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“90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving.”

No need to check the math in President Trump’s recent tweet. For argument’s sake let’s say he’s correct. Fact is, “negative” reporting about him these days might even be closer to 95 percent.

How could it not be? Anything written about Robert Mueller’s investigation, separating migrant children from their parents at the border, gaffe-plagued meetings with Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, chaos among the White House staff, and worldwide turmoil related to Trump’s tariff policies – to name just a few topics – is by definition negative.

So, yes, virtually 100 percent of what’s reported about those ongoing stories is negative and appropriately so.

The remaining 5 or 10 percent of recent news relates mostly to employment and economic growth statistics, and could be reasonably categorized as “positive.”

But the concern among journalists is not what a scorecard might show about coverage of the Trump Administration. It’s the distorted view among the president and his communications staff that journalism can be measured on a scorecard in the first place.

An acknowledged fan of Fox News, the president undoubtedly embraces its ersatz slogan: “Fair and balanced.” No one would argue against fairness, but “balance” is rarely a part of journalism. Only in certain, limited situations, such as during the run-up to an election, should balance come into play.

Clearly, the president wants his supporters to conflate story selection with story content, and hard news reporting with cable-TV commentary. They are simply not the same.

Depressing as it might be, news tends to be negative. It is newsworthy, for example, that wildfires are ravaging California, but there’s not much news in the fact that Minnesota, at last report, was relatively fire free.

The New York Times has taken to summarizing “The Week in Good News” in its Saturday edition, advising readers that, “it isn’t all bad out there.” Stories covered range from the discovery of water on Mars to the mother duck who cared for 76 ducklings. President Trump should have been pleased with the paper’s page-one lead that day: “Consumers Push Growth to 4.1% in Hot Economy.”

So, it’s not all negative, but when it is don’t fault media.

The president is undoubtedly riled by the volume of negative commentary on MSNBC and, to a lesser extent, on CNN. However, commentary is not news reporting, and shouldn’t be tabulated as such. Besides, for every negative opinion uttered about the administration on MSNBC there are positive spins on Fox News Channel – where “balance” exists only in slogans.

Sadly, we are living at a point in time where 90-plus percent of news about the current administration is, indeed, negative. But the stories aren’t fake, they’re fact.

If the president wants more positive news, he would be wise to make some.

A list of Peter Funt’s upcoming live appearances is available at www.CandidCamera.com.

Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, “Cautiously Optimistic,” is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com.Copyright2018 Peter Funt. Columns distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate.

In print and on television, Peter Funt continues the Funt Family tradition of making people smile – while examining the human condition.

After 15 years hosting the landmark TV series “Candid Camera,” Peter writes frequent op-eds for The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal.

Peter is a frequent speaker before business groups and on college campuses, using the vast “Candid Camera” library to bring his points to life. His newest presentation for corporate audiences, “The Candid You,” draws upon decades of people-watching to identify factors that promote better communication and productivity.

In addition to his hidden-camera work, Peter Funt has produced and hosted TV specials on the Arts & Entertainment and Lifetime cable networks. He also spent five years as an editor and reporter with ABC News in New York.

Earlier in his career, Peter wrote dozens of articles for The New York Times and TV Guide about television and film. He was editor and publisher of the television magazine On Cable. And he authored the book "Gotcha!" for Grosset & Dunlap on the lost art of practical joking.