NEWS AND OPINION:
It is not often that journalists get some applause for what they do. But it happens. Consider this observation from the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit that monitors the news media, recognizes responsible coverage and champions freedom of expression.
“Journalists rush into danger to cover the Israel-Hamas war. Courageous journalists from around the globe have jumped into war to share powerful reports of what is happening,” the organization said in an analysis released Tuesday.
“The most powerful reports in the past day have come from reporters who are in the danger zone, forced to take cover with explosions all around them. These aren’t reporters who are a mile or two from the explosions. We’re talking about buildings being hit from just up the street, or less than a block away,” wrote Poynter’s senior media writer Tom Jones and managing editor Ron LaForme.
The pair cited coverage from Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, News Nation and the Associated Press — along with an assortment of print reports.
“All three network evening news anchors — ABC’s David Muir, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell and NBC’s Lester Holt — anchored Monday from Israel,” the report said.
The United Nations, meanwhile, monitors media hazards.
“Journalism is fundamental for sustainable development, human rights protection and democratic consolidation, but remains a dangerous and too often deadly profession — and nine times out of ten, the murder of a journalist is unresolved,” the global organization said in an online report.
“According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s UNESCO Observatory of Killed Journalists, 1,602 journalists have been killed since 1993, with 22 of those killed in 2023 alone,” the report said.
TRUMP CHARM PERSISTS
Former President Donald Trump is still enjoying some hefty support from his fans.
“Trump hits a record high: Our latest survey of the contest shows Trump backed by 61% of potential Republican primary voters, and in recent days, the former president hit 63%, marking a record high since our tracking began in December,” Morning Consult reported on Tuesday.
“With support of 12% of the respondents, fellow presidential hopeful Florida Gov. DeSantis, meanwhile, “is back at a record low,” analyst Eli Yokley advised in a review of the findings.
“DeSantis trails Trump by 49 percentage points following a week in which he reached a record 51-point deficit against the front-runner.
The Florida governor also returned to a record low in support, at 12%. This gives him only a 3 percentage point lead over Vivek Ramaswamy, whom roughly 1 in 5 potential primary voters say is their second choice,” Morning Consult said.
Here are the names and the numbers: Mr. Trump (51% support), Mr. DeSantis (12%), Vivek Ramaswamy (9%), Nikki Haley (6%), Mike Pence (5%, Chris Crisis (3%), Sen. Tim Scott (2%), Doug Burgum (1%) and Asa Hutchinson and Will Hurd (each with 0%).
The Morning Consult survey of 3,636 “potential Republican primary voters” was conducted Oct. 6-8.
ROBERT KENNEDY TALKS FAMILY
Political heritage within a family is a powerful and complicated thing. Fox News host Steve Doocy posed a question about this dynamic to independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“You announced Monday in Philadelphia that you’re going to run for president as an independent. You’re from one of the most famous Democratic families of all time. How big a step was it to say sorry family, I’m going to have to take a step away?” Mr. Doocy asked the candidate.
“It was very painful for me,” he replied.
“I was raised in the Democratic Party. My father and my uncles were the leaders of the party. Our relationship with the Democratic Party goes back generations. My great-grandfather, Honey Fitz, was the first Irish Catholic there in Boston. My other great grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, was a ward boss with a Democratic Party in Boston,” Mr. Kennedy explained.
“So leaving the party of my family is very, very difficult for me. But it was a choice that I didn’t feel I had a choice about. I think it’s the right thing right now because we’re seeing that it’s the same corporate donors that control both of the parties. They have — and the parties are in paralysis,” the candidate said.
And what about his campaign?
“I hope to take votes from both President Biden and President Trump,” Mr. Kennedy declared.
THE KENNEDY ITINERARY
The aforementioned Robert Kennedy is now hitting the road. During the month of October, he will visit Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, and Arizona — this according to an itinerary his campaign shared with Inside the Beltway.
“He will share with voters his vision of what becomes possible outside of traditional partisan politics,” the campaign said in a written statement.
He did not have many complimentary things to say about the Republican and Democratic parties, by the way.
“Locked in their habitual debates, the two parties are often blind to common sense solutions. This formula has left them barely able to govern,” he said upon announcing his plans on Monday, his speech delivered from the lawn of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
“The system runs on inertia, year after year, decade after decade. It’s like a runaway bus full of teenagers fighting about who should take the wheel, not realizing that the driver merely follows the GPS set by the crooked insiders and corporate lobbyists.” Mr. Kennedy continued.
“I’m not just going to take the wheel. I’m going to reboot the GPS,” he advised.
POLL DU JOUR
• 74% of U.S. adults would be more likely to support a presidential candidate who “supports increasing police funding to fight crime.”
• 55% would be more likely to support a candidate who “supports building a border between the U.S. and Mexico.”
• 52% would support a candidate who “has walked the picket line with auto workers on strike.”
• 52% would support a candidate who “continues to support Ukraine with military aid.”
• 50% would support a candidate who “questions whether vaccines are safe for use by children and adults.”
• 40% would support a candidate who “supports law that bans or severely restricts abortion access.”
Source: A Reuters/IPSOS survey of 1,005 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 3-4.
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• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.