Trump slammed for all-male economic team, Obama got a pass

Immediately after Republican nominee Donald Trump announced his economic policy team, the headlines and Tweets focusing on gender came fast and furious:

Washington Post’s Jim Tankersley and Jose DelReal: “Six Men Named Steve But No Women.”

Politico’s Nick Gass: Trump Unveils All-Male Economic Advisory Team

Newsweek’s Emily Cadei:  DONALD TRUMP’S ECONOMIC ADVISERS: 11 Businessmen, One Economist, Zero Women

Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein: There Are 13 People On Donald Trump’s New Economic Advisory Council. All 13 Are Men

Think Progress’ Judd Legum: Trump’s New 13 Person Economic Advisory Council Includes No Women.

That’s just a sample.

And you’ll never guess which one of these reporters or editors wrote about the photo below that depicts President Obama’s cabinet that appears to be quite exclusive to men back in 2012.

[[{“fid”:”117612″,”view_mode”:”wysiwyg”,”fields”:{“format”:”wysiwyg”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_url[und][0][value]”:””,”field_folder[und]”:”1″,”field_free_html[und][0][value]”:””,”field_free_html[und][0][format]”:”full_html”,”style”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{}}]]

Answer: None of the above.

This is just how selective outrage works in journalism today: We see what we want to see and believe what what we want to believe.

In the case of the Oval Office photo above taken four years ago, if the name Obama were replaced by, say, Mitt Romney, if he had won that year, the overabundance of headlines and tweets would have likely appeared this way:

Washington Post: Romney’s inner-circle includes no guys named Steve and no women, either

Politico: Romney unveils all-male senior adviser team

Newsweek: MITT ROMNEY’S SENIOR ADVISERS: Zero Women

Bloomberg: There are ten men facing Romney in this photo that includes no women

Think Progress: Romney puts the “white” back in White House

Not pictured in the aforementioned photo is Valerie Jarrett, a longtime confidant of the president who is seated to the right of the president off-camera. But the implication would still be the same given the optics if a president with an (R) next to his name.

And when Trump names an economic policy team? Basically ignore everything else and immediately throw the misogyny card and push all chips into the middle of the table instead.

The benefits are two-fold: An editor like Legum or a reporter like Cadei gets to portray themselves as a champion of women, speaking truth to power in the process. Each gets another chance to hit Trump, who is likely polling lower in the journalists-who-will-vote-for-him category than he is with African-Americans (think: Mr. John Blutarsky’s grade point average at Faber College).

[[{“fid”:”117610″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_folder[und]”:”1″,”style”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{}}]]

On CNN, economist Steve Navarro of the University of California, Irvine, summed matters up thusly:

“The headline should read: ‘Trump puts together a brilliant team to help bargain on behalf of the American people.’ But instead, we wallow in this muck of political correctness,” Navarro said.

Should women be a part of Trump’s senior cabinet? Of course.

Will they be? The campaign says they will if he somehow pulls off an improbable comeback and wins in November. President Obama has ten men representing his most senior staff staring back at him in a telling photo on gender diversity. Outside of the New York Times, most media yawned.

Donald Trump unveils his economic team? A much different narrative.

Selective outrage: It’s all the rage in today’s media that could use a few courses in self-awareness. 

Concha is a media reporter for The Hill. Follow him on Twitter @JoeConchaTV

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.