Election Night 2016

   After one of the most divisive presidential campaigns America has seen, the country now faces the trauma of trying to reunite under a new government.
   Predictions are the province of weather watchers and data drones. Being neither, the resident cynic here looks instead at the news nabobs. And they, says Pug Mahoney, have been more interested in chasing the slander slop than in stressing the hard news of what's really relevant to social health and welfare.
   There is a thin line between news and gossip, and this election season has heard far more gossip and personal attacks than sober discussion of issues.
   For now, all the vitriol has been poured. For the future, the issue is how that vitriol has stained and even poisoned the American body politic and whether that toxicity can be neutralized and the body healed.
   To the extent that journalism has enabled the media manipulation that spread the toxin, reporters and editors -- both print and broadcast -- now should admit their role and work to heal the social wounds.
   No matter who is inaugurated come January 20, the nation faces a long period of recuperation from the toxic tactics employed during the presidential campaign.
   Economic recovery from the Great Recession is nearly complete, but whether America relapses over the next few weeks and months will depend partly on the political prognosticators and media pundits who see more value in spreading dire warnings and cheap shots slung by disappointed candidates than in searching for political, social and economic health.
   This is not to say that journalists should ignore difficult topics. Pollyanna journalism has no place in the news profession. But to focus solely on vitriol and gossip, while easy to do, spoils the social contract that responsible journalists strive to fulfill.