The press does it because it works. How else can we explain Biden's low poll ratings? And let's be real. It's painfully obvious that the MSMs goal is to bring down Biden. The fact is he has done more in one year as president than most presidents in history yet every story the mainstream media covers about Biden is colored in negativity, a crises. Biden's covid crises - he's got more Americans vaccinated in a shorter amount of time than his critics said was possible. Biden doesn't have the votes for the infrastructure bill. He passed it. Biden's mess in Afghanistan - he successfully evacuated thousands of people in an unheard of amount of time getting us out of an endless war. On and on it goes. If anyone is paying attention, the press revealed just who they are by this latest obsession over Biden's remark in Poland. And to his credit, when confronted the next time, he didn't back down. Good for him. We have a president who understands just how damaging our mainstream press can be and instead of cowering, he fights back. He gets it. I hope most Americans do too.
Have to share this tweet on the state of / devolution of reporting from @KevinMKruse:
“There’s a clip in The American Experience doc on Nixon when reporters refuse to believe the administration’s spin about the 18 1/2 minute gap, rejecting its lies in real time. “Is that believable? Come on.”
Today it’d just be Chuck Todd saying “we’ll have to leave it there…”
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court Justice and his right-wing QAnon nut-job wife continue to actively and openly conspire with Trump and a cabal of corrupt Oligarchs, Kleptocrats, bought-and-paid-for politicians and convicted criminals to undermine the US government.
An actor bitch slaps a comedian on tv. A youtube of the event the next morning has 30 million views, compared to a rough average of a million or so of clips covering the news of that day. The press knows to whom they are selling their wares.
Is the gaffe obsession a narrative or a meme? Regardless, there is no doubt the Kool Kids of the DC media all agree that the gaffe horse must be ridden until it drops. Both NBC and ABC showed clips of their reporters' "tough questioning" of Biden about the alleged gaffe, complete with camera shots of the reporters' *deep concern* face as the President indulged the stupidity. "Couldda been an actor, but I wound up here. I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear." Don Henley nailed it in Dirty Laundry.
I believe the press would be better off either attempting to be completely factual and objective, with no spin, or explicitly partisan and admitting to that orientation, on either the right or the left. the muddy middle doesn't work, and they are rapidly losing the trust of the American people and beyond.
Thanks for the "Katie bar the door" phrase. I grew up hearing my Dad use it and I use it still.
Does anyone else perceive President Biden as very much shining with authority, clarity and firmness when he was in Europe? It seems he enjoys and excels at foreign affairs. And this bores the Press no end. Hence the obsession with gaffes.
Thank you for your work Eric. I cite you frequently in other comment threads.
An "impartial" economic contributor is not one who howls about deficits when Dems are in control but goes silent on them when Republicans are giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy.
When Chinese historians write about the collapse of the U.S. a couple of decades from now, they'll cite the unrelenting damage inflicted by the American media, stalwart in its refusal to think, learn, grow and understand its self-interest in a functioning democracy. And they'll laugh.
I couldn't find even one article with any in-depth discussion of Biden's speech, but that "gaffe" was everywhere. It got almost as much coverage as Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. It's all about the infotainment, and these two "stories" illustrate that sad fact perfectly. Two days ago WaPo had no less than six Will Smith slap articles posted on its website. Six.
All morning on MSNBC the chryon has been "4+ million refugees have fled Ukraine", "President Biden to hold call with Zelenskyy", and "Putin advisers afraid to tell the truth". All of these headlines are newsworthy, but why has there been no pounding of the "trump asks Putin for election help" or "7 1/2 hour gap in WH call logs" stories?!?
I believe I can say with a certain amount of confidence that most, if not all of us knew that:
1. The press would find their spine again when a Democrat got in office. And:
2. All the trump liars would find a new life in the press.
Meanwhile, there’s a 71/2 hour gap in phone logs and 45 stole documents (and flushed others down the toilet) and ole Ashley Parker says “he’s not conventional”.
Great piece. Sad to say, yet another example of the media choosing not to inform but to misinform.
In any even middling functional democratic state, Putin would be either out of office if a parliamentary system or electorally toxic with checks and balances rendering him powerless. So, you know, Biden was correct. BTW, haven’t seen where Biden stated that NATO policy going forward was to effect regime change in Russia. Unless they’re going to fly Zelenskyy to wherever Putin is to blow him away, with footage to be recycled for the next season of “Servant of the People”.
As for CBS News’ new hire, being exposed to CBS News far too much, I cannot say it’s good let alone significantly better than Fox’s News side. So hiring Mulvaney isn’t much of a surprise. Sorry anyone stuck in the 70s. BTW: CBS News has been on the decline since the 80s.
It’s a SNL positioning tactic: Just like Ford was clumsy in all their skits, Biden is gaffe-prone. It was not true then, but that was how Ford was branded and Biden will be.
It’s a powerful tool to culturally define someone, and it is odd that they had the chance to brand Trump as the ultimate liar (which would be true!) and they didn’t.
I do not know how much of this Biden-branding is the usual media laziness and how much it comes from the top, but it is strange that our entire Failed Political Press ™ has seized on this at the exact same moment, innit?
Biden gaffes are so much more fun to write about than 7 1/2 hour gaps or new “Russia if you are listening” pronouncements.
The press does it because it works. How else can we explain Biden's low poll ratings? And let's be real. It's painfully obvious that the MSMs goal is to bring down Biden. The fact is he has done more in one year as president than most presidents in history yet every story the mainstream media covers about Biden is colored in negativity, a crises. Biden's covid crises - he's got more Americans vaccinated in a shorter amount of time than his critics said was possible. Biden doesn't have the votes for the infrastructure bill. He passed it. Biden's mess in Afghanistan - he successfully evacuated thousands of people in an unheard of amount of time getting us out of an endless war. On and on it goes. If anyone is paying attention, the press revealed just who they are by this latest obsession over Biden's remark in Poland. And to his credit, when confronted the next time, he didn't back down. Good for him. We have a president who understands just how damaging our mainstream press can be and instead of cowering, he fights back. He gets it. I hope most Americans do too.
Have to share this tweet on the state of / devolution of reporting from @KevinMKruse:
“There’s a clip in The American Experience doc on Nixon when reporters refuse to believe the administration’s spin about the 18 1/2 minute gap, rejecting its lies in real time. “Is that believable? Come on.”
Today it’d just be Chuck Todd saying “we’ll have to leave it there…”
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court Justice and his right-wing QAnon nut-job wife continue to actively and openly conspire with Trump and a cabal of corrupt Oligarchs, Kleptocrats, bought-and-paid-for politicians and convicted criminals to undermine the US government.
An actor bitch slaps a comedian on tv. A youtube of the event the next morning has 30 million views, compared to a rough average of a million or so of clips covering the news of that day. The press knows to whom they are selling their wares.
Is the gaffe obsession a narrative or a meme? Regardless, there is no doubt the Kool Kids of the DC media all agree that the gaffe horse must be ridden until it drops. Both NBC and ABC showed clips of their reporters' "tough questioning" of Biden about the alleged gaffe, complete with camera shots of the reporters' *deep concern* face as the President indulged the stupidity. "Couldda been an actor, but I wound up here. I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear." Don Henley nailed it in Dirty Laundry.
I believe the press would be better off either attempting to be completely factual and objective, with no spin, or explicitly partisan and admitting to that orientation, on either the right or the left. the muddy middle doesn't work, and they are rapidly losing the trust of the American people and beyond.
Thanks for the "Katie bar the door" phrase. I grew up hearing my Dad use it and I use it still.
Does anyone else perceive President Biden as very much shining with authority, clarity and firmness when he was in Europe? It seems he enjoys and excels at foreign affairs. And this bores the Press no end. Hence the obsession with gaffes.
Thank you for your work Eric. I cite you frequently in other comment threads.
An "impartial" economic contributor is not one who howls about deficits when Dems are in control but goes silent on them when Republicans are giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy.
When Chinese historians write about the collapse of the U.S. a couple of decades from now, they'll cite the unrelenting damage inflicted by the American media, stalwart in its refusal to think, learn, grow and understand its self-interest in a functioning democracy. And they'll laugh.
Ah the spirit of Les Moonves is still alive and well at See B.S.
Just wondering who their next hire will be after Slick Mulvaney...
I couldn't find even one article with any in-depth discussion of Biden's speech, but that "gaffe" was everywhere. It got almost as much coverage as Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. It's all about the infotainment, and these two "stories" illustrate that sad fact perfectly. Two days ago WaPo had no less than six Will Smith slap articles posted on its website. Six.
All morning on MSNBC the chryon has been "4+ million refugees have fled Ukraine", "President Biden to hold call with Zelenskyy", and "Putin advisers afraid to tell the truth". All of these headlines are newsworthy, but why has there been no pounding of the "trump asks Putin for election help" or "7 1/2 hour gap in WH call logs" stories?!?
I believe I can say with a certain amount of confidence that most, if not all of us knew that:
1. The press would find their spine again when a Democrat got in office. And:
2. All the trump liars would find a new life in the press.
Meanwhile, there’s a 71/2 hour gap in phone logs and 45 stole documents (and flushed others down the toilet) and ole Ashley Parker says “he’s not conventional”.
Way to bury the bar there. Amazing
Great piece. Sad to say, yet another example of the media choosing not to inform but to misinform.
In any even middling functional democratic state, Putin would be either out of office if a parliamentary system or electorally toxic with checks and balances rendering him powerless. So, you know, Biden was correct. BTW, haven’t seen where Biden stated that NATO policy going forward was to effect regime change in Russia. Unless they’re going to fly Zelenskyy to wherever Putin is to blow him away, with footage to be recycled for the next season of “Servant of the People”.
As for CBS News’ new hire, being exposed to CBS News far too much, I cannot say it’s good let alone significantly better than Fox’s News side. So hiring Mulvaney isn’t much of a surprise. Sorry anyone stuck in the 70s. BTW: CBS News has been on the decline since the 80s.
It’s a SNL positioning tactic: Just like Ford was clumsy in all their skits, Biden is gaffe-prone. It was not true then, but that was how Ford was branded and Biden will be.
It’s a powerful tool to culturally define someone, and it is odd that they had the chance to brand Trump as the ultimate liar (which would be true!) and they didn’t.
I do not know how much of this Biden-branding is the usual media laziness and how much it comes from the top, but it is strange that our entire Failed Political Press ™ has seized on this at the exact same moment, innit?