Near counts more than far, familiar more than different. Such is the indictment against the press, that it fails to treat similar tragedies with equal dignity.

After all, the reporters are the ones who get to ask the questions.

The paid Trump surrogates help CNN keep his supporters engaged with their shows, but it also sends their own reporters busy chasing after many of their false claims. That's not a virtuous news cycle. It's an insidious one.

The press is supposed to equip people to act as citizens and not just consumers of programming that happens to be news.

You know, trust in the press, polls show - from Pew and other places - have gone down significantly over the years. Maybe the press doesn't have that much ability to frame people's decisions.

People working for a news organization, even those with a point of view, are supposed to exercise independent judgment.

CNN stands to make a hundred million dollars more than it's expected lift for the election cycle, due to the phenomenon that is Donald Trump.