Trump uses journalists as political props, but media did ignore rural areas, says NBC's Chuck Todd

Chuck Todd on his main set

Chuck Todd of NBC News said that during the presidential election, journalists, who are mainly based in left-leaning coastal centers, failed to properly cover rural areas, which are largely Republican and where Donald Trump was especially popular, Benjamin Mullin reports for the Poynter Institute. That only served to further the rift between Trump and the news media.

Todd told Mullin, "We didn't tell the story of the coal miners in West Virginia. I think a Trump voter would say we spent a lot of time telling the story of the DREAMer that may get deported, but we don't spend enough time telling the story of the 19-year-old in . . . Missouri who is addicted to opioids and has no job prospects."

Todd said Trump likes to use journalists as political props, Mullin writes. "There hasn't been a president since perhaps Lyndon Johnson who views politics in terms of interactions with the press, Todd said. He's used the media to score political points, a tactic that has been enabled by journalists who are ready stenographers."

Todd told Mullin, "It's not fun to be a political prop. Some of this isn't helped by what I call concierge media, which are certain individual members of the media who, if Trump calls, they listen. So he certainly knows how to manipulate that aspect of the press very well. I think having the press as a punching bag is what he wants. But acknowledging that can't influence how you cover him."