I see so many people discussing what went wrong for the Dems in 2016. But most are written by journalists, so they miss (imho) their own role in what went wrong. 

Imagine you're watching an NBA basketball game, and one team is being called for every infraction, but it turns out that most of the calls end up inconclusive, it just appears that they might have been thinking of doing something that could be seen as inappropriate, but probably not illegal, or even dishonest.

On the other hand, the other team is not only fouling a lot, several times on every play, they're also getting hauled into court for committing crimes on the court, not  crimes of the sport, but actual legal crimes. And when they explain what they're doing, they commit technical fouls, back in the game.

And in the crucial final minute of the game, they call the first team for a huge blatant foul, but then the call is reversed, but after the game is lost. Oh well. Shit happens.

I think that's a pretty good telling of the role the press played in the 2016 election. They could have run Trump University ads showing the candidate selling snake oil. Caught red-handed. And then explain the devastation he brought to Atlantic City. Show how his employees and customers feel about him as a businessperson, since that's how he's presenting himself. Very germane to voters. They probably would have helped us understand what it would be like to be governed by him. Give us some idea how to view what he was saying in his stump speeches.

That's the story journalism missed. Show us what a Trump presidency would be like. Be the Consumer Reports of the executive branch of government. 

Will I lose Medicare or ObamaCare? Will my kids have to fight in a war? Will banks be free to suck all the value out of our property, so they can buy themselves bigger estates and yachts? We have to figure this out, it's important, and that means if you're doing your jobs, you have to help us do that. 

I'm not saying the journalists are bad people, or if I would have done better in their shoes. The NBA has never seen a team like Trump/Pence in 2016. But it's good to really look at things dispassionately, to see how you all can do better in the future. And for that imho you have to listen to how your work was viewed by others, not just by asking other journalists. 

PS: I have to call out the New Yorker for doing an outstanding piece of journalism that tried to give us a sense of what a Trump presidency would be like. I think it is the single most valuable bit of writing in 2016 politics. 

PPS: It's hard to analyze a story in which you are a central character. You're likely to miss your own role. See Do you have a Head? for a kids game that illustrates.