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Theodora30's avatar

Ugh. As I feared the media doesn’t seem to have learned from its past mistakes. These were two of the top headlines in yesterday’s WaPO:

“Reality lies in wait for Biden’s bold campaign promises”, “Harris allies wonder anxiously: Will she have real clout?” Today’s top headlines are all about Trump except for this one: As Trump’s efforts on Iran falter Biden will fact a more assertive Iran”.

Maybe I am overreacting but it is driving me crazy that the media focus is still mostly on Trump’s antics or on negative projections for Biden, implying he will fail, won’t really treat Harris as a partner, will have mysterious unknown forces that will thwart him, etc. The Post actually has a headline saying that “The feud among Trumps’ kids shows this family won’t let us move on”!! As if the media is powerless to stop giving these people constant attention. I understand that it would be irresponsible for the media to paint an overly rosy picture of what Biden can accomplish but there is a lot he can do. He is already planning to make a lot of important changes that will be within his power. He has announced he will invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up needed PPE and tests. Why isn’t that the headline? I read that wants enough testing that they will be easy for every to get and results will be much faster.

When the media reports on the challenges Biden faces they should make it clear that it will be Mitch and his fellow Republicans that will be standing in the way of fixing things. But they also need to put the spotlight on the things Biden can do that he is already addressing, not all the ways he is likely to fail. If the media’s emphasis is on what Biden doesn’t accomplish and downplays the Republican obstruction that stands in his way not what he does accomplish Republicans will be empowered in the midterms. In fact as I am writing this there is a report on television about all the restaurants that will fail with no mention of how that stimulus bill that Republicans refuse to pass could save them.

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Stacey Youdin's avatar

CNN appears to be sloughing off the fact that they are constantly attacked from the presidential podium. The tail she is between the legs, n'est-pas?

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