Media and Politics in the Age of Trump

[Commentary] More than in any recent presidential race, the news media have become a central issue in the 2016 campaign. Some have complained about the way candidate Donald Trump has been given free access to media outlets while others have critiqued journalists for the job they have done as moderators of candidate debates. But, as Victor Pickard points out this month, the news media's primary goal is not to distribute information to the public but to garner ratings and revenues. Here, he traces the history of how profit undermined public service in the news media.

[Victor Pickard is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.]