Sanewashing

Margaret Sullivan, former public editor at The New York Times writes about “the power of a single word about media malfeasance.” The word is sanewashing. The immediate context: reporting about Trump’s bizarre non-answer to a question about the cost of childcare:

Why does the media sanewash Trump? It’s all a part of the false-equivalence I’ve been writing about here in which candidates are equalized as an ongoing gesture of performative fairness.

And it’s also, I believe, because of the restrained language of traditional objective journalism. That’s often a good thing; it’s part of being careful and cautious. But when it fails to present a truthful picture, that practice distorts reality.

[From the Times: “The crisis for middle-class families struggling with child care? The economic growth he said would be spurred by things like tariffs.”]