April 27-28, 2011: Washington Post Reporter Claims Trump Made ‘Birther’ Controversy a ‘Live Issue’ Again, Media Watchdog FAIR Disagrees

PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer interviews Dan Balz, a national political correspondent for the Washington Post. Balz attempts to explain why billionaire television host and entrepeneur Donald Trump has become such a media sensation by reviving the “birther” controversy (see February 10, 2011, March 17, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 28, 2011, March 28-29, 2011, March 30, 2011, April 1, 2011, April 1, 2011, April 1-8, 2011, April 7, 2011, April 7, 2011, April 7-10, 2011, April 7, 2011, April 10, 2011, April 21, 2011, April 21, 2011, April 22, 2011, April 24-25, 2011, April 26, 2011, April 26, 2011, April 26, 2011, April 27, 2011, April 27, 2011, April 27, 2011, and April 27, 2011). Balz says: “I mean, I think that the press probably does bear some responsibility for this but there’s no question that what Donald Trump had done over the last month, in bringing this issue back to the forefront, at a time when I think most people thought it had been pretty well settled politically, not that—not that there wasn’t still some controversy, but that, for the most part, this wasn’t a live issue. But Donald Trump helped to make it a live issue. And all the press coverage attendant to that, some of it aimed at debunking what Donald Trump was saying, nonetheless contributed to this atmosphere.… [H]e is a master at drawing attention to himself and taking credit for things, whether he deserves it or not.” [PBS, 4/27/2011] Peter Hart of the media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) takes exception to Balz’s explanation. Hart writes: “‘Issues’ are not brought ‘to the forefront’ and made a ‘live issue’ by some series of accidents, or the physical properties of magnets. Media outlets make decisions about what to cover. In Balz’s world, Trump started talking and the press simply had to cover it. Trump didn’t make anything a ‘live issue’—people who have television stations and newspapers decided to treat him as if he is a serious person.” [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, 4/28/2011]