100% agree that the narrative needs to start from the top. However, no matter what republican president was in office, CNN, the NYT, MSNBC, etc., would still have people calling them racist or xenophobic or whatever. It's a two way street (I know you acknowledged that). With how liberal the MSM is, they would still be trashing the republican president (not at the level of Trump but still...) and that's not helpful at all. When there is obviously over the top false/fake stories being put out by the MSM, it only makes things worse. I blame the MSM and Trump more than I blame the actual Republican and Democratic politicians, honestly.
I think part of the problem is that we need to learn how to distinguish between the 24 hour cable news drama and real journalists reporting facts.
CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC in Primetime is no longer about reporting facts. It has turned into a circus where each side is pushing their own agenda to rally their base.
IMO, 24 hour cable news has killed journalism. We now have a contingent in this country that will literally ignore fact based reporting because it is not what they want to hear. Trump only ignited the sentiment by proclaiming all MSM as Fake News. IMO,Trump knows this and uses it to his advantage if there are any negative news story about him.
Just for the record, I wasn't happy when Obama called out Fox News for their BS either.... but I think Trump has taken it to the extreme.