Post-journalism, 'news' outlets are just echo chambers for the two major parties

By Gary Abernathy

In this post-journalism world, our divisions are amplified and entrenched by information catering to our biases

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

Outside of some small-town newspapers and the few small local radio stations (including internet-based) that still employ a news staff, journalism as we once knew it is dead. The major newspapers, news services and the major network and cable news channels are all easily pegged as liberal (the vast majority of them) or conservative. They align with one political party or another and practically serve as their PR firms. And that’s a tragedy for all Americans.

The major cable news outlets cater exclusively to their core audiences. When CNN tried to break that mold and reposition itself as a down-the-middle news source, the rebellion from its far-left audience caused an almost immediate retreat. Too much time had elapsed. CNN’s audience had become little different ideologically than MSNBC’s, thanks to years of left-tilting reporting and opinion by the original cable news network.

Sadly, most Americans have now been programmed – both through habit and internet algorithms – to seek out only those information sources (let’s not call them news sources) that reinforce their biases. No one wants to hear news that might contradict what they are already convinced is true.

The far-left bias of the mainstream media has long been evident, especially taking root following the Watergate scandal, and then the advent of cable news. Those events generated a flood of liberal, crusading young reporters determined to emulate Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and (especially) achieve their subsequent star power.

Reporters – especially newspaper scribes – for years labored in anonymity, letting their stories and subjects be the stars. Today, everyone’s a celebrity, thanks to cable news and the internet.

Covering Democrats on a curve

Republicans are the main prey. While Democrats and liberal politicians are investigated and exposed for corrupt actions when their deeds are almost impossible not to notice, most mainstream journalists seem to devote every waking hour to portraying Republicans in the harshest light.

Even when Democrats are questioned more aggressively than usual, it’s on an obvious curve compared to Republicans. Take last week’s CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Dana Bash asked questions that needed to be asked about Harris’ flip-flopping on fracking and immigration, and on Walz’ obvious lying about his military service, where he claimed to have carried weapons into war and to have retired as a command sergeant major, both patently untrue.

But Bash’s demeanor indicated she was asking because she had to and couldn’t wait to move on. She allowed Harris to get away with claiming her “values” had not changed, while Walz escaped with a transparent spin that his service to the country was being attacked. After a meek follow-up or two, Bash let them slide and moved on.

It’s impossible to imagine Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, or just about any other Republican being given such a pass. They would have faced 15 or 20 minutes of grilling on the first question alone. The tone of the interrogator would have been harsh and unsmiling. Viewers would have been left feeling that they had witnessed a police interrogation under a hot light in a concrete room, rather than the friendly restaurant chat between Bash, Harris and Walz.

But Bash and CNN get to claim that the tough questions were asked. Now that Harris has sat for one interview – with her security blanket, Walz – she’ll be allowed to slide for a few weeks in a way that no Republican could ever enjoy.

Imagine if Trump was the candidate avoiding media interviews like Harris. There wouldn’t be just an occasional mention of it. All the leftwing (formerly mainstream) outlets would be doing daily running clocks on how long it’s been since Trump did an interview. It would be the lead story on all the networks and newspapers. You know it would.

Mainstream outlets are partisan partners

During this election, the far-left (formerly mainstream) media is making no pretense of fairness or balance. They are simply acknowledging their bias and their hope to see Harris and Walz victorious in November. The laudatory coverage of the Democratic ticket is so blatantly obvious that they should be required to list their stories as in-kind contributions to the candidates.

Just reflect on what has happened this year. Joe Biden won every Democratic primary in every state that held them. Millions of votes were cast for Biden, millions of dollars raised and spent on his behalf.

But then his poll numbers began to dip. Panic set in among the Democrat elites (George Clooney) and party officials who feared a pending Biden loss and Trump election.

Not a problem. With the aid of the far-left (formerly mainstream) media, a plan was hatched. Dump Biden, even at this late stage. Anoint Kamala Harris. Even though she was nearly as unpopular as Biden, Harris checked all the PC boxes to which Democrats can’t avoid catering.

No worries. Working hand-in-hand, the media and the Democratic Party would remake her, casting her as a shiny brand new version of her former self. This incarnation of Kamala Harris has no past positions that matter, no baggage that she’ll be required to carry. She and Walz are being permitted to present themselves as challengers who just dropped from the sky, full of hope and joy and positivity – the Trump Slayers from on high.

The far-left (formerly mainstream) media – we’re talking about the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today and all Gannett papers, the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and just about every other major traditional outlet aside from those owned by Rupert Murdoch – have embraced their role in this charade. They have abandoned all journalistic values that once made them respected and trusted. Outside of smaller local newspapers – those staffed enough to report on local politics and government – traditional journalism in the U.S. is dead.

(Ironically, PBS — once the go-to villain for conservatives and still more liberal than conservative even today — has become the most balanced due to its lack of profit motive).

Labeling Republicans as liars

Case in point is this week’s breaking news that a former top aide to New York’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul has been charged as an illegal Chinese agent. If this involved a Republican, the media would have been tipped off and made it breathless, daily news (aka Russia! Russia! Russia!) long before any charges were filed. When it comes to Democrats, the media doesn’t dig too aggressively. They just wait for the shoe to drop, report it briefly, and quickly move on.

By the way, as this was being written you had to scroll a long, long way down the New York Times’ home page to get to that story (even though it involves the governor of the newspaper’s home state). Placed well above that story? “Trump Family’s Land Deals in Albania Stir Up Lingering Resentments.”

Another nearly daily sign of the media’s bias is who it is willing to call a liar, and who it is not. The short answer is, Republicans, liars, Democrats, not. In the Trump years, the mainstream media has given itself permission to call Trump, and other Republicans, liars.

For example, if Trump claims the 2020 election was stolen, the media will report, “Trump again falsely claimed that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election.”

Or they’ll write something like, “J.D. Vance said, without evidence, that Harris would raise taxes on the middle class.” On and on it goes.

These phrases or qualifiers – accusations, really – should never be used by the reporters themselves. Other people should be quoted to call someone a liar, or to say something is false. It should not come from the reporter. It’s bad journalism. It makes the reporter part of the story. As it stands, such reporting is reserved solely for Republicans. It seems to never be practiced when describing patently false statements by Democrats.

It easily could be. Two of the Democrats’ favorite repeated lies include, a, that Trump said people should ingest bleach to counteract covid, and, b, that Trump called white supremacists and neo-Nazis at Charlottesville in 2017 “very fine people.”

Despite the fact that Politifact and others long ago shot down the Trump-bleach lie, both Biden and Harris continue to repeat it. Never will you see one of the mainstream outlets report, “Biden said, falsely, that Trump suggested people ingest bleach to counter covid.”

Same with the “very fine people” comment. Snopes long ago declared it “false” that Trump was referring to white supremacists or neo-Nazis when he said there were “very fine people” on both sides at Charlottesville.

In fact, during that same press conference, Trump actually said, “I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay?” But facts be damned.

Biden repeatedly claims that he decided to run for president because of Trump’s “very fine people” comments. But never will you see the mainstream media report, “Biden falsely claimed that Trump called white supremacists and neo-Nazis ‘very fine people.’” No, only Republicans are called liars by the far-left (formerly mainstream) media.

‘Fake news’ is about the assignments

This is why liberals are, by-and-large, the sole remaining audience for the far-left (formerly mainstream) outlets. Trust in media hasn’t plummeted because Donald Trump started making accusations of “fake news.” Conservatives — and many moderates — embraced the notion of “fake news” because they saw the bias for themselves for years prior to Trump.

It’s not that the facts are “fake.” I still believe the facts reported by the Times and the Post over most other outlets. I just remain hyper-aware of the bias in how they report those facts. Stories in those outlets are much more likely to target Republicans negatively than Democrats.

As others have noted over the years, the bias doesn’t come from the facts that are reported; it comes from the assignments that are made in the first place. “Find dirt on Trump” is obviously a newsroom edict much more often than “Find dirt on Biden” or, now, Harris.

And when there is negative news on Democrats, it’s much more often presented as things that Republicans “claim,” as in, “Republicans claim that Hunter Biden made millions by promising meetings with his dad.” But news targeting Republicans is seldom presented as “Democrats claim…” It’s just presented as news.

Poll after poll shows trust in the media keeps tanking, every year lower than the year before. No one much cares, even within the media. Why? Because media company profits don’t depend on public trust.

The partisans control the information

In a way, it was inevitable, especially with the rise of cable and the internet, when viewers could be microtargeted based on their preferences. The outlets themselves depend more and more on eyeballs and ad dollars. The best way to get eyeballs is to cater to the hardcore partisans, and the ad dollars follow the eyeballs. “Far-right” outlets – so described by the far-left outlets – have naturally taken root and become home to those who are condescendingly disparaged by the former mainstream news sources.

We live in a post-journalism world, at least as we once understood journalism. Journalism as we once knew it -- when fairness, objectivity and a dispassionate approach ruled – is forever gone following a death march that began with the sensationalism and star-making power of Watergate, the end of just three network choices (and public television), the influx of left-leaning ideologues into the field of journalism and the rise of platforms technologically capable of profitably targeting Americans based on their partisan leanings.

For sure, Fox News paved the way in demonstrating profitability based on ideology, and the left-leaning networks soon followed suit. Ironically, Fox News is more consistent than MSNBC or CNN in its devotion to presenting views representing the other side.

The parties and the candidates now control the “news” (partisan information spin) by virtue of their echo-chamber outlets across all platforms. And because of the proliferation of choices, there’s no going back, despite some fledgling efforts here and there that have no chance of gaining traction.

The tragic result is that we are now forever divided and entrenched within our partisan bunkers. It will be an endless cycle, year after year, decade after decade, with elections featuring narrow election wins and losses and bitter recriminations from the losing side every time, with the flames endlessly fanned by the disinformation outlets on the left and right – a consequence of the demise of fair, balanced and detached journalism.

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