The Mainstream Media Has Failed The Country For Decades
One of the most pernicious myths spread by the GOP is that the mainstream media is liberal. The history of the mainstream press going back over thirty years indicates that they frequently adopt Republican talking points on the issues and have badly hurt the country. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane and review how the mainstream media has failed the country by enabling the Republicans.
It all began during the first Clinton campaign for president. For eight long year, the mainstream media overhyped phony scandals about the Clintons that were pushed out by the GOP. The Clintons were never charged with anything after being investigated for seven years by three Republican special prosecutors.
Washington Post columnist David Broder was regarded as the dean of the D.C. press corps back in the day. Broder regarded Bill Clinton as a low-class usurper and called for his impeachment over the Lewinsky matter. In contrast, Broder went easy on George W. Bush and admitted that Karl Rove was his good friend. Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn said that “Clinton came in here and he trashed the place, and it’s not his place.”
After eight years of trashing the Clintons, the press took out its pique on Al Gore during the 2000 campaign. The “almost universal hostility he inspired in the reporters and editors who covered the race” was palpable, according to author Eric Alterman. “Overlooking the issues, the press focused on Gore’s stuffed-shirt personality, comparing it unfavorably to Bush’s frat-boy cool, and turning the presidential race into the equivalent of a school election, where the dim but likable party animal was destined to beat the goody-goody student council know-it-all,” Alterman wrote.
Media support for Bush continued into his first term, especially after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The press became cheerleaders for the Bush Administration’s push for war with Iraq. The mainstream press acted as stenographers for the Bush Administration’s disingenuous campaign aimed at convincing the American people to support the invasion of Iraq. At the same time, the elite media largely ignored opponents of the war.
Unfortunately, the Iraq War turned out to be one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in U.S. history. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. The war ground on for over eight years and according to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, will eventually cost U.S. taxpayers $3 trillion. Sadly, 4,424 American heroes died in this conflict and an additional 300,000 Iraqi civilians perished.
The media’s incompetence probably cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election. Thanks to the press, Hillary’s private email server became the focus of the campaign. It was all much ado about very little since Hillary was cleared by the Inspector General’s Office, the Trump State Department and two times by the FBI. Hillary is the most exonerated person in history.
The Columbia Journalism Review studied the NY Times’ coverage of the 2016 election. Their most alarming finding: “In just six days, the New York Times ran as many cover stories about Hillary Clinton’s emails as they did about all the policy issues combined in the 69 days leading up to the election.” This study found that the Times devoted much more online and print space to the scandals (real and imagined) and campaign horse race for both candidates than it did to their policies on topics such as health care and taxes.
Similarly, network television broadcasts dedicated more airtime to coverage of Hillary’s private email server than to all policy issues combined.
Joe Biden’s press coverage has been as bad as Hillary’s was in 2016. He began getting negative coverage from the mainstream media at the time of the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The media lambasted him when U.S. troops pulled out of this failed, twenty year. I doubt any members of the elite press have ever served in the military and they wouldn’t want their kids to serve, either.
Since 2021, the press has constantly blasted just about everything Biden has done. In their eyes, Biden can’t do anything right and the country is in terrible shape. Between 2021–23, the press constantly predicted a recession even though the economy was growing and inflation was receding. The press is constantly surprised by good economic news and predicts that bad times are just around the corner.
The incessant junk polls from the press indicate that only a small minority of Americans are aware of Biden’s impressive legislative accomplishments. For example, a recent CBS poll indicated that only 10% of Americans have either heard or read a lot about what the Biden administration has done to address climate change. That ignorance is an indictment of the mainstream press — they have failed in their job of informing the American people.
The best example of the media’s disdain for Biden can be found in their coverage of his age and Trump’s age. “From April 25, when President Joe Biden officially announced his reelection bid, through September 30, the top five U.S. newspapers by circulation — the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post — published a total of 378 articles that mentioned either Biden’s or former President Donald Trump’s age anywhere within the article. Of those, 88% mentioned Biden’s age while only 42% mentioned Trump’s. If the papers believe that Biden’s age is so newsworthy, then they should treat the nearly as advanced age of Trump equally.” Media Matters, October 20, 2023.
The terrible press coverage of Biden’s age reached its height when Republican special counsel Robert Hur cleared Biden over his retention of classified documents. Instead, of simply announcing that he had cleared Biden, Hur gave the medical opinion that Biden allegedly has a poor memory. Hur isn’t a doctor — he is a Federalist Society lawyer who served in the Trump Administration.
Hur’s report violated Department of Justice Guidelines — he was in no way authorized to give medical opinions. In addition, Hur lied about Biden’s memory in his report. The deposition transcript showed that Biden had excellent recall and at one point, Hur complimented Biden’s memory of past events. Hur should be investigated by the D.C. Bar Association and be disbarred for his misconduct.
Despite Hur’s lack of medical credentials and dishonesty, the mainstream press treated his medical opinions as the ten stone tablets from Mount Sinai. “A Popular Information analysis found that just three major papers — the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal — collectively published 81 articles about Hur’s assessment of Biden’s memory in the four days following the release of Hur’s report.” Judd Legum, February 12, 2024.
Meanwhile, Trump’s continued gaffes, memory lapses and inability to stay awake in court have been barely mentioned by the press. The Trump memory lapse that received the most attention was when he claimed three times that Nikki Haley was in charge of security of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The coverage of this howler was virtually non-existent. In the four days following of Trump’s gaffe, the misstatement was referenced in four articles in the New York Times, nine articles in the Washington Post, and two articles in the Wall Street Journal.
The Politico website recently revealed that the NY Times’ hostility to Biden stems from publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s anger that Biden won’t give the Times an interview. “In publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s view, according to two people familiar with his private comments on the subject, only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.” Politico, April 25, 2024.
In the Politico pieces, a reporter from the Times verified that their excessive coverage of Biden’s age is punishment for not giving Sulzberger an interview. “It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.” Politico, April 25, 2024.
This is a stunning revelation. The New York Times is now admitting that it’s smearing Biden for petulant and self interested reasons. This explains the NY Times’ bias and negative coverage of Biden. The Times is no longer credible and can’t be trusted.
The Biden Administration blasted the arrogant NY Times in response to its biased coverage of the age issue. “They see the Times falling short in a make-or-break moment for American democracy, stubbornly refusing to adjust its coverage as it strives for the appearance of impartial neutrality, often blurring the asymmetries between former President Donald Trump and Biden when it comes to their perceived flaws and vastly different commitments to democratic principles. “ Politico, April 25, 2024.
In response to Biden’s refusal to give an interview to Sulzberger, the Times attacked Biden. By issuing that statement, the Times confirmed its hostility towards the president. If Biden sat down for an interview with the NY Times, they would ask a bunch of stupid process and age questions. After the interview, they would write a series of analysis pieces trashing Biden. Eff the NY Times.
Has the mainstream media allowed themselves to be repeatedly played by the GOP for decades because they are stupid? All of the elite publishers, editors and reporters have fancy degrees. They aren’t dumb. Perhaps they want the GOP to win. That is the logical explanation.
CBS chief executive officer Les Moonvees gave away the game when he said this about the 2016 Trump campaign: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos hired Will Lewis as the new CEO of the Washington Post. Lewis’ background is that he worked for Rupert Murdoch in the United Kingdom and helped cover up his scandals. Amazon pays zero taxes and Bezos would like to continue to stiff the taxpayers.
CNN has moved to the right since 2020 under new owner John Malone. He fancies himself as a libertarian and is on the board of directors of the right wing Cato Institute. Malone also contributed $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee. After Malone took over CNN, he fired some of it most liberal reporters and indicated a new strategy to move away from an alleged “liberal” bias. Fired CNN anchor Brian Stelter contended that Malone wants the network to be “more like Fox.”
CNN’s move to the right has been a disaster. CNN’s ratings are one half of MSNBC’s and one third of Fox’s. CNN’s total viewership in prime time has even trailed the History Channel and an obscure cable network — founded by televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker — that plays Western TV shows and films. What Malone doesn’t seem to realize is that many CNN viewers have migrated to MSNBC and Republicans will never watch CNN.
We can’t rely upon the mainstream media to get out our message. It’s up to us. That’s why I post early and often about politics. It’s daily progressive talk on my social media accounts. If not us, who? If not now, when? Now let’s get it done! On to victory!