a special, Prediction by the Numbers, looking at the power of numbers and the ability to use math to predict outcomes. It was a fascinating hour that moved across a variety of topics such as the wisdom of the crowd and the law of large numbers, weather forecasting, baseball stats, and the polling around the 2016 election.
When dealing with the election the special raised something that is particularly irksome to many viewers - any statement that uses some variation that Donald Trump “won the election.”
Of course he is the sitting president, so it seems fair to assert that he won the election.
Alan, from Springfield, Ore., wrote, “I just watched this Nova program on statistics where they made the astonishing assertion that Donald Trump “won the election” against Hillary Clinton unexpectedly, and then went on to use this example to illustrate the problems of innocent sampling errors in the data set. First of all, anyone who reads knows Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by around 3 million votes…Trump is president only because of the vagaries of the Electoral College.”
Elaine Johnson wrote about the same NOVA show: “She [Hillary Clinton] didn’t lose the election. She lost the PRESIDENCY because the Electoral College System of the Constitution unequally overrode more voters for her than it did for Trump and robbed her of the Presidency she earned.”
Well, yes, Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote. But the reality is that the popular vote has never elected the president.
Here’s Article II of the Constitution:
Article II
Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows :
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Twelfth Amendment provides further clarity:
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate...
Donald Trump won the presidency because he won the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton may have won the popular vote, but as history shows us, the Constitution was not focused on the role of the popular vote in electing a president. Because the Electoral College actually votes for the president, I think it’s fair to say that Donald Trump won the election.
Posted on April 6, 2018 at 9:04 a.m.
