Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Skye Gould/Business Insider Mark Cuban.
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban said the media's coverage of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump has become "so ineffective."
During a recent interview with Business Insider, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank" said, if he worked in media, he'd try to "stop competing" in the same "marketplace" as outlets asking the same questions on five or 10 subjects that dominate the election coverage.
"I want to be the outlet that asks the questions the other outlets don't," he said. "And the worst part is, they're all trying to, you know, keep things balanced. So they're going to have a Trump surrogate and a Clinton surrogate that are so well practiced these days at deflecting because the media's just got to, you know, get to their next segment, so there's no opportunity to punch back. And, it makes news so ineffective."
"It's super frustrating for me because you know there are so many more important issues that have not been covered," he continued.
He pointed to one subject in particular after mentioning the "many more important issues" he wished were covered: THADD, which stands for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. It's an anti-ballistic missile system.
Business Insider
THADD was, to some controversy in the Asia-Pacific region, deployed in South Korea in early July in what National Security Advisor Susan Rice called an "alliance decision" that was made "directly in response to the threat posed by North Korea in its nuclear and missile programs."
"It is purely a defensive measure," she said.
But the Chinese government was not pleased with the US deployment of the missile defense system, claiming that the decision "undermined the foundations of trust between the two countries."
It's "one of the most important things right now," Cuban said. "It's political, it's economic, it has to do with safety, and, you know, potential for war. It checks all of the top buttons, all of the top items, that we need to be concerned about. But no one has even brought it up."
"But it's the perfect question to ask both candidates," he continued. "It defies the nature of being president. There's just so many things - there's not a sequence where you just prioritize what you do in the presidency. So it's not just terrorism, it's not just jobs, it's non-stop, and it changes every day. And, THADD impacts [the Trans-Pacific Partnership], it impacts so many different things. How you deal with NATO. All these different things. And yet, no one's even asked the question."
Cuban said the reason why the subject hasn't been breached is because the media thinks "American citizens aren't going to be" interested.
And as for the candidates addressing the topic on their own, Cuban said they've got no reason to "approach a new topic."
"You know, Hillary's is afraid of looking too smart these days because she doesn't want to condescend to the undecideds," he said. "It's like everything's been dumbed down."
Cuban endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at a rally in Pittsburgh, his hometown, in July. Earlier in the cycle, Cuban was more enthralled with the idea of a Trump presidency and had expressed interest in serving as either Trump or Clinton's vice president before eventually souring on the Republican nominee's candidacy.