Is the media 'sanewashing' Trump?

Critics say there's a disconnect between 'reality and reported news'

Illustration of Donald Trump spitting out speech bubbles
Do media reports make Trump's word jumbles sound undeservedly coherent?
(Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images)

Donald Trump can ramble. In public appearances, the former president has a penchant for hopping from one topic to the next to yet another in a matter of seconds, following a train of thought that's not always obvious. Do media reports make his word jumbles sound undeservedly coherent?

"There's a hot new term doing the rounds among media critics: 'sanewashing,'" Jon Allsop said at Columbia Journalism Review. The term suggests that news outlets take Trump's "incoherent, highly abnormal rants" and — in an attempt to extract meaning — process them into something "coherent or normal." The result creates a "misleading impression" for readers and viewers who didn't watch the former president's original comments.

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Joel Mathis, The Week US

Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.