More #USPol here, though this is about #media. The rot is worse in the #USA than most democratic nations [1], so examples of what I'm about to bitch about flourish there.

The problem is that the media - mainstream media, corporate media, legacy media - has given up calling things what they are, lest they appear "biased". Instead, they engage in "both-sides-ism" where they describe one party's horrific, unethical, illegal position on an issue in the same #neutral terms they describe the "other side"'s reasonable and factual take on it.

Example:

Reasonable side: "The prison camp Alligator Alcatraz has inhumane conditions for inmates and fails to uphold their rights to security, food, facilities, medical treatment, and other things. It violates human rights and must be closed permanently."

The "other side" in this case is a bunch of racist nazi nutjob fascists in favour of throwing all non-white people into concentration camps, and the media say something like "Critics say, however, that the prison is a cost-effective means of detaining those in violation of immigration law prior to deportation".

The media fail when they describe a "side" like this neutrally.

And it is the reason the USA now has a #fascist #dictator.

Today: you don't say "critics say" here - a no-bid contract by #definition did bypass the normal #competitive process. It's a #fact.

[1] Note: not "most other democratic nations".

#BothSides #BothSidesIsm #journalism #stenography #failure #criticism

tweeting about marner against my better judgement...

it is possible that #bothsides of the debate should simply be more sensitive to opponent defensive quality