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I agree that there was noise regarding Trump not having a clear plan. That said,

- Did you check out either candidate's websites?

- Were you aware of Hillary's equivalent?[0] Was this reported in the news sites you frequent?

[0]: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

I'm asking the questions honestly. I did know of Trump's contract (though I don't remember how I came across it), and didn't look at the Clinton campaign site. I don't recall anything in the news about either.



I did look at both candidate's websites. Though a link to this .pdf was not easy to find. This is exactly the sort of thing that I expect the media to link me to, rather than an (after-the-fact) HN post.

I read news websites every single day and never saw anything close to the clarity of his positions presented here.


NYT, for one, often reiterated that Trump has no policy proposals despite many of these (e.g. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies) being out for awhile.


To be fair, is it the media's responsibility to make sure an important policy document is easy to find? What does it say about the Trump campaign that the document was hard to find on their own campaign website?


That's fair. But it does seem like there's some suppression here. I always thought the "mainstream media bias" thing was just a soundbite for conservatives. But tarrifs for companies wanting to move factories overseas? Term limits for Congress people? Those are legitimate proposals that I never heard about (except in the debates).

I don't have time to look for documents on candidates websites. I rely on (and pay) the media to present information because I'm busy. This should have been reported fairly, though maybe that bias is actually true.


Specifically, what policies of Clinton's did you hear the media report on? All that comes to mind to me is the drivel on both sides regarding rumors and supposed scandal. Not much policy analysis at all. (Then again I'm pretty exhausted after this campaign season, so my memory may not be what it should.)

I do remember reports from within the Trump campaign that they had a difficult time keeping him on message. One of the benefits of message discipline is that it limits the opportunities for the media to report on things other than what you think is important for your campaign.

I think the media in general has fallen down on the job (which I have my own reasons for that I'm not going to bring up here), but I think a lot of that has been due to what they find gets people to view their ads as subscription numbers have fallen and they've needed to rely on online ad revenue. This is a serious problem. We've gotten to the point where we no longer have a generally accepted shared source of trust. If Trump were hammering home his Contract with the American Voter, I think you would have heard about it, regardless of media bias.

I do think relying on the media in this day and age (and thank you for paying for it, as do I) to present the information you require is a little bit foolish. If you find it's lacking something you need, unfortunately I think we need to dig for ourselves.

If you've got ideas on how to figure out how we can once again get to some shared, trusted sources, I'm all ears :)


The media is just soundbites. That's all.

It's not supposed to be informative, it's clickbait. It's entertainment. It's drivel.




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