What's more concerning than Springer's biased viewpoint is the MSM's apparent refusal to acknowledge it as newsworthy. The Republican party's push to legalize voter suppression and post-election manipulation of the vote count is an open assault on democracy, but the reporting dutifully cites "election integrity" and ignores the big picture: the GOP is using the Big Lie to maintain political power. Our "journalists" seem to be more concerned that Republican pols won't like them than they are with doing honest reporting.
that's the part that really threw me; press just completely ignoring fact an openly partisan company was spending $1B to get into the DC politics media game
Politico is the gossip sheet that other members of the press read. I don't know how anyone takes what's in that rag seriously. Honestly, the only reason any of their journos are invited to the interminable panel discussions on CNN or MSNBC is because either the host or a producer is crushing-out on them.
Gossip attracts readers. I think that is why the UK’s right wing tabloids have been so influential. They attract readers with sensational headlines and pictures, then feed readers right wing spin.
There is some evidence that the public still isn’t buying the media hype. From an NBC report on the most recent polls on the withdrawal:
“A Pew Research Center Poll released Tuesday found that 54 percent of Americans say it was the right decision to pull troops from Afghanistan, while 42 percent say it was the wrong decision.
But just 27 percent rated Biden's handling of the situation as "excellent" or "good," while 29 percent rated it "only fair" and 42 percent rated it "poor." “
The author of this article just had to put a negative spin on the rating of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal by leading that part with a “but”. A more objective description would have made it clear that the poll shows 56% rated the withdrawal as either “good” or “only fair”, with just 42% rating it poor. That is a strong majority who said the withdrawal, while not perfect, was acceptable which completely contradicts the media narrative.
The results of the ABC poll show the exact opposite — 38% approving and 59% disapproving. I would have expected some comment on those wildly discrepant results but there was none.
I’m alway suspicious when the word ‘Jewish’ is thrown around as Springer does here; imho, it serves as a dog whistle aimed at the hawkish right wing haters of the Palestinians.
So, here in Las Vegas, the main local paper, the Review-Journal, was published by right-wingers from Arkansas, and the publisher and editor brought in a reporter whose main job was to hatchet Democrats. The publisher and editor lost their jobs in the wake of Harry Reid getting reelected in 2010, and I remain convinced--they even deny they were fired--that they were let go because when their skewed coverage of Reid got national attention, they (I think) reassured their bosses that it was all ok because they would see to his defeat. Well ....
So, before long, Sheldon Adelson bought the paper. Someone asked Reid what he thought. He replied that he didn't see how Adelson could treat him any worse than the previous regime did.
Eric, don't lose sight of the bigger picture. It is not just Politico. Look at The Hill being bought by Nextar who hired Bill Shine as their news advisor.
For the past decade, we have seen a proliferation of right-wing wealth pour into media from fake local news outlets to larger publications. This is not random and it is not a blip. It is a concerted effort that undermines democracy, science, and reason.
I totally agree with you. In my opinion that effort more than anything explains the horrors Eric reviews daily. That's why so much of the "news" feels to me like coordinated, well funded and orchestrated propaganda blitz.
Dunno that Politico can get *significantly* worse than it is now. Part of the reason is that by definition these days, any mainstream outlet is conservative. Of course, since facts rarely support conservative positions these days, it makes reporting let’s say fraught.
Eric’s points about the taint of conservatism and Springer’s requirement for reporters to sign what looks like to me as a loyalty oath at Politico comes as a surprise to me as it’s the first I’ve read about details concerning the Springer take over of the newsletter; I had no idea other than reading in the business sections of the newspapers that he’s German. More head shaking and hair on fire news. Politico touts sordid headlines that don’t match the text and is filled with gossip. I’m wondering what it’s value is to me??? The fact that this is reported as a ‘not much to see here’ story underscores the relentless political power grab being undertaken by republicans, and enabled by the press is another piece of evidence that we are in deep trouble as a nation.
I so agree. I'm in my late 50's, have been a news junkie my entire life and have settled to read news, watch Deadline Whitehouse (not a fan of Claire McCaskill as a frequent guest), Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow and Medhi Hasan.
I fear you may be overly concerned by the term “conservative”. It does not necessarily mean the same thing in Germany as the US. A German “conservative” is Angela Merkel; not Donald Trump. I don’t see that Chancellor Merkel & President Biden disagree on much.
Good pt re: conservative in Germany. But as others detail in the piece (and you can see more if you click on those links) Springer goes further and often embraces a Fox News view of the world—attacking immigrants, championing cultural wars, mocking liberals etc
I agree with what you say about the meaning of conservative in Germany but making reporters sign an oath to any particular ideological viewpoint is troubling.
I also suspect that the second essential “ We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel” sounds innocuous but likely means that they won’t report on anything negative about Israel such as their slow roll out of vaccines in the occupied territory, unlawful settlements or mistreatment of Palestinians. Of course that is already the case with much of the mainstream American media but that doesn’t make it acceptable.
Quite frankly, I assume that just about every mainstream media platform (cable, network, print, digital) favors the right wing Republicans. Politico is horrible now. Nothing it would advocate would surprise me. I just see this takeover as more of the same but more blatant.
I wonder if other outlets are courting right wing owners. I got the feeling that the Afghanistan coverage critical of Biden was driven by "reporters" who were auditioning/assembling portfolio for possible ownership changes in their respective companies. I'm sure it can get but I don't think anything they'd publish would surprise me.
As far as I know that wasn’t happening back in the 90s and early 2000s but the media still played along with right wing smears of Clinton and then helped Bush and Cheney spread their WMD lies. I never thought people like Sally’s Quinn’s Beltway High crowd were right wingers but they were biased in favor in coolness, the elite, their buddies, etc. That was bad enough but addition of right wing owners seeking to more media outlets terrifies me.
It is terrifying. I found the vitriol and nastiness along with lack of any linkage to facts leveled against Joe Biden that past 2 weeks terrifying in its ferocity and disconnect with reality of the situation. The coverage had a snarling jackal foaming at the mouth vibe.
Eric, a lot of people are talking now about the recent ACS season on the Clinton impeachment, and it, and the reviewers (who don't like it that much or think it has real heat), are engaging in so much historical revisionism over the actual events or what was actually said in 1998. Clearly, the Clinton Rules are governing everything.
The Daily Kos article says that Monica Lewinsky has recently decided that she was a victim of Clinton — after years of denying it. That is the narrative the media always pushed even though the tapes of her conversations with Linda Tripp made it clear she was the instigator who sought out Clinton. She is an executive producer of the program.
She is getting traction because right wingers and the Clinton-hating media want it. I agree with it being an adolescent attitude but it started back by people like Chris Matthews and Tim Russert. My daughter was in high school at that time and she and her friends were livid by the portrayal of Monica as a helpless victim when she was an more than willing adult. They rightly felt that portrayal of her as a victim was infantilizing to all young adult women.
Stopped following Politico 2 years ago but this confirms my decision.Couldn’t stand Jake Sherman before he left. Still can’t. Never liked Sam Stein. Always felt Sam was a phony plus his wife working for Facebook didn’t help.
Richard Thompson is one of the very best musicians in music history. His son,Teddy is great in his own right. Genetics obviously plays a role. Mom, Linda Thompson is no slouch either. “Shoot Out The Lights” one of my favorite albums.
Brother Charlie Pierce used to routinely refer to Politico as Tiger Beat on the Potomac. I guess for a short while a few years ago, they were some version of slightly less than terrible, so he quit using that appellation. Maybe time to resuscitate the old moniker?
Politico has always been bad, from the inception of Playbook (DC’s combo gossip and society pages) which was the genius idea of Mike 'payola' Allen, who started corporate sponsorship of “Winning The Morning.”
Politico has always been a tawdry thing, the tabloiding of what is essentially a one-industry town. That wonky pencil-pusher dude might not ever get a second look in any other city, but he’s now a rockstar, breathlessly covered by Politico, with all the fandom that it allows.
We might scorn it, but Playbook does set the agenda in DC. If they frame a story a certain way, you can bet that the talking heads read it and will reflect it. This $1B purchase is definitely going to have an impact across the country.
I should have noted some of the reasons that the Beltway Press reads Politico is because it is always fawning and flattering to them and breathlessly covers who is up/down, who got a promotion, engagements/weddings, and who was seen at parties and events. It makes the reporters themselves as the dashing and handsome heroes they want to be.
Everyone loves to read about themselves; Politico figured out that the media itself likes to be the story.
What's more concerning than Springer's biased viewpoint is the MSM's apparent refusal to acknowledge it as newsworthy. The Republican party's push to legalize voter suppression and post-election manipulation of the vote count is an open assault on democracy, but the reporting dutifully cites "election integrity" and ignores the big picture: the GOP is using the Big Lie to maintain political power. Our "journalists" seem to be more concerned that Republican pols won't like them than they are with doing honest reporting.
that's the part that really threw me; press just completely ignoring fact an openly partisan company was spending $1B to get into the DC politics media game
They are both afraid of Republican bullies and in awe of their macho posturing.
Politico is the gossip sheet that other members of the press read. I don't know how anyone takes what's in that rag seriously. Honestly, the only reason any of their journos are invited to the interminable panel discussions on CNN or MSNBC is because either the host or a producer is crushing-out on them.
what’s so discouraging is Politico has enormous resources (huge staff) that’s often wasted on gossip nonsense
Gossip attracts readers. I think that is why the UK’s right wing tabloids have been so influential. They attract readers with sensational headlines and pictures, then feed readers right wing spin.
There is some evidence that the public still isn’t buying the media hype. From an NBC report on the most recent polls on the withdrawal:
“A Pew Research Center Poll released Tuesday found that 54 percent of Americans say it was the right decision to pull troops from Afghanistan, while 42 percent say it was the wrong decision.
But just 27 percent rated Biden's handling of the situation as "excellent" or "good," while 29 percent rated it "only fair" and 42 percent rated it "poor." “
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/polls-americans-back-end-afghanistan-war-fault-biden-s-execution-n1278180
The author of this article just had to put a negative spin on the rating of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal by leading that part with a “but”. A more objective description would have made it clear that the poll shows 56% rated the withdrawal as either “good” or “only fair”, with just 42% rating it poor. That is a strong majority who said the withdrawal, while not perfect, was acceptable which completely contradicts the media narrative.
The results of the ABC poll show the exact opposite — 38% approving and 59% disapproving. I would have expected some comment on those wildly discrepant results but there was none.
I’m alway suspicious when the word ‘Jewish’ is thrown around as Springer does here; imho, it serves as a dog whistle aimed at the hawkish right wing haters of the Palestinians.
Re: Politico.
So, here in Las Vegas, the main local paper, the Review-Journal, was published by right-wingers from Arkansas, and the publisher and editor brought in a reporter whose main job was to hatchet Democrats. The publisher and editor lost their jobs in the wake of Harry Reid getting reelected in 2010, and I remain convinced--they even deny they were fired--that they were let go because when their skewed coverage of Reid got national attention, they (I think) reassured their bosses that it was all ok because they would see to his defeat. Well ....
So, before long, Sheldon Adelson bought the paper. Someone asked Reid what he thought. He replied that he didn't see how Adelson could treat him any worse than the previous regime did.
And that's how I feel about Politico.
ugh, so sad what happened to that LV daily
Yes, although Reid was right, in this sense: The previous leadership did a lot of the damage.
Eric, don't lose sight of the bigger picture. It is not just Politico. Look at The Hill being bought by Nextar who hired Bill Shine as their news advisor.
yep, good point. these two deals together are very troubling
For the past decade, we have seen a proliferation of right-wing wealth pour into media from fake local news outlets to larger publications. This is not random and it is not a blip. It is a concerted effort that undermines democracy, science, and reason.
I totally agree with you. In my opinion that effort more than anything explains the horrors Eric reviews daily. That's why so much of the "news" feels to me like coordinated, well funded and orchestrated propaganda blitz.
Yes. I fear many of these media barons are rich disciples of J. Goebbels.
Yes. Edward Bernays inspired Joseph Goebbels so that makes sense. Fascinating article about Bernays which mentions Goebbels:
https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/original-influencer
Dunno that Politico can get *significantly* worse than it is now. Part of the reason is that by definition these days, any mainstream outlet is conservative. Of course, since facts rarely support conservative positions these days, it makes reporting let’s say fraught.
Eric’s points about the taint of conservatism and Springer’s requirement for reporters to sign what looks like to me as a loyalty oath at Politico comes as a surprise to me as it’s the first I’ve read about details concerning the Springer take over of the newsletter; I had no idea other than reading in the business sections of the newspapers that he’s German. More head shaking and hair on fire news. Politico touts sordid headlines that don’t match the text and is filled with gossip. I’m wondering what it’s value is to me??? The fact that this is reported as a ‘not much to see here’ story underscores the relentless political power grab being undertaken by republicans, and enabled by the press is another piece of evidence that we are in deep trouble as a nation.
I so agree. I'm in my late 50's, have been a news junkie my entire life and have settled to read news, watch Deadline Whitehouse (not a fan of Claire McCaskill as a frequent guest), Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow and Medhi Hasan.
Lawrence O’Donnell has also been doing a great job covering Afghanistan.
I agree!
Mr. Boehlert,
I fear you may be overly concerned by the term “conservative”. It does not necessarily mean the same thing in Germany as the US. A German “conservative” is Angela Merkel; not Donald Trump. I don’t see that Chancellor Merkel & President Biden disagree on much.
Reading the list; what do you object to?
I agree that we should watch carefully.
But please don’t get hung up on the label.
Good pt re: conservative in Germany. But as others detail in the piece (and you can see more if you click on those links) Springer goes further and often embraces a Fox News view of the world—attacking immigrants, championing cultural wars, mocking liberals etc
I confess I did not click all the links in your story.
Remember the AfD is the Trump party in Germany & Springer seems opposed to them.
I agree with what you say about the meaning of conservative in Germany but making reporters sign an oath to any particular ideological viewpoint is troubling.
I also suspect that the second essential “ We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel” sounds innocuous but likely means that they won’t report on anything negative about Israel such as their slow roll out of vaccines in the occupied territory, unlawful settlements or mistreatment of Palestinians. Of course that is already the case with much of the mainstream American media but that doesn’t make it acceptable.
Quite frankly, I assume that just about every mainstream media platform (cable, network, print, digital) favors the right wing Republicans. Politico is horrible now. Nothing it would advocate would surprise me. I just see this takeover as more of the same but more blatant.
I wonder if other outlets are courting right wing owners. I got the feeling that the Afghanistan coverage critical of Biden was driven by "reporters" who were auditioning/assembling portfolio for possible ownership changes in their respective companies. I'm sure it can get but I don't think anything they'd publish would surprise me.
As far as I know that wasn’t happening back in the 90s and early 2000s but the media still played along with right wing smears of Clinton and then helped Bush and Cheney spread their WMD lies. I never thought people like Sally’s Quinn’s Beltway High crowd were right wingers but they were biased in favor in coolness, the elite, their buddies, etc. That was bad enough but addition of right wing owners seeking to more media outlets terrifies me.
It is terrifying. I found the vitriol and nastiness along with lack of any linkage to facts leveled against Joe Biden that past 2 weeks terrifying in its ferocity and disconnect with reality of the situation. The coverage had a snarling jackal foaming at the mouth vibe.
Eric, a lot of people are talking now about the recent ACS season on the Clinton impeachment, and it, and the reviewers (who don't like it that much or think it has real heat), are engaging in so much historical revisionism over the actual events or what was actually said in 1998. Clearly, the Clinton Rules are governing everything.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/31/2049385/--Impeachment-Season-of-ACS-Proves-The-Clinton-Rules-Remain-In-Effect-Forevermore?_=2021-08-31T10:27:42.000-07:00
You should really write a full blog post about this, especially in how the media shaped it then, and are reshaping it now.
yeah, i've been watching from afar. not sure why on earth the media need to tell that Clinton story for the 400th time. but they sure love it.
The Daily Kos article says that Monica Lewinsky has recently decided that she was a victim of Clinton — after years of denying it. That is the narrative the media always pushed even though the tapes of her conversations with Linda Tripp made it clear she was the instigator who sought out Clinton. She is an executive producer of the program.
Monica is, and always has been, an attention ho.
She knew what she was doing from the get-go.
Why she's getting any traction I don't know. Perhaps the metoo instigators helped. Or any misplaced, knee-jerker with a SM account.
I'm so tired of this adolescent attitude coming from definite NONadolescents.
She is getting traction because right wingers and the Clinton-hating media want it. I agree with it being an adolescent attitude but it started back by people like Chris Matthews and Tim Russert. My daughter was in high school at that time and she and her friends were livid by the portrayal of Monica as a helpless victim when she was an more than willing adult. They rightly felt that portrayal of her as a victim was infantilizing to all young adult women.
Stopped following Politico 2 years ago but this confirms my decision.Couldn’t stand Jake Sherman before he left. Still can’t. Never liked Sam Stein. Always felt Sam was a phony plus his wife working for Facebook didn’t help.
Richard Thompson is one of the very best musicians in music history. His son,Teddy is great in his own right. Genetics obviously plays a role. Mom, Linda Thompson is no slouch either. “Shoot Out The Lights” one of my favorite albums.
i didn't know abt Richard's son! what a talented clan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHo7ucNwP_A
Beautiful voice(obviously from his mother)
Have never read Politico.
Brother Charlie Pierce used to routinely refer to Politico as Tiger Beat on the Potomac. I guess for a short while a few years ago, they were some version of slightly less than terrible, so he quit using that appellation. Maybe time to resuscitate the old moniker?
Politico has always been bad, from the inception of Playbook (DC’s combo gossip and society pages) which was the genius idea of Mike 'payola' Allen, who started corporate sponsorship of “Winning The Morning.”
Politico has always been a tawdry thing, the tabloiding of what is essentially a one-industry town. That wonky pencil-pusher dude might not ever get a second look in any other city, but he’s now a rockstar, breathlessly covered by Politico, with all the fandom that it allows.
We might scorn it, but Playbook does set the agenda in DC. If they frame a story a certain way, you can bet that the talking heads read it and will reflect it. This $1B purchase is definitely going to have an impact across the country.
I should have noted some of the reasons that the Beltway Press reads Politico is because it is always fawning and flattering to them and breathlessly covers who is up/down, who got a promotion, engagements/weddings, and who was seen at parties and events. It makes the reporters themselves as the dashing and handsome heroes they want to be.
Everyone loves to read about themselves; Politico figured out that the media itself likes to be the story.
I literally wrote this very brief thread 16 hours ago: https://twitter.com/DrNikkiMartinez/status/1432642141654818816?s=20
yep, Politico is maddening