Democracy is in peril. Why is the mainstream media giving so much attention to “The Slap”?

Earlier this week, The Washington Post broke the news that there is a 457-minute gap in the presidential phone logs for Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol. The White House keeps a record of every person the president talks to (remember, the president is supposed to be a public employee). The Jan. 6 records show that Trump took eight calls in the morning and 11 in the evening, but from 11:17am until 6:54pm, there is a gap. We know Trump took phone calls during this time: It’s already been reported that he called Senator Mike Lee and spoke to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy. But the full extent of Trump’s activities are missing from the official record during arguably the most important time of his failed presidency. Pinning down the president’s timeline on the day his forces attacked the Capitol would seem to me to be job No. 1 of federal investigators, and investigative journalists.

But nobody cares. For some reason this was a one-day story for mainstream American media. There have been more articles, news segments, think pieces, and investigative reports on the details of a movie star hitting a comedian at the Academy Awards than there have been about whom the president was talking to during an attempted coup.

Even The Washington Post decided that one insurrection story per day is enough. The media never floods the zone and never stays on a single [story] long enough to get answers.

This kind of coverage only makes sense if you are worried about pissing off Republicans. This coverage sounds “fair” only if you are worried about being fair to the people who attacked the country. This coverage sounds balanced only if you equate a president who aided and abetted a coup against the government with a president who has a son who had his laptop stolen.

This shouldn’t be complicated. Trump is at Mar-a-Lago right now. Reporters should go there! They should demand answers for the seven hour gap in his records. When he lies (which he will), do not accept the lie and reprint it like a stenographer. Say “You’re lying.” Demand evidence for what he claims.

Then go back to the Republicans and ask them for their phone logs. Then go to the Department of Justice and ask them what they are doing and who will be held responsible for deleting or hiding official records. Then stay there until these institutions cough up a real answer.

I’m not telling elite journalists and news directors at the major U.S. newspapers anything they don’t already know. The media can focus – when it wants to.

People will have to form their own opinions as to why the media is so invested in shielding Trump from this inquiry. Maybe the question we should be asking is: “What did the Fourth Estate know, and when did they know it?”

ELIE MYSTAL is The Nation’s justice correspondent and an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. His first book, Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, was published March 1. He can be followed @ElieNYC.