I have to confess I am one of those that have stopped watching the news. I do read your emails and I listen to Michelangelo Signorile most days. I think the majority of Americans are just tired. Tired of Trump, tired of the pandemic, tired of the games and back stabbing that goes on in Congress. If I believe our tax dollars should go to fixing this country and helping the people, I’m called a Marxist, a Socialist, UnAmerican. In my 64 years I have never heard such crap. I’m an American.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you Eric. Thank you for what you do to help us stay sane. Here’s hoping 2022 really is the collapse of the Trump Cult.
Some pundit (can’t remember who) recently said the reason the media hates that Biden is boring is they resent no longer being actors in a really big show. That has the ring of truth IMO. It is clear that a lot of the political press personally craves the kind of attention they got when Trump was in power and that desire trumps their concern for our democracy.
I did read a great explanation about the obsession with inflation — at the Onion.
As you and others have pointed out, the development of the Republican Party into a full-on authoritarian ethnic-nationalist movement that wants to turn this country into a white, Christian North Korea is a pretty big story that people would click on. But they don’t want to do that. Some because it’s too hard; some because people would get mad at them (liberals getting mad at them is never a problem of course).
As I've pointed out in previous Press Runs, quite a number of American mainstream media practitioners & outlets have completely lost their way since instead of informing the public of issues that would affect them in a substantial manner, they're too busy chasing the twin dragons of massive financial success & fame even if it means sacrificing their once-stellar journalistic skills & integrity if it means earning them a seat with the subjects they're supposed to scrutinizing with a fine comb.
While it's important to be critical of the mistakes made by Democrats (e.g. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bad defense of allowing member of Congress to engage in stock trading), it's infuriating that there's a huge reluctance by some of them to hold Republicans' feet to the fire with their ongoing assault on American democracy with restrictive voting laws, abortion bans, whitewashing America's racist history, and the promotion of hatred of racial/ethnic minorities & LGBTQ people.
Seriously, they should've been much harder on Senators Manchin & Sinema's obstructionist antics in crippling President Biden's agenda. This isn't a "Dems in Disarray" narrative, it's about two senators beholden to their corporate donors in the name of undermining democracy.
Their “boredom”—I also think it is hatred—is going to kill our democracy and make our lives poorer for it. The Beltway reporters are doing everything in their power to bring down President Biden. The latest horrendous take is that his “inability” to “eliminate” Covid, cow the GOP, and tame Joe Manchin “raises questions” of Biden’s “competence.” That dumpster fire of a story is of course from Politico. Not to mention the extraordinary lack of respect Charlemagne showed VP Kamala last week during an interview with her (she kicked his ass).
These reporters and outlets (and personalities) know what they are doing, and like Manchin, Trump, and the GOP revel in their power while disingenuously saying “aw shucks, who me? I just ‘call balls and strikes.’”
After years of disinterested and barely existing coverage of that war, the press suddenly had an exciting story. Suddenly the were all CBS correspondents during the fall of Saigon except from the comfort of their homes in Georgetown. Afghanistan was never going to end well. For most of its twenty years people knew it wasn't going to end well. However, the press suddenly had an adrenaline tweaking story and went with it - hoping someone would one day make a Netflix distributed film about how heroic they were during this time.
The MSM seems to forget to mention that Joe Manchin is a multi millionaire who is still making money from the family coal business. THAT is the real reason behind his claim that BBB is "moving too quickly" toward alternative energy sources. You'd think the media would find it *fun* to explore Manchin's conflict of interest and endless bad faith negotiating. But if they noticed Manchin's bad faith they would have notice Mitch McConnell's, too, so...
Several random thoughts. 1) CNN was lambasted by MSM for Cuomo's actions, but not for his central role in repeatedly elevating Kellyanne Conway and providing a worldwide platform and legitimacy to her 'alternative facts' and ceaseless damaging pro-Trump propaganda. The latter damaged the country, the former only embarrased CNN. 2) CNN's elevation of propaganda and respectful silence in the face of absurd statements bybGOP politicians continues to sicken our national discourse. Yesterday's installment of the absurd was Gov Sinunu's statement that party affiliation had nothing to do with vaccine refusal. Sinunu supported Trumpbin 2020 after Trump botched the pandemic response via deliberate actions and active negligence. I didn't hear Tapper ask Sinunu about the House' report on the Trump pandemic response. I didn't hear Tapper ask Sinunu about Trump's recent blatantly anti-Semitic screed. It's not just CNN's coverage, but Chuck Todd is unwatchable in his supreme ignorance and tunnel vision, so I can't refer to each individual denigration of journalistic norms. The journalists did jump aboard the 24/7 Afghanistan coverage, and the withdrawal was far worse than it should have been, but where was the non-stop coverage over the exact same actions by Trump in his withdrawal from Syria? 3) SCOTUS, in its current corrupted incarnation, has been hinting for some time about revisiting libel laws. How does MSM believe that will play out for them if Trumpusm prevails in 2022?
Or they just make crap up like this headline from the NYT “ The Path Ahead for Biden: Overcome Manchin’s Inflation Fears
A key Democrat’s decision to pull support from the president’s sprawling climate and social agenda is rooted in the scope of the bill.”
Truth is, I’m not even going to read that garbage. They’d do better writing about the utter hypocrisy and mendacity of Manchin pulling his support and yet they can’t seem to figure that out. How about the drama of one lousy senator from a tiny, poverty stricken state managing the agenda for the whole country? He’s a Dem - you’d think they could go for it in a way they never did with McConnell but no. 🤷🏻♀️
An award-winning editor at an award-winning paper told me they turned away from the kind of journalism that won them awards because, yes, of financial issues, but mainly because what drew clicks were the standard crime stories.
It's also important to remember that this always has been true, or at least the pre-internet equivalent. Don't believe me? "Headless Man in Topless Bar."
Reading the WashPost. They have just knocked down their one year digital subscription from $99 to $9.99. They must be struggling pretty badly. This will attract more trolls than they'll know what to do with.
I'd be more likely to see Stone and Bannon colluding to take the focus of the investigation off of Trump because they both know they don't have access to anything other than a bunch of mostly powerless wingnut anarchists without Trump in the White House. If they are successful and Trump gets back in, they will all sit in the Oval Office and have a big laugh at how gullible the Media was to follow that "feud" story down a dead-end rabbit hole.
A couple days ago Andrea McArdle published an op-ed in the Post whose title called Biden's popularity "foundering," even though the polls report a rise. There was also a silly piece where the writer (Tony Romm, if memory serves) focuses on a list of "non-Biden" Democratic presidential candidates for 2024.
These folks seem to have nothing to write about, or very little initiative. In reading this crap, I wondered why we don't see articles on foreign policy - it's as if the whole world has disappeared except as covid news subjects. I wonder every day why the press hates Kamala Harris so much (they portray her as confused and inept, and a gaffe machine). I wonder why they're so incurious about why Joe Manchin is destroying Biden's agenda (now they report it's because he thinks poor people will spend the child tax credit on drugs). And the reporting on omicron has been uneven and at times, hysterical. I can't trust what I read when I even care to read it.
I have to confess I am one of those that have stopped watching the news. I do read your emails and I listen to Michelangelo Signorile most days. I think the majority of Americans are just tired. Tired of Trump, tired of the pandemic, tired of the games and back stabbing that goes on in Congress. If I believe our tax dollars should go to fixing this country and helping the people, I’m called a Marxist, a Socialist, UnAmerican. In my 64 years I have never heard such crap. I’m an American.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you Eric. Thank you for what you do to help us stay sane. Here’s hoping 2022 really is the collapse of the Trump Cult.
Some pundit (can’t remember who) recently said the reason the media hates that Biden is boring is they resent no longer being actors in a really big show. That has the ring of truth IMO. It is clear that a lot of the political press personally craves the kind of attention they got when Trump was in power and that desire trumps their concern for our democracy.
I did read a great explanation about the obsession with inflation — at the Onion.
https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-explains-inflation-1848234022
As you and others have pointed out, the development of the Republican Party into a full-on authoritarian ethnic-nationalist movement that wants to turn this country into a white, Christian North Korea is a pretty big story that people would click on. But they don’t want to do that. Some because it’s too hard; some because people would get mad at them (liberals getting mad at them is never a problem of course).
As I've pointed out in previous Press Runs, quite a number of American mainstream media practitioners & outlets have completely lost their way since instead of informing the public of issues that would affect them in a substantial manner, they're too busy chasing the twin dragons of massive financial success & fame even if it means sacrificing their once-stellar journalistic skills & integrity if it means earning them a seat with the subjects they're supposed to scrutinizing with a fine comb.
While it's important to be critical of the mistakes made by Democrats (e.g. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bad defense of allowing member of Congress to engage in stock trading), it's infuriating that there's a huge reluctance by some of them to hold Republicans' feet to the fire with their ongoing assault on American democracy with restrictive voting laws, abortion bans, whitewashing America's racist history, and the promotion of hatred of racial/ethnic minorities & LGBTQ people.
Seriously, they should've been much harder on Senators Manchin & Sinema's obstructionist antics in crippling President Biden's agenda. This isn't a "Dems in Disarray" narrative, it's about two senators beholden to their corporate donors in the name of undermining democracy.
Their “boredom”—I also think it is hatred—is going to kill our democracy and make our lives poorer for it. The Beltway reporters are doing everything in their power to bring down President Biden. The latest horrendous take is that his “inability” to “eliminate” Covid, cow the GOP, and tame Joe Manchin “raises questions” of Biden’s “competence.” That dumpster fire of a story is of course from Politico. Not to mention the extraordinary lack of respect Charlemagne showed VP Kamala last week during an interview with her (she kicked his ass).
These reporters and outlets (and personalities) know what they are doing, and like Manchin, Trump, and the GOP revel in their power while disingenuously saying “aw shucks, who me? I just ‘call balls and strikes.’”
Re: Afghanistan
After years of disinterested and barely existing coverage of that war, the press suddenly had an exciting story. Suddenly the were all CBS correspondents during the fall of Saigon except from the comfort of their homes in Georgetown. Afghanistan was never going to end well. For most of its twenty years people knew it wasn't going to end well. However, the press suddenly had an adrenaline tweaking story and went with it - hoping someone would one day make a Netflix distributed film about how heroic they were during this time.
The MSM seems to forget to mention that Joe Manchin is a multi millionaire who is still making money from the family coal business. THAT is the real reason behind his claim that BBB is "moving too quickly" toward alternative energy sources. You'd think the media would find it *fun* to explore Manchin's conflict of interest and endless bad faith negotiating. But if they noticed Manchin's bad faith they would have notice Mitch McConnell's, too, so...
Several random thoughts. 1) CNN was lambasted by MSM for Cuomo's actions, but not for his central role in repeatedly elevating Kellyanne Conway and providing a worldwide platform and legitimacy to her 'alternative facts' and ceaseless damaging pro-Trump propaganda. The latter damaged the country, the former only embarrased CNN. 2) CNN's elevation of propaganda and respectful silence in the face of absurd statements bybGOP politicians continues to sicken our national discourse. Yesterday's installment of the absurd was Gov Sinunu's statement that party affiliation had nothing to do with vaccine refusal. Sinunu supported Trumpbin 2020 after Trump botched the pandemic response via deliberate actions and active negligence. I didn't hear Tapper ask Sinunu about the House' report on the Trump pandemic response. I didn't hear Tapper ask Sinunu about Trump's recent blatantly anti-Semitic screed. It's not just CNN's coverage, but Chuck Todd is unwatchable in his supreme ignorance and tunnel vision, so I can't refer to each individual denigration of journalistic norms. The journalists did jump aboard the 24/7 Afghanistan coverage, and the withdrawal was far worse than it should have been, but where was the non-stop coverage over the exact same actions by Trump in his withdrawal from Syria? 3) SCOTUS, in its current corrupted incarnation, has been hinting for some time about revisiting libel laws. How does MSM believe that will play out for them if Trumpusm prevails in 2022?
Or they just make crap up like this headline from the NYT “ The Path Ahead for Biden: Overcome Manchin’s Inflation Fears
A key Democrat’s decision to pull support from the president’s sprawling climate and social agenda is rooted in the scope of the bill.”
Truth is, I’m not even going to read that garbage. They’d do better writing about the utter hypocrisy and mendacity of Manchin pulling his support and yet they can’t seem to figure that out. How about the drama of one lousy senator from a tiny, poverty stricken state managing the agenda for the whole country? He’s a Dem - you’d think they could go for it in a way they never did with McConnell but no. 🤷🏻♀️
Nicely done, Eric. Since I'm all in for the "war on Xmas" have happy holidays :)
An award-winning editor at an award-winning paper told me they turned away from the kind of journalism that won them awards because, yes, of financial issues, but mainly because what drew clicks were the standard crime stories.
It's also important to remember that this always has been true, or at least the pre-internet equivalent. Don't believe me? "Headless Man in Topless Bar."
Reading the WashPost. They have just knocked down their one year digital subscription from $99 to $9.99. They must be struggling pretty badly. This will attract more trolls than they'll know what to do with.
I'd be more likely to see Stone and Bannon colluding to take the focus of the investigation off of Trump because they both know they don't have access to anything other than a bunch of mostly powerless wingnut anarchists without Trump in the White House. If they are successful and Trump gets back in, they will all sit in the Oval Office and have a big laugh at how gullible the Media was to follow that "feud" story down a dead-end rabbit hole.
All I can think of as I read this column: who raised these banal, non-discerning journalists?
ABC,CBS,NBC just won’t bring to task those who attempted the overthrow of this country! This needs to be addressed!
A couple days ago Andrea McArdle published an op-ed in the Post whose title called Biden's popularity "foundering," even though the polls report a rise. There was also a silly piece where the writer (Tony Romm, if memory serves) focuses on a list of "non-Biden" Democratic presidential candidates for 2024.
These folks seem to have nothing to write about, or very little initiative. In reading this crap, I wondered why we don't see articles on foreign policy - it's as if the whole world has disappeared except as covid news subjects. I wonder every day why the press hates Kamala Harris so much (they portray her as confused and inept, and a gaffe machine). I wonder why they're so incurious about why Joe Manchin is destroying Biden's agenda (now they report it's because he thinks poor people will spend the child tax credit on drugs). And the reporting on omicron has been uneven and at times, hysterical. I can't trust what I read when I even care to read it.