About a year ago, the Times, possibly responding to the ridicule these diner safaris engendered, began phasing them out. They were replaced with an ongoing series of focus groups, recorded and published verbatim.
Early on, the Times seemed committed to hosting focus groups across the political spectrum -- on January 7, for instance, the paper published transcripts of Democratic and Republican focus groups. But the Times hasn't conducted an all-Democratic focus group since then, yet there was a focus group of conservative men in April ("These 8 Conservative Men Are Making No Apologies"), an all-GOP focus group in May, and another all-GOP focus group today.
The problem with focus groups is that they aren't meant to be published. They're meant to tell politicians (or corporations) what people are thinking, even if it's delusional or offensive, so the pols or companies can craft persuasive messages. Professionals who conduct focus groups encourage frankness and try to create an atmosphere in which people feel free to say what they really think. So the problem with publishing a political focus group that's not annotated is that you allow people to say things that are wildly inaccurate, even conspiratorial.
In the Trump years, the media learned a hard-won lesson: When a prominent politician brazenly lies, you can't just report what was said -- you have to say that the lie is a lie. For instance, if you quote a politician who says that the 2020 election was rigged, you have to say explicitly that it wasn't rigged.
But in the latest Times focus group, GOP voters say all kinds of things that simply aren't true, and their claims are just transcribed and published:
Moderator, Patrick HealyThere's no context. There's no clarification. All this is just published in the Times as if it's as valid a point of view as the truth.
Is there anything about [Donald Trump] that’s turned you off over the last year or that you sort of lost steam on?
Judi, 73, white, Okla., retired
Well, when Covid started, I think he was swayed into the vaccine thing. He listened to the wrong people. I’ll leave it at that.
****
Moderator, Kristen Soltis Anderson
... One of the issues that Donald Trump has focused on a lot is his view that the election was stolen from him.... When you say “stolen,” what does that mean to you?
Andrea, 49, white, N.J., executive assistant
Because I do honestly believe that certain states cheated.
Moderator, Kristen Soltis Anderson
In what way?
Andrea, 49, white, N.J., executive assistant
Cheated as in ballots — truckloads of ballots showing up in the middle of the night. There’s videos of it. There is proof. A lot of Democrats think Republicans are just sore losers and making things up. And I hate to say this, but I don’t really trust the election process, going forward. I believe they got away with stealing that election in 2020. And if you get away with something, I believe you’ll keep doing it until you get caught.
Alissa, 29, Latina, Fla., procurement
Yeah, I agree with her completely. I just think that across the board, there were so many things that didn’t add up, didn’t make sense.
Moderator, Kristen Soltis Anderson
Sandy, I want to hear from you because I have down that we asked you this question about a year ago. And I believe last year you said, “Look, I think Trump probably really won the election.” But I noticed you didn’t raise your hand right now.
Sandy, 48, white, Calif., property manager
I know the videos that Andrea is talking about. It’s well documented, but the media doesn’t want to cover that type of stuff....
Moderator, Patrick Healy
Judi, in our focus group a year ago, you said that for people like yourself, you really believed Trump should have won the election, that he did win the election. Has your thinking changed at all?
Judi, 73, white, Okla., retired
No, I still think he won the election and that he should still be our president. He should be our president right now.
Moderator, Patrick Healy
And would you call Biden a legitimate president?
Judi, 73, white, Okla., retired
No, I don’t think he’s legit at all.
Moderator, Patrick Healy
Lorna, what about you? A year ago, you also said Trump won.
Lorna, 60, white, Mo., customer service representative
Yes. I mean, look at the rallies. So many people showed up at the rallies, and so you know they all voted for him. Look how many people Biden had at his rallies — hardly anybody.
****
Moderator, Patrick Healy
Did any of the testimony or anything you heard during the Jan. 6 committee hearings change how you thought about what happened that day?
Barney, 72, white, Del., retired
No. They brought in all people that were going to say yes. All the witnesses, they had them say yes.
Sandy, 48, white, Calif., property manager
If anything, I think my views have become more solidified. If you look, they made a big thing out of it in the media. They didn’t cover Black Lives Matter, antifa. I mean, you talk about Jan. 6 being planned. Antifa, throughout the whole summer of 2020, I mean, those things were planned, organized. The media didn’t cover it.
And this appears in the Times on the same day as an op-ed by Kellyanne Conway in which she waves away any criticism of Donald Trump and engages in group libel of everyone who opposes him, while offering a fantasy portrayal of his presidency:
Donald J. Trump shocked the world in 2016 by winning the White House....There are so many lies and distortions here that it's almost impossible to enumerate them. But the Times thinks it's okay for Trump Republicans to lie because it believes its own readers -- whom the paper holds in contempt -- are mean to those Trump voters. The paper debases itself by publishing these pieces, and does so proudly.
Some people have never gotten over it. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. There is no vaccine and no booster for it. Cosseted in their social media bubbles and comforted within self-selected communities suffering from sameness, the afflicted disguise their hatred for Mr. Trump as a righteous call for justice or a solemn love of democracy and country.
... Mr. Trump would remind people that it was a combination of his personality and policies that forced Mexico to help secure our border; structured new trade agreements and renewed manufacturing, mining and energy economies; pushed to get Covid vaccines at warp speed; engaged Kim Jong-un; played hardball with China; routed ISIS and removed Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful military commander; forced NATO countries to increase their defense spending and stared down Mr. Putin before he felt free to invade Ukraine.
No comments:
Post a Comment