The Cure For Trump-Related News Blues: New at Reason

Immediately after the election, there was a spate of reports about Clinton voters buying newspaper and magazine subscriptions as a way to keep an eye on Trump. Now, it looks like the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction—with the elite press, amusingly, offering readers advice on how to tune out.

It all amounts to a statement about journalism today, Ira Stoll writes. The press has gotten away from its traditional job of just telling readers what the news is. Its new, self-appointed role involves advising people how they should feel about the news and how to get away from it.

But in so doing, outlets disclose a certain set of assumptions about the ideological uniformity of their readerships, argues Stoll. After all, there may have been some Americans who could have used all this advice about dealing with news-related anxiety and depression back during the Obama administration. And there are plenty of Americans out there who aren’t depressed, unhappy, anxious, or unhappy about Trump’s election and policies at all. Perhaps one way to feel less worried about the news, Stoll suggests, might just be exposure to at least the remote possibility that policy shifts in the direction of the Republican agenda might actually be good for America and its citizens.

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