• by Fern Siegel , June 13, 2016

Whatever side of the political spectrum you’re on, we can all agree it’s been a wacky election cycle. The media coverage has been equally suspect.

The GOP started with 17 contenders last fall, including Jeb with an ! He spent multimillions to no avail. His button should have read Waster!

His protégé, Marco Rubio, went on a tear about Donald Trump’s “small hands” and all that implied. Not to be outdone, Trump assured America at a televised debate that he had no complaints in that department.

It’s a shame neither boasted about something useful, like the size of their brains.

Then there’s Bernie Sanders, the Ralph Nader of 2016. Kudos to him for galvanizing key issues and millennials. Yet despite being more than 3 million votes behind Hillary Clinton, who won a majority of pledged delegates, and with the future of the Supreme Court at stake, the Grumpy Old Man won’t let go. 

But let's give Clinton her due. She passed a major milestone in American history — the first woman candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.

That's an indisputable fact, one Sanders refused to acknowledge June 6, when she gave her historic speech. Instead, he vowed to fight on to Philadelphia.

Clinton is, per The New York Times, "one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history." Yes, she is embroiled in her own mishegas, but Sanders' anti-Clinton, Bernie-or-bust screeds supply ammo for Trump. (Indeed, some polls suggest 30% of his supporters will vote for Trump.)

Where is the media, the watchdog of democracy, in all this tumult?

TV and online news cover the sensation. The truth of various claims often gets lost in the shuffle. The tough questions, the investigative reporting that should blanket the nightly news, are wanting. Ditto for forcing candidates over the last year to stop sounding like Rain Men and offer cogent policies to back up their bloated rhetoric — or evidence to support obvious lies.

(One of the few who takes Trump on mano a mano is CNN's Chris Cuomo.)

We’ve all seen Clinton grilled — more so than any candidate this cycle — and she has to face the email music. But Sanders? Many who like his progressive tone have real questions. When Jeb! said he'd deliver 4% economic growth, liberals laughed him out of the room. Sanders promised 5% to fund his freebies.

More telling, TV is all Trump, all the time — to the consternation of conservatives and liberals alike. (The Tyndall Report noted that in the first four months of 2016, Trump commanded 333 minutes of coverage, Clinton was next at 89 minutes, Sanders at 87. Trump took up 26% of all political air time.)

Bottom line: The media has a relationship addiction with the narcissistic and often predatory Trump. It's stoked, in part, by the TV ratings he delivers.

Political pundits may lament his earned media, but they double as his enabler.

Ironically, Trump's reactions often get greater play than the news. The latest: a "Mexican" judge is against him in the Trump University case, and there is no drought in California. (Judge Cureil was born in Indiana; no science has been cited to sustain the drought claim.)

There is cognitive dissonance — and there is lazy reporting. And then there is Debra Messing.

Well, Debra Messing as whip-smart Detective Laura Diamond in “The Mysteries of Laura.” I often get my TV fix from Netflix, which is where I picked up the first season of the just-cancelled NBC show. The Emmy-winning Messing, of “Will & Grace” fame, tackles a new, more adult role that capitalizes on her comedic timing and strong-woman persona.

In “Mysteries of Laura,” she plays an ace homicide detective in the NYPD. She’s ferocious when on a case — digging relentlessly for the truth. Aided by a strong supporting cast, and the best-dressed, best-informed assistant ever, the show is sassy and entertaining. It’s great at cracking wise.

I only wish Diamond would double as a TV anchor. She’s not afraid to challenge suspects or point out inconvenient truths. And she can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Since TV news is blurring the lines between journalism and entertainment, let’s get Laura Diamond on the case. The woman is a whiz at follow-up and doesn’t rest until justice is served.

If Americans are enamored of “outsiders” this cycle, let’s get a real one.