Media hypes Trump because ‘we are hungry for ratings, money, commercials’

The attack this week came from an unusual source: the media.

“I can tell you with a lot of sincerity that media is guilty as charged. I mean we have a lot to do with what’s going on in this country,” said Univision anchor Tsi-tsi-ki Felix at a conference on race hosted by the AFL-CIO.

“The fact that we are hungry for ratings, we are hungry to get money, we’re hungry to sell commercials. Sometimes we don’t care. Sometimes we’re putting Donald Trump, left and right, on the screens, on the shows,” she added.

Nation Magazine Editor Joan Walsh singled out news shows for turning over programming to Trump. She didn’t name a network, but several have, including NBC’s Today show.

“What I think we probably agree is not appropriate is news shows abandoning their programming to go to a Trump speech for 45 minutes,” she said. “They don’t go to a Bernie speech for 45 minutes, a Hillary speech, they don’t go to a Jeb speech for that matter, and that is driven by ratings and that is a kind of crazy programming that I think we ought to criticize when we see it.”

Walsh added that she often turns on TV news and expects a variety of stories but instead she said that broad coverage is thrown “by the wayside for a nasty Trump speech.” She hosted the AFL-CIO event about “dog whistle politics” and the use of code words to stir voters.

Felix said the media should use its stage to slap Trump when he says something the media doesn’t agree with. She was especially tough on his criticism of Hispanic immigrants.

“It’s sad that you think of Latinos as you feel,” she said of Trump. She said that the food Trump eats is picked by Latinos, and his building construction manned by them also.

“Instead of talking bad about us, you should be thankful that you can eat, that’s the truth, that’s what we have to say,” said Felix.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].