Here are some stories we had in the past week that each should have gotten more attention than the NunesBurger:

The NunesBurger story should have been a nonstory. The story, from the beginning, was that a partisan lawmaker created a memo that Republicans were drumming up. Follow-up stories on the NunesBurger should have noted that much of it has either been disproven or doesn’t undercut the Mueller probe. This could have been two stories per news outlet.

Yet somehow the news cycle covered the NunesBurger for about ten days, distracting the public from the other stories above. Why did this happen?

Quite simply, the media was manipulated by Republicans. And this is far from the first time this has happened. Our media been heavily manipulated by Donald Trump for more than a decade now. Remember when Trump manipulated the media to create the false narrative that Obama doesn’t have a U.S. birth certificate?

Why do journalists let this happen? Part of the reason is that some journalists are simply lazy. (I recognize the irony in having a non-expert lecture journalists about how to do their own job. I apologize in advance for this but hope you take this as constructive criticism) Instead of doing the hard work of real journalism, going out into the field and researching worthwhile stories, some journalists are running with the stories politicians give them. They’re reporting on the next inane thing Trump has tweeted, or they’re reporting what lawmakers with clear political bias are telegraphing. Sure, these journalists may add some analysis and criticism of what lawmakers say, but this doesn’t make them a whole lot less manipulated: politicians’ goal is to control the conversation, and they’re succeeding spectacularly. The public, in the meantime, is missing out on important information.

With a leader like Trump, who is known to manipulate the press, journalists must keep their eye on the ball. If they want to help the world, they absolutely must report the most important stories of the day, even if this means they won’t get cheap clicks.

Here are some suggestions for journalists to avoid being manipulated by lawmakers:

When politicians are likely to be biased (e.g., because they worked for a candidate’s campaign, administration, or transition team), their statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Assume politicians eagerly volunteering information always have a political agenda. When a political party is on a clear messaging campaign (e.g. #ReleaseTheMemo), don’t take the bait. No matter how difficult it is not to take it, don’t. If you report on the campaign, keep your stories about it short and sweet. Make it clear that it’s a messaging campaign. Stop reporting on tweets or inane statements. Offensive tweets are no longer newsworthy and are a clear way the President distracts the public from seeing bad news. Articles about tweets have become simply click-bait wrappers around content, and we should all recognize reporting on tweets for what it is: lazy reporting. Choose your plan for the week. When possible, try not to get distracted by other stories. Is a story that can be written in a day really a worthwhile story? In many cases, probably not. Do you want to report on the conversation, or do you want to set the conversation? Most reporting last week was reporting on the conversation. We should have seen more reporting that set the conversation.

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