The press, as you have pointed out for years, has aided and abetted the Republican Party. Since 2010 all they have done is battle against Obamacare, give tax breaks to the wealthiest, and defend gun ownership in the wake of an endless streak of mass shootings. Did I miss when the Republicans in Congress came up with their own healthcare bill, a plan for Infrastructure, immigration, and climate change? Right, because they haven't and they couldn't care less. Trump is not gone. His ideology is being nurtured by a party that is completely in line with one thing. Secure the extremist Trump voters because it's the only way they can achieve power. And the scary thing is, if the Democrats screw up these two years holding the majority, the House and Senate will flip in 2022 much like it did during President Obama's first term. The Dems must be perfect during these next two years and must show the public that what they are promoting benefits everyone, especially the middle-class and the poor. They must continue to fight the extremism now masquerading as the Republican Party. Biden, who is assembling a brilliant Cabinet and the Democrats are on their own. There will be no help coming from the mainstream press. If an insurrection that has caused the death of six people won't persuade the DC press how extreme and dangerous the Republican Party has become, nothing will.
As Paul Krugman points out in his column today, the insanity began back in the nineties when Newt was in control. Back then media aggressively aided and abetted multiple right wing slanders of Bill Clinton. The media wasn’t even outraged when Republicans not only accused Clinton/Clintons of murdering their friend Vince Foster but conducted multiple investigations of that vicious smear, the last led by Brett Kavanaugh for Ken Starr.
It isn’t a big leap to go from believing that the Clintons are murderers to believing that Hillary runs a pedophile ring. There are otherwise normal people in my family who bought the Foster lie and now believe the pedophile story, too.
The Democrats can be as perfect as humanly possible but all bets are off on them winning the midterms if the media returns to its old ways. It looks like that is what they will do as Eric repeatedly points out. Dean Baquet recently said he looks forward to aggressively reporting on Biden and USA Today just vowed to do the same. Watch for the nitpicking to begin!
Yesterday I watched Chuck Todd hammer Ben Cardin about using reconciliation for Covid relief instead of negotiating with Republicans to get a bill passed. Todd kept making it clear that he wasn’t playing devil’s advocate, but that he personally thought that was what democrats should do, explicitly saying he thought negotiating would be better.
Unfortunately Cardin did not point out that that is what Obama did when trying to pass the ACA. Obama gave in to Republicans on several points, then they all voted against the bill anyway. It’s like Todd urging Charlie Brown to let Lucy hold the ball for him one more time because this time he can trust her......
I agree that the press was really biased about Carter — because they disdained him for being a southerner from Nowheresville, Ga. They looked down on Clinton for the same reason. However Krugman was referring to when the Republicans publicly went insane and that was when they went after Clinton with bonkers lies and investigations. If you haven’t read “The Hunting of the President” by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason you should. No matter what you thought of Clinton what Republicans did not only to him but anyone touched by Whitewater, Travelgate, etc. is beyond shocking. The media was deeply complicit with those attacks. When things went way off the rails the media just ignored the extremism and abuse of our legal system. (Julie Hyatt Steele comes to mind.)
I am currently reading Jonathan Alter’s bio of Carter. Alter said he expected fo find that Carter had been a mediocre president but a great ex-president but was surprised to learn about all the things he had accomplished while in office. It says a lot that a prominent reporter had no clue. Imagine where we would be now if we had reelected Carter instead of electing Reagan. Our energy policies alone would be cutting edge. And we would not have such extreme income inequality. And if we hand then elected Gore and Kerry........
I've avoided thinking about all the "what ifs" over the past few decades. For example, It's remarkable how much damage our two GOP "minority vote" presidents have done.
It's like where was all this holding folks accountable when Repubs were in charge? I totally agree with you that the nitpicking will be in full force. Once again Chuck Todd wasn't pushing any of the Trump cabinet to answer to any of the wrong doing or just plain ole do nothingness yet as soon as Dems takeover it's why aren't you reaching out to the other side? GTFOH Chuck!!! They don't want to help people so Biden has to do what he has to do to get shit done. So irritating all of them are. smh
That thing called hope that Democrats hold onto makes them vulnerable to the f-ckery of the GOP. And the press, you're right, has made all of it so much worse. So far I'm liking how the new Biden Administration is proceeding, actually barreling through
I think we should give this Republican Party the same attention we give any other right wing conspiracy based fringe organization. None. No oxygen at all. Instead media should focus on what is being done in healthcare and climate change But they won’t.
The media won’t even report on the fact that Republicans are losing members. They underreported the fact that they lost white suburban, college educated women so badly in 2018 that Democrats won the midterms in a landslide. They are ignoring the fact that Trump lost both those women and their male counterparts in 2020. Just yesterday Michael Steele said that Republicans have lost a lot of people as a result of their coup attempt.
My understanding, based on what former Senate staffer Lawrence O'Donnell said, is that the vote was procedural, and the issue was whether the constitutionality of trying an impeached former president should be debated before or during the actual trial. Rand Paul and his ilk wanted the debate to occur immediately, likely reasoning that there would be no need for a trial if conviction would be unconstitutional. So those 45 GOPers wanted an immediate debate. They were not saying there would be no conviction if there was a trial. That may be wandering into the weeds for laymen, but the media reported the apparent motive of the 45 (i.e., that they do not want to try Trump) rather than the true subject matter of that procedural vote. Once again, the media chose narrative over fact, and that ties in with Eric's overall point - the media simply can't or won't abandon the fiction that the Republican party is solidly mainstream, and secretly abhors Trump.
Yes, It’s true that some of those 45 GOP’s could still vote to convict at trial, but considering the party’s complete unwillingness to stand up to Trump, that seems like almost near impossibility
The political press has been wrong —and covering for the Republicans— since at least the Reagan era.
I would love to see a Corrections notice from the NYT that would run hundreds of pages, but it won’t happen. The columnists (Hi David Brooks!) would have to admit that they’ve been consistently wrong their entire careers.
And what is more problematic than being wrong? They would have to admit that the Left was right, er, correct all this time. And that is why it will never happen.
I strongly agree that this has been going on for years. The first time I saw a news article in the mainstream media explaining that the claim that tax cuts for the rich would magically pay for themselves has never been the case was in a 2008 WaPo article criticizing Rudy for making that claim. The article never mentioned it was Reagan who sold the public that lie. I never saw anyone in the media make that point when Bush was pushing his magical self-funding tax cuts either.
Eric...I love your commitment not succumbing to the pressures of the 'marketplace' of journalism in order to attract fame or fortune. I've commented before on Soledad O'Brien as another true journalist for whom I admire. Both of you are calling people out. I come from the field of mental health and view what I read with that perspective, especially since the Bush era. As I learn more about elections and leaders going back to Reagan it seems this has been like the initial signs of a tsunami where the largest wave crashed into our shores in 2016 with Trump's "American Carnage" inauguration speech.
It's not been that long since I joined Twitter and essentially removed myself from FB. So, what is frustrating from my perspective is we are and have been watching the signs of another tsunami in which the crisis of mental health (for many MH experts) has been rolling in, but we haven't seen the wave crash yet. If I mention the names of the psychiatrist, public health expert and Yale professor as well as the organization this person leaves, I think what happens is readers think I am promoting them instead of sharing what I believe is an absolutely vital piece to all of the frustration you and your readers are feeling. The frustration is the lack of understanding of how dangerous and pathological the spread of conspiracies, misinformation and the attempt by the media to talk about it at the exclusion of critical voices within the field of mental health. To here from the top experts and have it framed through the lense and messaging of a quality journalist is to me what's missing.
For lawyers, journalists, doctors (not psychiatrists), media marketing consultants and non- top experts in the field of Mental Health who are also public health experts is our downfall. It happens all the time! Language such as "insane", "crazy", "nuts", "dangerous" and without context is not useful to the public or for people who actually suffer from mental illness. It's terribly 'stigmatizing' if not talked about by those who have spent years in the field.
But, like all professions and we saw this with Ronny Jackson, Sean Conley and Borstein, there are amoral and broadly destructive people who muddy the waters in messaging. There are legitimate experts in psychiatry who can message and their are wolves in sheeps clothing, those beholden to the pharmaceutical industry, for example.
As frustrated as you are, so are those of us who are terrified of Trump's wave crashing in on us as he is the voice of pathology and a 'virus' that he's spread to people one might suspect of not being infected. This contagion is now centered in the halls of congress, with state and local governments, within families that don't understand what caused sudden divisions, and internationally.
As a journalist and historian, you're aware of the fact that intellectuals gathered in Germany, Turkey, Brazil, the Philippines and other countries long before authoritarianism rooted itself. They could see it coming and ultimately it did because the public and their governments thought they were exaggerating with every step they saw leading to tyranny. Mental health experts are also aware and though they are trying to message, the experts that get 230 K clicks on Twitter are Rob Reiner, George Conway, misguided reports from Politico, WAPO and the NYT's and so on. The experts with important and critical information on the state of this mental health crisis end the day with 1000 likes and shares. Please tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I and many of us in the field don't know what else to do.
Interesting context! I was frustrated for 4 yrs that Trump’s mental health wasn’t treated as straight-ahead news stories, with mental health experts regularly quoted
Being an establishment reporter means doing PR for the GOP. So what gets reported are the stories the GOP wants out there and facts and truth are much, much lower priorities at best.
Been that way since the late 1970s. Trump and post-1/6 coverage shows nothing's changing and what, if anything, will force a change would be something far, far worse than a POTUS and party who allow a couple hundred thousand Americans to die for no good reason and for (checks notes) elected officials sworn to uphold the constitution to incite sedition.
This abrogation of responsibility has done real harm. It hides from what's referred to as the poorly informed (and, of course, uninformed) to have no idea why the state fails them (to say the least) and that voting GOP is an acceptable alternative (facts and reality say otherwise). And here we are.
Dis the GOP (and corporate Dems) as much as you want, but the only thing that puts in power is a huge number voters, a large number of whom feel okay with their choices by a media who refuse give them facts that maybe are harmful the GOP (and corporate Dems).
problem is journalists remain to coveting both parties as if they similar. one has cracked itself wide open but press just too nervous to acknowledge in news coverage
Jennifer Rubin takes journalists to the woodshed today for playing their bipartisan gotcha game in her article “Reporters are hounding the wrong people about the covid 19 rescue package. I saw Chuck Todd play this game yesterday with Ben Cardin. Todd made it clear it was his personal opinion that Democrats should not use reconciliation, prefacing his assertions by saying things like “I think”. It was blatantly biased and unprofessional, not to mention arrogant.
Todd knows that even if Democrats do make concessions to Republicans to get a bill passed they will probably all vote against it anyway.
Greg Sargent has been doing an excellent job, too along with Paul Waldman. They both write for the Post’s Plum Line. Margaret Sullivan has been really tough on the media too.
No, I think they’re locked in by decades of pushing the GOP is fine/Dems always fail scenarios. Once, I know these guys really know their stuff but just didn’t report what they knew as opposed to, well, what the show and catering to the audience required. And further restricting coverage is that reporters are following orders from editors and producers.
But they’re clearly not covering both parties equally.
If your point was they’re covering the GOP as if it’s morally legitimate and not pretty much an enemy of the state, then with that I agree. None of the legitimacy is warranted or correct.
As I keep saying to the point that I’m even boring me, the press has actually harmed the nation during the age of Trump. Fox and the conservative media are in no way outliers.
And as for the alleged fear of appearing too liberal, the facts tend to have a liberal bias so having BS artists accusing the media of being liberal would just be the price of reporting facts. Reporting BS instead of facts should be an unacceptable alternative.
I laughed at your comment about boring yourself. I bet I am even worse than you as my family and friends would tell you. I have been the media harming our democracy by ignoring right wing insanity since Newt was in power. It made me feel good to see Paul Krugman make that same point in today’s column.
The GOP seems to like apartheid-style government just fine. And we need to keep saying this. That’s the only way we can work towards changing this bad situation.
And the apartheid isn’t just based on race. They want to disenfranchise all Democrats, white or black, and the media doesn’t seem to care all that much.
Not just Republicans. Too many of their media enablers are just as guilty of that. I contend that is the root of their almost pathological animus towards Democrats.
Thanks Eric, I love the subtitle "Chasing unicorns." Because that's what the press is doing.
Spouting about bi-partisanship with the GOP party that doesn't believe in democracy is no better than peddling misinformation. Arguing that trump is the problem is equally disingenuous. The latest shiny object is Newt Gingrich, and watch as many pick up this talking point. As you say, "wrong, wrong, wrong."
White supremacy, or racism, or the rest of the deeply held forms of hate didn't "pop-up" in 1994, or 2016, or January 6, 2021. But I believe it may now be worse, as truth itself is under attack.
Your wrong about the Republicans not having a rational thought process. It's just that their process has nothing to do with a civil consciousness. They have no real regard for democracy, only for power and the preserving of the structures that keep them in power. What is good for the country or even their constituents is not even secondary, but rather tertiary or somewhere farther down the line as rejecting facts that their donors find inconvenient is also so primary for them, they are willing to shift their morals with the changes of the wind (so long as the wind is shaped like a dollar sign).
They have a rational thought process, but their goals are not a match with what is hoped for from a civil servant - or even a decent human being - but make sense when you realize they are just all selfish and in it for the own preservation and prosperity even at the cost of the people and country they claim to serve/love.
The GOP is what it is today, a RW facist operation bent on protecting white supremacists, corp power (kinda one in the same), and pushing tested culture wars which appeal mostly to white rural & suburban people . There's no *pivot* for them, they have enuff RW media in placeto continue down this road, why should they turn back.
Paul Krugman admitted he thought it was possible for a moment but no. And I'm sure the DC political media will continue the narrative because they remain to journalism what Charles Manson was to Neighborhood Watch programs.
I agree that the Post’s top articles are often bad. Sometimes it is just the headlines but the bothsiderism is frequent. However there is some great writing by some of their columnists. Check out Jennifer Rubin, the Plum Line (Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman) and Margaret Sullivan. All of them have been doing a great job of speaking the truth about the radicalization of Republicans as well as criticizing the mainstream media’s downplaying the extremism.
Yesterday Waldman wrote an excellent article titled “Marjory Taylor Greene’s new antics highlight a 50-year GOP Story”. It details how Republicans have been failing to police the extremism in their party as far back as Joe McCarthy. Sargent points out that Republicans pandered to the conspiracy-mongering John Birch Society, that Goldwater refused to disavow the endorsement by the KKK, and that Newt created their scorched earth policy.
I just see most of the media as being incompetent. In every trade there are a few competent tradesmen and many incompetent. Too many journalists are not professionals, they are in a trade and too many of them are no better than a crooked plumber.
“Yet the press remains committed to portraying the GOP as a mainstream, center-right entity. That's why it keeps botching the "reckoning" story — reporters assume there is a Republican breaking point with Trump and the politics of hate and revenge he represents. But there never is.”
The ”reckoning” story is to keep journalists employed. They will not drop it as long as it gets clicks.
White Nationalism has been part of the Republican party for a long time. Donald Trump is just the recent, best incarnation. Just wondering who the next white male from tv or movies the Republicans will choose next. Matthew McConnaughey?
While I agree with you Eric , and almost every comment on this page, IMO, Democrats who are members of Congress, like Tim Kaine, do not help with the media problem one bit. They get the shit up their back, and it just reinforces fools in the Beltway media like Chuck Todd. I only hope Cardin set him straight pretty quickly.
The press, as you have pointed out for years, has aided and abetted the Republican Party. Since 2010 all they have done is battle against Obamacare, give tax breaks to the wealthiest, and defend gun ownership in the wake of an endless streak of mass shootings. Did I miss when the Republicans in Congress came up with their own healthcare bill, a plan for Infrastructure, immigration, and climate change? Right, because they haven't and they couldn't care less. Trump is not gone. His ideology is being nurtured by a party that is completely in line with one thing. Secure the extremist Trump voters because it's the only way they can achieve power. And the scary thing is, if the Democrats screw up these two years holding the majority, the House and Senate will flip in 2022 much like it did during President Obama's first term. The Dems must be perfect during these next two years and must show the public that what they are promoting benefits everyone, especially the middle-class and the poor. They must continue to fight the extremism now masquerading as the Republican Party. Biden, who is assembling a brilliant Cabinet and the Democrats are on their own. There will be no help coming from the mainstream press. If an insurrection that has caused the death of six people won't persuade the DC press how extreme and dangerous the Republican Party has become, nothing will.
it’s the Do Nothing party that never gets called out for doing nothing
It's not the *do nothing party* it's the *DO AWFUL THINGS PARTY*.
As Paul Krugman points out in his column today, the insanity began back in the nineties when Newt was in control. Back then media aggressively aided and abetted multiple right wing slanders of Bill Clinton. The media wasn’t even outraged when Republicans not only accused Clinton/Clintons of murdering their friend Vince Foster but conducted multiple investigations of that vicious smear, the last led by Brett Kavanaugh for Ken Starr.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/why-was-kavanaugh-obsessed-with-vince-foster.html
It isn’t a big leap to go from believing that the Clintons are murderers to believing that Hillary runs a pedophile ring. There are otherwise normal people in my family who bought the Foster lie and now believe the pedophile story, too.
The Democrats can be as perfect as humanly possible but all bets are off on them winning the midterms if the media returns to its old ways. It looks like that is what they will do as Eric repeatedly points out. Dean Baquet recently said he looks forward to aggressively reporting on Biden and USA Today just vowed to do the same. Watch for the nitpicking to begin!
Yesterday I watched Chuck Todd hammer Ben Cardin about using reconciliation for Covid relief instead of negotiating with Republicans to get a bill passed. Todd kept making it clear that he wasn’t playing devil’s advocate, but that he personally thought that was what democrats should do, explicitly saying he thought negotiating would be better.
Unfortunately Cardin did not point out that that is what Obama did when trying to pass the ACA. Obama gave in to Republicans on several points, then they all voted against the bill anyway. It’s like Todd urging Charlie Brown to let Lucy hold the ball for him one more time because this time he can trust her......
Goes back further than that to the 70s when the Corporate Controlled Conservative Press endlessly slimed Jimmy Carter.
I agree that the press was really biased about Carter — because they disdained him for being a southerner from Nowheresville, Ga. They looked down on Clinton for the same reason. However Krugman was referring to when the Republicans publicly went insane and that was when they went after Clinton with bonkers lies and investigations. If you haven’t read “The Hunting of the President” by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason you should. No matter what you thought of Clinton what Republicans did not only to him but anyone touched by Whitewater, Travelgate, etc. is beyond shocking. The media was deeply complicit with those attacks. When things went way off the rails the media just ignored the extremism and abuse of our legal system. (Julie Hyatt Steele comes to mind.)
I am currently reading Jonathan Alter’s bio of Carter. Alter said he expected fo find that Carter had been a mediocre president but a great ex-president but was surprised to learn about all the things he had accomplished while in office. It says a lot that a prominent reporter had no clue. Imagine where we would be now if we had reelected Carter instead of electing Reagan. Our energy policies alone would be cutting edge. And we would not have such extreme income inequality. And if we hand then elected Gore and Kerry........
I've avoided thinking about all the "what ifs" over the past few decades. For example, It's remarkable how much damage our two GOP "minority vote" presidents have done.
It's like where was all this holding folks accountable when Repubs were in charge? I totally agree with you that the nitpicking will be in full force. Once again Chuck Todd wasn't pushing any of the Trump cabinet to answer to any of the wrong doing or just plain ole do nothingness yet as soon as Dems takeover it's why aren't you reaching out to the other side? GTFOH Chuck!!! They don't want to help people so Biden has to do what he has to do to get shit done. So irritating all of them are. smh
That thing called hope that Democrats hold onto makes them vulnerable to the f-ckery of the GOP. And the press, you're right, has made all of it so much worse. So far I'm liking how the new Biden Administration is proceeding, actually barreling through
Truth!
I think we should give this Republican Party the same attention we give any other right wing conspiracy based fringe organization. None. No oxygen at all. Instead media should focus on what is being done in healthcare and climate change But they won’t.
you’re right—and they never will
The media won’t even report on the fact that Republicans are losing members. They underreported the fact that they lost white suburban, college educated women so badly in 2018 that Democrats won the midterms in a landslide. They are ignoring the fact that Trump lost both those women and their male counterparts in 2020. Just yesterday Michael Steele said that Republicans have lost a lot of people as a result of their coup attempt.
My understanding, based on what former Senate staffer Lawrence O'Donnell said, is that the vote was procedural, and the issue was whether the constitutionality of trying an impeached former president should be debated before or during the actual trial. Rand Paul and his ilk wanted the debate to occur immediately, likely reasoning that there would be no need for a trial if conviction would be unconstitutional. So those 45 GOPers wanted an immediate debate. They were not saying there would be no conviction if there was a trial. That may be wandering into the weeds for laymen, but the media reported the apparent motive of the 45 (i.e., that they do not want to try Trump) rather than the true subject matter of that procedural vote. Once again, the media chose narrative over fact, and that ties in with Eric's overall point - the media simply can't or won't abandon the fiction that the Republican party is solidly mainstream, and secretly abhors Trump.
Yes, It’s true that some of those 45 GOP’s could still vote to convict at trial, but considering the party’s complete unwillingness to stand up to Trump, that seems like almost near impossibility
And I just saw in Politico Playbook this morning that Trump will be speaking at an RNC event this spring along with other “2024 candidates.”
They love him. Authoritarianism is their cup of tea.
I'm sure Vegas won't even take odds on any Republican (other than the decent five) who will vote to convict.
The political press has been wrong —and covering for the Republicans— since at least the Reagan era.
I would love to see a Corrections notice from the NYT that would run hundreds of pages, but it won’t happen. The columnists (Hi David Brooks!) would have to admit that they’ve been consistently wrong their entire careers.
And what is more problematic than being wrong? They would have to admit that the Left was right, er, correct all this time. And that is why it will never happen.
I strongly agree that this has been going on for years. The first time I saw a news article in the mainstream media explaining that the claim that tax cuts for the rich would magically pay for themselves has never been the case was in a 2008 WaPo article criticizing Rudy for making that claim. The article never mentioned it was Reagan who sold the public that lie. I never saw anyone in the media make that point when Bush was pushing his magical self-funding tax cuts either.
Eric...I love your commitment not succumbing to the pressures of the 'marketplace' of journalism in order to attract fame or fortune. I've commented before on Soledad O'Brien as another true journalist for whom I admire. Both of you are calling people out. I come from the field of mental health and view what I read with that perspective, especially since the Bush era. As I learn more about elections and leaders going back to Reagan it seems this has been like the initial signs of a tsunami where the largest wave crashed into our shores in 2016 with Trump's "American Carnage" inauguration speech.
It's not been that long since I joined Twitter and essentially removed myself from FB. So, what is frustrating from my perspective is we are and have been watching the signs of another tsunami in which the crisis of mental health (for many MH experts) has been rolling in, but we haven't seen the wave crash yet. If I mention the names of the psychiatrist, public health expert and Yale professor as well as the organization this person leaves, I think what happens is readers think I am promoting them instead of sharing what I believe is an absolutely vital piece to all of the frustration you and your readers are feeling. The frustration is the lack of understanding of how dangerous and pathological the spread of conspiracies, misinformation and the attempt by the media to talk about it at the exclusion of critical voices within the field of mental health. To here from the top experts and have it framed through the lense and messaging of a quality journalist is to me what's missing.
For lawyers, journalists, doctors (not psychiatrists), media marketing consultants and non- top experts in the field of Mental Health who are also public health experts is our downfall. It happens all the time! Language such as "insane", "crazy", "nuts", "dangerous" and without context is not useful to the public or for people who actually suffer from mental illness. It's terribly 'stigmatizing' if not talked about by those who have spent years in the field.
But, like all professions and we saw this with Ronny Jackson, Sean Conley and Borstein, there are amoral and broadly destructive people who muddy the waters in messaging. There are legitimate experts in psychiatry who can message and their are wolves in sheeps clothing, those beholden to the pharmaceutical industry, for example.
As frustrated as you are, so are those of us who are terrified of Trump's wave crashing in on us as he is the voice of pathology and a 'virus' that he's spread to people one might suspect of not being infected. This contagion is now centered in the halls of congress, with state and local governments, within families that don't understand what caused sudden divisions, and internationally.
As a journalist and historian, you're aware of the fact that intellectuals gathered in Germany, Turkey, Brazil, the Philippines and other countries long before authoritarianism rooted itself. They could see it coming and ultimately it did because the public and their governments thought they were exaggerating with every step they saw leading to tyranny. Mental health experts are also aware and though they are trying to message, the experts that get 230 K clicks on Twitter are Rob Reiner, George Conway, misguided reports from Politico, WAPO and the NYT's and so on. The experts with important and critical information on the state of this mental health crisis end the day with 1000 likes and shares. Please tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I and many of us in the field don't know what else to do.
Interesting context! I was frustrated for 4 yrs that Trump’s mental health wasn’t treated as straight-ahead news stories, with mental health experts regularly quoted
As you may know, we were silenced by the American Psychiatric Association, which acted on behalf of the Trump administration and was handsomely rewarded for it: https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/04/muzzled-psychiatry-time-crisis/
I tried to blow the whistle, but was totally blacked out of the major media as a result.
Being an establishment reporter means doing PR for the GOP. So what gets reported are the stories the GOP wants out there and facts and truth are much, much lower priorities at best.
Been that way since the late 1970s. Trump and post-1/6 coverage shows nothing's changing and what, if anything, will force a change would be something far, far worse than a POTUS and party who allow a couple hundred thousand Americans to die for no good reason and for (checks notes) elected officials sworn to uphold the constitution to incite sedition.
This abrogation of responsibility has done real harm. It hides from what's referred to as the poorly informed (and, of course, uninformed) to have no idea why the state fails them (to say the least) and that voting GOP is an acceptable alternative (facts and reality say otherwise). And here we are.
Dis the GOP (and corporate Dems) as much as you want, but the only thing that puts in power is a huge number voters, a large number of whom feel okay with their choices by a media who refuse give them facts that maybe are harmful the GOP (and corporate Dems).
problem is journalists remain to coveting both parties as if they similar. one has cracked itself wide open but press just too nervous to acknowledge in news coverage
Jennifer Rubin takes journalists to the woodshed today for playing their bipartisan gotcha game in her article “Reporters are hounding the wrong people about the covid 19 rescue package. I saw Chuck Todd play this game yesterday with Ben Cardin. Todd made it clear it was his personal opinion that Democrats should not use reconciliation, prefacing his assertions by saying things like “I think”. It was blatantly biased and unprofessional, not to mention arrogant.
Todd knows that even if Democrats do make concessions to Republicans to get a bill passed they will probably all vote against it anyway.
I love her. One of the very very few of the pundiratti who speaks truth.
Greg Sargent has been doing an excellent job, too along with Paul Waldman. They both write for the Post’s Plum Line. Margaret Sullivan has been really tough on the media too.
I agree.
No, I think they’re locked in by decades of pushing the GOP is fine/Dems always fail scenarios. Once, I know these guys really know their stuff but just didn’t report what they knew as opposed to, well, what the show and catering to the audience required. And further restricting coverage is that reporters are following orders from editors and producers.
But they’re clearly not covering both parties equally.
If your point was they’re covering the GOP as if it’s morally legitimate and not pretty much an enemy of the state, then with that I agree. None of the legitimacy is warranted or correct.
As I keep saying to the point that I’m even boring me, the press has actually harmed the nation during the age of Trump. Fox and the conservative media are in no way outliers.
And as for the alleged fear of appearing too liberal, the facts tend to have a liberal bias so having BS artists accusing the media of being liberal would just be the price of reporting facts. Reporting BS instead of facts should be an unacceptable alternative.
I laughed at your comment about boring yourself. I bet I am even worse than you as my family and friends would tell you. I have been the media harming our democracy by ignoring right wing insanity since Newt was in power. It made me feel good to see Paul Krugman make that same point in today’s column.
The GOP seems to like apartheid-style government just fine. And we need to keep saying this. That’s the only way we can work towards changing this bad situation.
GOP clearly feels that overturning election results don’t matter anymore — it’s incredible
And the apartheid isn’t just based on race. They want to disenfranchise all Democrats, white or black, and the media doesn’t seem to care all that much.
Honestly, sometimes I get the sense that Republicans see white Democrats as race traitors.
Like it really offends their sensibilities that nearly half of white voters want a functional, multiracial democracy. Yikes...
Not just Republicans. Too many of their media enablers are just as guilty of that. I contend that is the root of their almost pathological animus towards Democrats.
Thanks Eric, I love the subtitle "Chasing unicorns." Because that's what the press is doing.
Spouting about bi-partisanship with the GOP party that doesn't believe in democracy is no better than peddling misinformation. Arguing that trump is the problem is equally disingenuous. The latest shiny object is Newt Gingrich, and watch as many pick up this talking point. As you say, "wrong, wrong, wrong."
White supremacy, or racism, or the rest of the deeply held forms of hate didn't "pop-up" in 1994, or 2016, or January 6, 2021. But I believe it may now be worse, as truth itself is under attack.
Your wrong about the Republicans not having a rational thought process. It's just that their process has nothing to do with a civil consciousness. They have no real regard for democracy, only for power and the preserving of the structures that keep them in power. What is good for the country or even their constituents is not even secondary, but rather tertiary or somewhere farther down the line as rejecting facts that their donors find inconvenient is also so primary for them, they are willing to shift their morals with the changes of the wind (so long as the wind is shaped like a dollar sign).
They have a rational thought process, but their goals are not a match with what is hoped for from a civil servant - or even a decent human being - but make sense when you realize they are just all selfish and in it for the own preservation and prosperity even at the cost of the people and country they claim to serve/love.
The GOP is what it is today, a RW facist operation bent on protecting white supremacists, corp power (kinda one in the same), and pushing tested culture wars which appeal mostly to white rural & suburban people . There's no *pivot* for them, they have enuff RW media in placeto continue down this road, why should they turn back.
Paul Krugman admitted he thought it was possible for a moment but no. And I'm sure the DC political media will continue the narrative because they remain to journalism what Charles Manson was to Neighborhood Watch programs.
Took one look at The Washington Post web page this morning and saw them gushing with love for Ronna (Note that Romney is MISSING) McDaniel.
Yep we're back to the useless mainstream Pre$$titution that bows down before the Golden Elephant.
I agree that the Post’s top articles are often bad. Sometimes it is just the headlines but the bothsiderism is frequent. However there is some great writing by some of their columnists. Check out Jennifer Rubin, the Plum Line (Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman) and Margaret Sullivan. All of them have been doing a great job of speaking the truth about the radicalization of Republicans as well as criticizing the mainstream media’s downplaying the extremism.
Yesterday Waldman wrote an excellent article titled “Marjory Taylor Greene’s new antics highlight a 50-year GOP Story”. It details how Republicans have been failing to police the extremism in their party as far back as Joe McCarthy. Sargent points out that Republicans pandered to the conspiracy-mongering John Birch Society, that Goldwater refused to disavow the endorsement by the KKK, and that Newt created their scorched earth policy.
The same Standard Operating Procedure used by the Screw York Times. Kiss Republican Ass on the front page and mildly berate them on the OpEds.
Which is why I have no confidence in the Corporate Controlled Conservative Press.
I just see most of the media as being incompetent. In every trade there are a few competent tradesmen and many incompetent. Too many journalists are not professionals, they are in a trade and too many of them are no better than a crooked plumber.
“Yet the press remains committed to portraying the GOP as a mainstream, center-right entity. That's why it keeps botching the "reckoning" story — reporters assume there is a Republican breaking point with Trump and the politics of hate and revenge he represents. But there never is.”
The ”reckoning” story is to keep journalists employed. They will not drop it as long as it gets clicks.
White Nationalism has been part of the Republican party for a long time. Donald Trump is just the recent, best incarnation. Just wondering who the next white male from tv or movies the Republicans will choose next. Matthew McConnaughey?
While I agree with you Eric , and almost every comment on this page, IMO, Democrats who are members of Congress, like Tim Kaine, do not help with the media problem one bit. They get the shit up their back, and it just reinforces fools in the Beltway media like Chuck Todd. I only hope Cardin set him straight pretty quickly.