For Trump (and Republicans in general), America's political journalists consistently normalize lies, corruption, racism, misogyny, and blatantly obvious mental confusion. If it's covered as a story, it's a one-day story and everyone moves on.
But Big Journalism rakes Biden and prominent Democrats over the coals when they violate any one of those norms -- in "news" eruptions that go on and on.
This isn't a media blind spot. The only logical explanation at this point is that it's willful.
Searing commentary from Heather Cox Richardson on the media's disgusting double standards when it comes to Trump versus Biden.
Yesterday, Special Counsel Robert Hur, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents before he was president, released his report. It begins: “We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter. We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.” The Department of Justice closed a similar case against former Vice President Mike Pence on June 1, 2023, days before Pence announced his presidential bid, with a brief, one-page letter.
“The thing about Biden’s memory,” Cohen wrote, “is that he’s presided over the addition of ~15 million jobs & 800k manufacturing jobs, 23 straight months of sub-4% unemployment... the American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPs Act, PACT Act, infrastructure law, gun safety law, VAWA, codified marriage equality, canceled $136 billion in student loan debt for 3.7 million borrowers, bolstered NATO, and presided over electoral wins in ‘20, ‘22 and ‘23.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-9-2024
Yesterday, Special Counsel Robert Hur, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents before he was president, released his report. It begins: “We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter. We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.” The Department of Justice closed a similar case against former Vice President Mike Pence on June 1, 2023, days before Pence announced his presidential bid, with a brief, one-page letter.
“Tonight, he [Trump] lied more than two dozen times, slurred his words, confused basic facts, and placated the gun lobby weeks after telling parents to ‘get over it’ after their kids were gunned down at school.
But you won’t hear about any of it if you watch cable news, read this weekend’s papers, or watch the Sunday shows.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-9-2024
#Trump #Biden #Journalism #Press #Media #News #Politics #USPol #USPolitics
Yesterday, Special Counsel Robert Hur, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents before he was president, released his report. It begins: “We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter. We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.” The Department of Justice closed a similar case against former Vice President Mike Pence on June 1, 2023, days before Pence announced his presidential bid, with a brief, one-page letter.
@ramsey @dangillmor journalists are not more liberal than the general population. It's an interesting phenomenon, though. I think the act of reporting makes a person sympathetic to their subjects (which makes them seem liberal) while also highlighting how ineffectual our democratic institutions can be.
So, while their sympathies may be with the liberal agenda, their cynical worldview says that these problems can only be fixed by a strongman.
@dangillmor Especially in electronic media, the goal is ratings, eyeballs, hitcounts, and user engagement. Media execs know they don't win viewers with news about good government; it's boring.
My theory: Trump constantly gives them so much material that they don't need to critique him - let alone have time to do so. Chances to cover drama about Biden are fewer, so the media need to make the most of them.
@dangillmor Rather than an explicit political agenda, this could just be greedy self-interest combined with divergent strategies from the two parties. Stories about lying Democrats get lots of clicks. The Republicans want dirt, and the Democrats care about hypocrisy within their own ranks. Stories about Republicans lying are boring for everyone. The Republicans don't care / want to hear it, and for the Democrats it's old news.
Not saying there aren't other factors, too. There definitely are.
@dangillmor I think it's a bias towards consequences.
Trump had proven to be unlikely to face any political consequences for his terrible ideas & actions. When he says something awful, even if it's new, it is unlikely to alter the state of the game.
The fact that the press itself has a key role to play in doling out the consequences (and determining the state of the game) is often conveniently ellided in this conceptualization.
Fucking shithole country.
Because they are beholden to money.
@dangillmor Well, think about how it was from 2017-2021. We were all doomscrolling, checking the news constantly to see what insane thing Trump was doing that day, as if our lives depended on it (because it was possible they might). You can't pay for that kind of user engagement. And while there was danger in Trump screaming FAKE NEWS every 15 seconds, the news outlets figured he was all bark and no bite. The "adults in the room" would win out.
But if they help him win again for the sake of greater clicks and engagement, he will show them what a "dictator on the first day" does to the people he considers his enemies.
Dan Gillmor
The Febrile Muse
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
Michael Wyman
Elizabeth Winter
NeveranR
Agee Springer
Ben Ramsey
monkee 
Tom Bellin 
J H Libby
John Rohde Jensen
Nate Gaylinn
RodneyPetersonTalentAgency
SteveBologna
THIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVED
StevenSavage (he/him)
Louis Flores
Ken
Martha Howell
Mike LaBonte
David J. Atkinson
Soozcat
brandon