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Columbia Journalism Review

Columbia Journalism Review

Is the press ‘sanewashing’ Trump?

Columbia Journalism Review
Summary
Nutrition label

76% Informative

A hot new term doing the rounds among media critics: “sanewashing’ of Donald Trump’s rants.

The idea is that major news outlets are selectively quoting from Trump 's rants to emphasize lines that might sound coherent or normal, thus giving a misleading impression of the whole.

Too often, major outlets clean up Trump ’s language to the point where it barely resembles what he actually said.

Frida Ghitis : If journalists are sometimes sanewashing Trump , why are they doing it? She says the question is whether to expose news consumers more to his rhetoric, or shut it out.

Ghitis says it's part of our job to accurately describe Trump 's unadulated speech.

The New Republic’s Alex Shephard asks why the Times invited the Heritage Foundation's Kevin Roberts to speak at a climate change event.

The New York Times' Natalie Korach , of The Wrap , is joining Vanity Fair as a media reporter.

The Texas Tribune , a state-level nonprofit outlet, announced plans to merge with smaller community newsrooms.

VR Score

75

Informative language

71

Neutral language

60

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

59

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

35

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