With NFL controversy, did media play into Trump's 'distraction tactics'?

Over the past week, the news media covered a number of the country’s most pressing issues: ongoing threats from North Korea, the Senate’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare, the Trump administration’s late-Sunday-night announcement of its Travel Ban 3.0.

President Trump’s offensive quip about NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem last Friday at a campaign rally in Huntsville, Ala., however, was the story that resonated most around the country – and by far.

Many critics, however, have faulted the role the news media has played in highlighting Mr. Trump’s inflammatory style, identifying a “disturbing symbiosis” between news outlets seeking viewers in a competitive marketplace and a showman who is master of the provocative tweet. What’s lost is a deeper focus on the country’s more pressing needs, many