In 1994, Marshall McLuhan introduced the term “cool medium” in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts).  The term is relevant in the Age of Trump, particularly as it refers to “low definition” information which affords the listener/reader a chance add to the presented data.  According to McLuhan, television was supposed to be a cool medium.  Time to report the news was limited and viewers were left to fill in the gaps, make their own decisions about what was being said and how it was presented.

That has changed with the advent of 24 hour cable news.  Viewers are bombarded with information. But of greater concern are efforts by all the cable news networks to sell a perspective as well as the facts.  Let me share two examples over the last four days.

Following Trump’s first address to the national Monday night, cable news was contrasting his delivery to the rant a week ago Tuesday related to the Unite for Right march in Charlottesville.  Every news network suggested this was a pivot (how many times have we heard that).  Yet, while the tone may have been different, there was a sameness to both that eluded the broadcast and print pundits.

On Monday night Trump laid out a wish list, what he hoped would happen in Afghanistan and neighboring region.  Had he issued an order to send more troops in? NO!  He would leave that to the generals.  Had he already talked to Pakistani officials about their cooperation? NO!  He hoped they would come to the table some time in the future.

This is what candidates do on the campaign trail.  Presidents take action.  Compare Trump’s “national address” to those delivered by past (dare I say legitimate) U.S. presidents.

• Seven days after his inauguration in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation to announce he had ordered an extended bank holiday to stave off a panic driven run on financial institutions.
• In 1957, Dwight Eisenhower, in response to the growing unrest in Little Rock, Arkansas over the Supreme Court school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education, told a national audience he had ordered the National Guard to ensure a peaceful implementation of the court order in Little Rock public schools.
• In October, 1962, John Kennedy went on national TV to announce he had ordered a naval blockade to prevent Russian ships from delivering offensive weapons to Cuba.
• Following the Tet Offensive in 1968, Lyndon Johnson announced he had ordered a unilateral cessation of bombing which would continue if North Vietnam joined in efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the hostilities.
• In a national address on energy shortfalls in 1973, Richard Nixon announced he had signed the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act.

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  Real presidents use national addresses to notify the public of actions they have actually taken, not to make the equivalent of one more campaign promise.  So instead of telling me Herr Trump seemed more presidential Monday night, where was the historical perspective.  A “cool medium” would have compared Trump’s first national address to those of his predecessors.  Then I could decide whether it passed the standard for being presidential.

The second incident involved MSNBC’s reporting of yesterday’s more than 10 hours of interrogation by Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Glen Simpson, co-found of Fusion GPS, who helped compile the now infamous opposition research dossier on Donald Trump.  Morning host Stephanie Ruhle used the word debunked in the same sentence in which she referred to the dossier.  NOOOOOOO!  To the contrary, both CNN and BBC have corroborated specific claims.  On February 10, 2017, CNN’s Jim Sciutto reported that U.S. investigators confirmed some of the communications detailed in the report.  While the more salacious accusations have not been confirmed, neither have they been debunked.

Herr Trump is wrong when he claims the media are the enemy of the people.  But it would be fair to say that on occasion, they are not the people’s friend either.  And at a minimum, they are UN-cool.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP