Major newspapers bury Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power

This week, a reporter asked President Donald Trump a simple question: “Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferal of power after the election?” Trump responded, like he has for the past several months, by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election results with baseless claims about mail-in voting . Trump said, “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that. I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster.” Asked again whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power, Trump replied that if we “get rid of the ballots” then “there won’t be a transfer, frankly; there’ll be a continuation.”

While the president’s dangerous actions merit significant coverage, as this is a critical moment for our nation’s democratic system, many of the nation’s leading newspapers did not cover the remarks on their Thursday front pages. Several reporters have met the moment, delivering necessary corresponding coverage; however their stories have often been buried deep into the paper. The New York Times story on Trump’s remarks ran on A15, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reports on A4, and the Los Angeles Times covered it on A6. Further, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune did not mention the story in their Thursday print editions at all.

Vanity Fair senior editor Michael Calderone said, “Unbelievable that some of the nation's biggest newsrooms don't consider this front page news”.

This has not been the case for broadcast morning shows, all of which covered Trump’s remarks in their second story of the day on Thursday, following coverage of protests in Louisville after a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against police for killing Breonna Taylor.

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz noted the dangers of newspapers’ inadequate efforts: “The newspapers’ treatment of the story resembled what happened in July, when Trump baselessly accused former President Barack Obama of treason. If something like that happened elsewhere in the world, it would be interpreted as a sign that the state’s democratic institutions were imperiled. But Trump’s comments were largely ignored by the press.”

“The emergency lights are flashing, and it’s likely to get worse. With the nation careening toward a democratic crisis, journalists can’t look away.”

Also: Fox "straight news" spun Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. And a Fox News host lauded Trump for refusing to commit to anything, saying it would be a "surrender."

mediamatters.org