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.

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.

Each time that Donald Trump promises to come forward with something, when you actually get to the point of disclosure it seems as though there's a lot less that was promised for the press and particularly for the public to understand.

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

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.

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.

I'm not at an extreme, but I do think that Donald Trump is a self-created creature. But the media has feasted on his spectacle and he wouldn't live without the attention. He's repaid the favor by attacking the press, but that's generated more reactive coverage.