No, the media didn’t create Trump

[Commentary] One of the more absurd things being said about the Donald Trump phenomenon is that the media created it. For the record, we didn’t. First of all, there is no “we.” The news media operate in what should be every conservative ideologue’s dream environment: an unfettered free market. Outlets compete every day — actually, in the Internet age, every hour — to provide consumers with information they need and want. Every editor and news director strives to beat the competition, and the fact is that audiences have decided they need and want to know about Trump.

The news media, it seems to me, are guilty only of reporting the news — which is that a candidate who has never held elective office, and who displays neither the base of knowledge nor the temperament necessary to serve as president, is leading all comers for the Republican nomination. Commentators should spend less time flattering themselves that the news media have the power to make such a thing happen — and more time trying to understand why Trump is succeeding.