By promoting Donald Trump’s tweets, the media are helping to erode trust in democratic institutions

Since he announced he was running for the presidency in 2015, Donald Trump has used social media, and Twitter in particular, to connect with voters and to promote himself like no previous US politician. Devin J. Christensen analyzed media coverage of over 2,500 of Donald Trump’s tweets and found that those with the most inflammatory language were more likely to be highlighted. He warns that social media’s lack of editorial standards means its current use as a primary outlet for political communication threatens the future of American democracy.