Columbia University journalism professor Todd Gitlin wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post pointing out that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump “regularly runs circles around interviewers because they pare their follow-up questions down to a minimum, or none at all” and throw him “softballs,” and explained how journalists can “hold Trump’s feet to the fire.” 

The media have failed to rigorously cover Trump since he announced his candidacy in June. Trump has received a record-breaking amount of free media coverage, softball interviews, few probing follow-up questions, and unprecedented phone interview privileges. Veteran journalists and historians have ripped the media’s “pathetic” and “fawning” coverage of Trump and argued that Trump has made “monkeys” out of the news media.

In his May 12 article, Gitlin wrote that Trump “cracked campaign reporters’ code” and “takes advantage of the slipshod, shallow techniques journalism has made routine.” Gitlin argued that “It’s time for journalists to honor the good name of their profession and take off the kid gloves,” writing that interviewers must “do their homework,” “follow up by asking how, specifically” Trump plans to implement his proposals, and “remind Trump, and voters, of the many times he’s claimed as fact something demonstrated to be false”:

Early in this campaign season, Sunday morning network news hosts granted Trump the special prerogative of phoning in for interviews, off camera, making it impossible to know, in real time, if he was consulting notes or advisers during interviews. And because of an early polling lead based in large measure on his near-universal name recognition, Trump was center-stage getting most of the air time during every GOP primary debate.

In those debates, and in interviews, Trump regularly runs circles around interviewers because they pare their follow-up questions down to a minimum, or none at all. After 30-plus years in the media spotlight, he knows how to wait out an interviewer, offering noncommittal soundbites and incoherent rejoinders until he hears the phrase, “let’s move on.” He takes advantage of the slipshod, shallow techniques journalism has made routine, particularly on TV — techniques that, in the past, were sufficient to trip up less-media-savvy candidates — but that Trump knows how to sidestep.

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Trump is a master of darting from slogan to slogan. That’s why interviewers must do their homework and be prepared to go at least 2-3 questions deep on any issue.

When Trump makes a blunt, sweeping statement like saying he’d “get along very well” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, journalists have to follow up by asking how, specifically, he thinks Putin would respond to increased economic sanctions. If he won’t answer, they should do what conservative Wisconsin talk radio host Charlie Sykes did back in March. Interviewers should say, flatly, “You’re not answering my question.”

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Journalists need to remind Trump, and voters, of the many times he’s claimed as fact something demonstrated to be false — that on 9/11, for example, “thousands and thousands of people” in New Jersey Arab American communities cheered the destruction of the Twin Towers. If Trump says he can’t remember, remind him he claimed to have “the world’s greatest memory.”

It is possible to hold Trump’s feet to the fire. You have to be resolute and persistent.

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The general election is upon us. There won’t be any do-overs. It’s time for journalists to honor the good name of their profession and take off the kid gloves. If they don’t put down their softballs, if they don’t stop letting simple-minded questions substitute for serious exploration, they’ll share responsibility for enabling — and helping elect — President Donald J. Trump.