Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, said a cultural gap between “elite” newsrooms and much of the rest of the U.S. is part of the reason why political reporters did not anticipate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s surging popularity among primary voters.
Asked in a new interview with Politico whether the media “enabled” Trump, Abramson said the real issue was the news media’s blind spot when it tried to gauge the electorate.
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“I don’t think that the press has either, you know, made Donald Trump or, you know, ignored him,” she said. “But, you know, I think that it’s, you know, that the criticisms of the press, that it’s become too much of the elite, I feel that there’s some truth to that. … Because so many newsrooms are filled with, you know, Ivy Leaguers like me, but a younger version, who haven’t, you know, had the time to go live in the South for a couple of years and meet people who are really different.”
Members of the so-called “legacy” or “mainstream” media have often admitted a lack of understanding of the billionaire former reality TV star’s appeal, even as he has sat atop most national and state-level polls and has so far led his GOP rivals in primary contests.
Abramson’s remarks are similar to what conservative Times columnist David Brooks wrote last week.
“We expected Trump to fizzle because we were not socially intermingled with his supporters and did not listen carefully enough,” said Brooks. “For me, it’s a lesson that I have to change the way I do my job if I’m going to report accurately on this country.”
