Liberals, progressive and Democrats should think critically about the negative impacts of widespread media bias on American democracy. There simply is no doubt that virtually all mainstream media regularly show their strong bias against president Trump and his administration. These media have convinced themselves that they are working to save American democracy from an incompetent, corrupt and dangerous president. And those on the left eat up the negative coverage, which means more money for the anti-Trump networks, newspapers and magazines. Never mind that he was elected fairly and legally.
It seems that the leftist media would only be happy if Trump was driven out of office by any means. Such a victory would confirm the undemocratic power of a free press that replaces a military coup with a media one..
Here is my point: More Americans should seriously consider the larger question of whether such a perversion of freedom of the press undermines our democracy. Why? Because instead of fairly presenting genuine news the opinion loaded negative coverage has the goal of bringing down Trump and overturning the election result. The press establishment overwhelmingly filled with liberals and progressives wanted Hillary Clinton and refuse to accept defeat. After all, despite a mighty effort, the media failed to elect Clinton. It continues to seek retribution by bashing Trump and ignoring the many failings of the Clinton campaign.
The press probably feels some responsibility for Trump’s success during the primary season. Coverage of Trump’s beating up of his Republican opponents was extreme. Now the press is getting even.
To dispel any doubt about the widespread perception of media bias, consider a June 2017 Rasmussen survey of likely American voters. “Fifty percent (50%) think most reporters are biased against the president, up two points from January. Just four percent (4%) think most reporters are biased in Trump’s favor. Given the president’s testy relationship with the media, however, it’s not surprising that 76% of Republicans and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major political party believe most reporters are biased against the president, a view shared by only 24% of Democrats.” Perhaps the most important finding is that “Nearly 90% of voters who Strongly Approve of the job the president is doing think most reporters are biased against Trump and rate media coverage of him as poor.”
These results support the view that all the negative coverage may strengthen the Trump base, which largely have stopped reading and listening to what they think is fake news. News based on reporting of facts has been replaced by opinion and a near total emphasis on what Trump says rather than on what he and his administration have does. In other words, rhetoric preempts accomplishments, and those positive accomplishments from a conservative perspective are also viewed negatively by the leftist press. Information about governance is purposely kept out of the media limelight to allow Trump rhetoric to get endless vicious criticism.
Often, such surveys are dismissed. So consider the 2017 study prepared by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard. It revealed what reasonable people would consider a disturbing level of media bias against president Trump. Here are the fractions of negative news coverage towards Trump: CNN and NBC, 93%; CBS, 91%; New York Times, 87%; Washington Pose, 83%. FOX had the most equal coverage, with 52% negative.
Those who like the biased anti-Trump media coverage should reflect on how all that coverage robs them of getting solid information on myriad local, state and world events. In other words, the biased media dominance inevitably leads to a dumbing down of the public about what is really happening that merits news coverage as well as details about what is happening in the sphere of public policy. Journalism itself has been degraded to such a degree that for much of the population no one believes anything coming from the opinion-loaded media. Apologists for the left and right unload opinions rather than enlightening information and analysis. Rational people do not trust the press.
The core issue is whether the press is giving itself too much credit for presenting the truth. In fact, what is happening is the presentation of opinion not objective facts that reveal the truth. Truth requires objectivity and a concerted emphasis on undisputed facts. Instead, opinion, even in so-called news stories, is routinely presented.
Biased media hiding behind freedom of the press should disgust all Americans. We all are being robbed of huge amounts of news and information. Amazingly, for example, network CBS news used its whole hour broadcast to presenting anti-Trump laced coverage of the recent Charlottsville event. That is virtually a nightly occurrence at CNN where only anti-Trump diatribes are presented in multiple shows. The front pages of the main newspapers are the same. Real news from all over the country and the world is not given to the public the way it used to be.
The credibility of the media has taken a lethal blow. What they deem good for their business now will ultimately backfire as Americans for years to come seek and find alternative news sources or eliminate news from their lives. A truly informed public is needed for a quality democracy, and we are losing that.
Yes, a free press is vital for democracy. But a deeply biased press is not.
As to these crazy times, Ruben Navarrette Jr. summed them eloquently: “President Trump and the media deserve each other. Both are driven by ego and take criticism personally. Both will twist the facts to defend themselves and push their agenda. …Americans are fed precooked narratives by the Fourth Estate. We’re told what’s important and what isn’t, what to focus on and what to ignore, and — above all — what to think. …I sure miss journalism.” So many of us do.
[Joel S. Hirschhorn was a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association; he has authored five nonfiction books, including Delusional Democracy – Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government.]
Vox had this interesting article – Poll: Trump’s War on the Media is Backfiring. Quinnipac University has been periodically asking questions regarding how much respondents trust the media, media coverage of Trump, and their views of Trump’s treatment of the media. On the one hand, respondents do seem to disapprove of how the media handle Trump, although that has to take into consideration those who think the media has been too soft on Trump in addition to those who think the media is too critical of Trump. On the other hand, it’s pretty clear that a majority of respondents think that Trump’s treatment of the media leaves a lot to be desired, and that a majority trust the media more than Trump to tell the truth about important issues.
The crosstabs of course need to be looked at to tell a more complete story. About whether respondents trust the media versus trust Trump, a whopping majority of Democrats trust the media over Trump, and independents trust the media in the same proportions as the overall sample. Republicans are in their own little bubble. What I found heartening was the age crosstabs. The youngest age demographics seemed more trusting of the media than Trump by a higher percentage than the older age ranges sampled. The reason I find that heartening is that we have whole generations now who have been cultivated to distrust the media. Apparently that cultivation is no longer working like it once did. There is more to the Quinnipac poll, and its question about approval of media’s coverage of Trump is itself incomplete without necessary follow-up questions, but I am not convinced that the media needs to lay off Trump based on the information available. There are pro-Trump media sources (e.g., Fox, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Sinclair), anti-Trump sources (MSNBC springs immediately to mind, and I would add likely Vox and Axios, as well as all sorts of media outlets I would have never considered for news and opinion, such as GQ, Vogue, Teen Vogue, etc., as well as solid in-depth reporting that I suppose could be considered anti-Trump by WaPo and NYT), and sources that try to remain neutral (CNN has attempted to maintain an uncomfortable neutrality). From my standpoint an educated media consumer becomes aware of the editorial slant of the media sources they consume, and maintain some exposure to a variety of sources outside their own particular biases – in part to know one’s enemy and in part to avoid being stuck in an echo chamber.
But all polls…especially those that come from sources that were almost totally wrong in the 2014 election like the Quinnipiac system…can be considered pre-skewed on several levels:
1-They weren’t even close to being correct during the whole campaign. Faulty methodology? Maybe. Or darker reasons. Whatever. Why trust them now?
2-People who mistrust the media generally mistrust the pollsters. This puts the kibosh on any poll about the media, right there. They see the polling companies as skewed…as an integral part of a rotted-out media system no mater in which direction they skew…and thus they refuse to deal with them. If you refuse to be polled, then you are part of a skew that the poll does not…can not…recognize. This goes right straight through all political persuasions. I personally do not answer any calls from numbers that I do not recognize, and I am not alone by any means. If I get a message from a polling company or they knock on my door…neither of which has ever happened during my long life, by the way…I will not respond to the message and I will tell the pollsters to take a hike. Life is too short to play that game.
3-Beyond a shadow of a doubt, in the almost totally crooked corporate system in which we now live there are some polling companies that are skewing their own results, either simply for profit and/or under the direction of Deep State/Deep Corp. interests. If Exxon can buy prestigious academic studies, then so can centrist political forces buy polls that put them in a good…in a winning light. There are millions upon millions of sheeple in the U.S. who will see a headlined poll result and think to themselves “Oh. That campaign has to be right!!! I’ll vote for them!!!” If you refuse to see that possibility, I have several bridges that I would like to sell you.
AG
Is it?
The man lies in a way I have never seen. I can’t think of any politician who lies so consistently.
And yet about 35% trust Trump more than the media.
His war on the press allows him to get away with the lies.
While I may agree with much of your article, the following gives me pause:
The press establishment loathes progressives and the liberals that get a voice in it are Democratic Party approved liberals, corporate liberals, and MIC advocating liberals. IOW liberal only to the extent that “isms” with regard to status — race, gender, sexual orientation, religion – are rejected and reproductive choice is accepted . A very narrow definition of liberal.
As you may not be a regular reader of this site, I will mention that few here accept that the MSM wanted and did everything possible to elect Hillary (I’m in the few on this point). Most believe that Clinton was subjected to an inordinate amount of negative coverage and Trump didn’t get half as much critical coverage as he should have. And that contributed to her loss. IMHO, both received plenty of negative coverage and neither received proper critical coverage. Unfortunate, because right now the coverage of Trump over Charlottesville is proper critical coverage but is getting dumped into that negative coverage bin from the 2016 election with Democrats cheering it on and rightwingers calling foul.
All centrist, all of the time.
The mass media in focus.
AG
There is no way to present an objective story that describes a lie. Donald Trump lies. it is not subject to opinion. He objectively does. The media reports this – and it will be negative.
Tell me, how do you objectively report:
About the two years Trump spent claiming Obama was born in Kenya
About his accusation that Ted Cruz’s father was part of the JFK Assassination attempt
About the story he told of General Pershing, which was a complete lie
And on and on and on.
The best description comes of the problem comes from Leon Wolf, who WRITES FOR REDSTATE:
The argument of media bias is Donald Trump’s cover. It is a cover for ignorance and lies.
Now you CAN argue that the focus on Trump’s lies prevents a discussion of policy, and that HELPS Trump. Because the basic truth is his policy proposals are more unpopular that he is.
But sorry – no sale. When people at Redstate and the National Review document Trump’s lies, media bias ceases to be an explanation for the media coverage of Trump.
Surprisingly astute observation from Wolf.
I got into spat in another thread (one that I chose not to exit because it wasn’t constructive) about negative media coverage. Reporting lies is reporting and not “negative coverage.” Reporting on Clinton’s email/server and flip-flops was also reporting and not negative coverage.
Trump gets away with his lies and using the FakeNews meme because there is too much objective evidence that the media has peddled lies. Although both sides are selective in what they cite as evidence of media lies and propaganda. Nor does the MSM take responsibility for the excessive coverage they give to those that peddle lies and BS or call it out in no uncertain terms for what it is when the peddling begins.
In his first congressional election, Nixon, ably assisted by local media, peddled that incumbent Voorhies was a communist. Voorhies was a decent man, able legislator, and New Dealer. Nixon made the sale and a couple of decade later when Nixon conceded that he’d always known that Voorhies wasn’t a communist, it made no difference. He’d made the sale and those that bought it weren’t about to consider what trading in a known lie said about the character of Nixon. The birther crap served the same purpose for Trump in his capture of the nutbag GOP base. Highlighting that Trump affiliation in 2015-16 would have served no purpose because Trump had by then disowned “birthism” and those that hadn’t fallen for it could say that at least Trump had admitted that he was wrong.
>> at least Trump had admitted that he was wrong.
did he? did he ever “disown” birtherism, or did he just stop repeating that set of lies?
iirc is was a bit of both. Too lazy to look it up, but Obama’s long form birth certificate was what seemed to do the trick with Trump. Probably didn’t admit that he was wrong and made weaselly statements.
First, your self-gloss is telling.
Second, anyone who rails against the librul media is not paying attention. Please explain to me how Fox, and Rush, and Breitbart, and Storm Front and (all-too-often) the NYT are liberal media. You can’t. Because they aren’t.
As another commentator noted, reporting 45’s lies is NOT biased liberal reporting. Reporting 45’s unhinged behavior is NOT biased liberal reporting. Those are demonstrable facts. You know, those silly things (facts) that can actually be verified. (Okay, “unhinged” may be a little subjective, but I am at a loss how to otherwise describe: “they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” If that does not seem unhinged to you, then you should not be left alone with children.)
You have taken a very real fact (any telling of events (reporting) will inevitably be influenced by the internal biases of the person doing the telling), and then have tried to condemn all news outlets for being biased against Trump.
Even better, you say “Biased media hiding behind freedom of the press should disgust all Americans.” So easy to nod and agree – “yep, it’s disgusting for the media to go after Trump like this, reporting all his lies, and then hiding behind the 1st Amendment.”
Good lord, go grow a conscience, or a post-adolescent perspective on life.