Why Roy Moore will win

There are a number of reasons why Roy Moore will probably win his bid for U.S. Senate despite serious accusations of sexual misconduct with minor girls– after all, many evangelical leaders still stand behind him, he is endorsed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, and President Trump supports him. However, there is one even more influential factor at play in this case, according to Politico: mistrust in the media. With trust in the media, according to one survey, even lower than trust in President Trump, Alabama voters have a strong reason to doubt the validity of the reports against Moore. The anger against the mainstream media among conservatives is that deep-seated. And the problem is real– a Harvard study showed that 93% of Trump’s media coverage has actually been negative. It is easy to place the blame on Trump himself for his bad press, and it is also easy to dismiss the unquestioning segment of supporters that seem to just want Republicans in power at any cost. But, the real issue is that the media has totally lost its connection with a large portion of Americans and continues to broaden the gap daily.

What can be done to reverse the trend of mistrust of the media? First, the media must actually care about the problem. It is not clear that most major media outlets do care. There seems to be very little incentive in today’s tribal atmosphere in journalism to offer a more balanced picture on various issues. On top of that, sensational headlines get consumers to click on news stories. 

I agree with the Politico article that as long as the media ignores the problem they have created, the stage is set for, not only Roy Moore to win his Senate bid, but a second Trump term, despite his unsuitability for the job. What do you think?