Experts Offer Insight Into Media's Obsession With Trump
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The media seems to be fixated on GOP hopeful Donald Trump. According to the Tyndall Report, he's received more news coverage than all of the other candidates. But why?
"I think that Donald Trump has hit a nerve with the voters," says Chris Harper, a journalism professor at Temple University.
Harper says love him or hate him, Trump cannot be ignored. And those media organizations that have tried, have failed.
"The Huffington Post tried to put Donald Trump in the entertainment section," Harper says, "but then he started to make news and people started to agree with what he had to say."
Like his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. Meanwhile, the backlash increased.
"His kind of rhetoric can stir up emotions," says Temple University psychology professor Frank Farley. "It can stir up divisiveness."
Farley says Trump's rhetoric sells papers and TV ads, and gets clicks online, but, without analysis, is dangerous.
"Because it spreads the terror," he says. "It spreads the fear."
Both Harper and Farley say the media must analyze Trump comments and provide accurate facts so the public can make up their own minds.
