And That’s the Rest of the Story

 

Fox

The story is always the same: the mainstream media hits conservative politicians much harder than liberals. Each cycle we see conservative candidates spend more of their time defending themselves against erroneous reporting, instead of sharing their message. This is nothing new — almost cliché, really — but it’s now more transparent than ever. As society becomes less dependent on CBS, NBC, and ABC to tell them what to think, more people have determined that the MSM may not have always been providing them with whole truths:

Americans’ trust in the national news media remains at an all-time low. A new Gallup poll shows that just 40% of Americans have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust and confidence in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. That figure, which ties Gallup statistics for 2012 and 2014, represents a steep decline from the 55% high in the late 1990s when Gallup began polling.

Interestingly, this distrust is being spearheaded by the younger groups:

Trust in the media is even lower among young Americans aged 18 to 49, where just 36% of that demographic expressed faith in news media outlets. Forty-five percent of those aged 50 and older said they trust the media to be fair and accurate.

And when the MSM loses the trust of Democrats:

As has long been the case, trust remains higher among Democrats than Republicans. However, Gallup found that trust among Democrats fell to a 14-year low of 54%, while trust among Republicans grew from 27% to 32%.The media trend over the past decade, Gallup said, mirrors a decline in trust “in government more generally, as well confidence in many U.S. institutions.”

The almost humdrum bias in mainstream media reporting of Republicans doesn’t seem to be abating. If, for example, you saw the CNBC debate a few weeks ago, then you recall Rubio responding to the “journalist” moderators asking about his home state fishwrap Sun Sentinel calling for him to resign based on his voting record.

Then, the New York Times used a shotgun to spray their vitriol against almost half the GOP field:

The editorial called on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to pack in his campaign and return to governing the Garden State, while accusing other Republican candidates of ignoring their states.

“Since when does shortchanging your home state — looking at you, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal — qualify a public servant to be president?” the editorial said.

But why are they so biased? It’s fairly easy to understand. According to the left-leaning Atlantic, journalists and editors are “miserable liberals.” They mostly classify themselves as independents (to show non-bias) or as Democrats (when they don’t care what people think):

Like the rest of the country, journalists feel more comfortable identifying themselves as independents rather than shacking up with a particular party. But among journalists who align with one of the two major parties, four in five said they’re Democrats [emphasis added]. Media4

Forty years ago, Watergate did much more than ruin a presidency: it showed that it’s okay for journalists to take down a president, preferably a Republican one, and Woodward and Bernstein literally wrote the book for younger journalists and editors. Some would argue that the MSM hit President Clinton hard during his impeachment trial, but I’d argue that they pushed the “it’s just sex” narrative hard while diminishing the fact that a sitting president was found guilty for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Moreover, much of the press come from government and academia and the incestuous relationship between the press and the Clinton/Obama administrations has been well documented. Here are just a few:

media1

  • ABC News President Ben Sherwood, is the brother of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a top national-security adviser to President Obama.
  • His counterpart at CBS, news division president David Rhodes, is the brother of Benjamin Rhodes, a key foreign-policy specialist.
  • CNN’s deputy Washington bureau chief, Virginia Moseley, is married to Tom Nides who, until earlier this year, was deputy secretary of state under Hillary Rodham Clinton.
  • White House press secretary Jay Carney’s wife is Claire Shipman, a veteran reporter for ABC.
  • NPR’s White House correspondent, Ari Shapiro, is married to a lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, who joined the White House counsel’s office in April.
  • The Post‘s Justice Department reporter, Sari Horwitz, is married to William B. Schultz, the general counsel of the Department of Human Services.
  • Vice President Joe Biden’s current communications director, Shailagh Murray (a former Post congressional reporter), is married to Neil King, one of the Wall Street Journal‘s top political reporters.

After the CNBC debate debacle, there was a sliver of hope that newsrooms across America would check themselves to consider their bias and correct their modus operandi. That only lasted for 12.7 seconds.

Unfortunately, as most conservatives predicted, the media’s fervent hatred of all things Republican seems to have not yet crested. Friday’s attacks on Ben Carson, whether legitimate or not (Politico had to correct themselves yet again), the media reported his West Point story with glee and an almost celebratory zeal — hardly becoming of the fourth estate — and certainly not what journalism students learn at Columbia. Before Politico corrected their story, the “Carson Lie” narrative had already hit critical mass. Jimmy Fallon had jokes in the can for Friday nights monologue, so, as far as low info voters go, Carson cannot be trusted.

The press wonders why America is so partisan and divided. Yet they have almost zero self awareness that they wake up each day seeking to tear down conservative leaders while propping up liberals. Whether journalists and editors do this proactively or without realizing their bias, it is the MSM that causes so much division.

Many of us no longer trust the media to tell the truth, and will seek it ourselves. Fortunately, it’s no longer 1990. Technology allows us simple folk west of the Hudson to not be locked in to their upper-westside/beltway liberal cabal.

The growth of sites like Ricochet will continue to add to their losses of viewership. We will figure it out on our own, all while sharing with our friends and family the whole story, thereby growing in numbers. The MSM anointment and slobbering love affair with liberal candidates, their gleeful keenness and protectionism over the Democrat geriatrics currently running for president cannot insulate them. In fact, the Democrats’ shallow bench along with the sweeping wave of conservatism across State Governments show MSM efforts are failing.

And that’s the rest of the story.

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  1. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    David Sussman:

    Trust in the media is even lower among young Americans aged 18 to 49, where just 36% of that demographic expressed faith in news media outlets.

    Interesting choice of words there.

    • #1
  2. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Whoa I hope they show that Fox Business graphic at the top at the next debate. Ever since Woodward & Bernstein, the number of journalism majors who say they’re going into it “to change the world” has skyrocketed. A great essay, David! As usual.

    • #2
  3. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    How hard do we want to hammer this? Isn’t it a blessing that Senators Obama, Biden, Kerry, and Clinton missed so many votes?

    • #3
  4. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    BrentB67:How hard do we want to hammer this? Isn’t it a blessing that Senators Obama, Biden, Kerry, and Clinton missed so many votes?

    Haha Brent

    • #4
  5. 6foot2inhighheels Member
    6foot2inhighheels
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Really nice work, David.  How people obtain and process news in the future will develop in unimaginable ways as sites like Ricochet, Drudge, and Huffington Post adapt to new technology.  Who could have predicted that Facebook connections would be the major drivers behind the original Tea Parties or that a whole industry of information/disinformation would be spawned by social media?  It remains to be seen if the citizenry are actually interested in critical review of what they read, but the “economy of ideas” is enhanced by the information available on the internet.

    • #5
  6. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    RightAngles:Whoa I hope they show that Fox Business graphic at the top at the next debate. Ever since Woodward & Bernstein, the number of journalism majors who say they’re going into it “to change the world” has skyrocketed. A great essay, David! As usual.

    The SJW aspect was always there to some extent, but it has now become a cause celeb. Politico’s is run by hacks who have the same journalistic integrity as Gawker and TMZ. The gotcha aspect is what sells ad space or clicks, and if they get it wrong, so be it.

    Thanks RA.

    • #6
  7. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    6foot2inhighheels:Really nice work, David. How people obtain and process news in the future will develop in unimaginable ways as sites like Ricochet, Drudge, and Huffington Post adapt to new technology. Who could have predicted that Facebook connections would be the major drivers behind the original Tea Parties or that a whole industry of information/disinformation would be spawned by social media? It remains to be seen if the citizenry are actually interested in critical review of what they read, but the “economy of ideas” is enhanced by the information available on the internet.

    Thanks M.

    Agreed. Devils advocate: Is social media becoming an echo chamber? We follow each other and post think pieces and articles supporting our politics, but does anyone on the other side see them?

    • #7
  8. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    BrentB67:How hard do we want to hammer this? Isn’t it a blessing that Senators Obama, Biden, Kerry, and Clinton missed so many votes?

    Superb point.  Makes me wish my own senators were running for president.

    • #8
  9. jetstream Inactive
    jetstream
    @jetstream

    6foot2inhighheels:Really nice work, David. How people obtain and process news in the future will develop in unimaginable ways as sites like Ricochet, Drudge, and Huffington Post adapt to new technology. Who could have predicted that Facebook connections would be the major drivers behind the original Tea Parties or that a whole industry of information/disinformation would be spawned by social media? It remains to be seen if the citizenry are actually interested in critical review of what they read, but the “economy of ideas” is enhanced by the information available on the internet.

    Some of the programmers and techs who originally developed weblog kind of technology predicted back in the 1990s that it would eventually replace the NYT.

    • #9
  10. 6foot2inhighheels Member
    6foot2inhighheels
    @6foot2inhighheels

    David Sussman: Agreed. Devils advocate: Is social media becoming an echo chamber? We follow each other and post think pieces and articles supporting our politics, but does anyone on the other side see them?

    Yes, social media definitely is an echo chamber, but we can take advantage of the inevitable “leak” and overlap between different circles of influence.  For instance,  I have a fair number of left-leaners in my social media circles, and I always try to find common ground.  Issues like fiscal responsibility, gun rights and free speech have wide bi-partisan appeal, and by reaching out to Democrats on issues, we can win elections for conservatism.  I’ve seen it happen first hand in my community when a tea party activist joined forces with a fiscally conservative democrat township board member to stop an expensive, green “improvement” to the sewer plant.  Working together, they built bi-partisan support to shut it down in a special election.

    • #10
  11. James Of England Inactive
    James Of England
    @JamesOfEngland

    Excellent piece, nothing to add, except I hope that Carson’s recovery is non-trivial; it seems entirely possible that he could work this into a story that supports him; the debate is on Wednesday.

    • #11
  12. Hank Rhody Contributor
    Hank Rhody
    @HankRhody

    Regarding that graphic, I’d like to see Obama’s total bolstered by all votes cast in the senate, minus all votes of “present”. Because really he was running the whole time.

    • #12
  13. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    jetstream:

    6foot2inhighheels:Really nice work, David. How people obtain and process news in the future will develop in unimaginable ways as sites like Ricochet, Drudge, and Huffington Post adapt to new technology. Who could have predicted that Facebook connections would be the major drivers behind the original Tea Parties or that a whole industry of information/disinformation would be spawned by social media? It remains to be seen if the citizenry are actually interested in critical review of what they read, but the “economy of ideas” is enhanced by the information available on the internet.

    Some of the programmers and techs who originally developed weblog kind of technology predicted back in the 1990s that it would eventually replace the NYT.

    In many corners it has.

    • #13
  14. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    James Of England:Excellent piece, nothing to add, except I hope that Carson’s recovery is non-trivial; it seems entirely possible that he could work this into a story that supports him; the debate is on Wednesday.

    Im not on the Carson bandwagon but would like to see him go deep into the playoffs. He brings a curious Walter Mitty-like layer to the dais. You never quite know what he will say.

    Also, selfishly, I’m happy for the MSM to direct their bias missiles toward him and not Fiorina and Rubio. He’s calling them out on their double standard (why was Obamas college transcripts still sealed?)

    Not that will last if/when Rubio or Fiorina become the front runner.

    • #14
  15. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    Hank Rhody:Regarding that graphic, I’d like to see Obama’s total bolstered by all votes cast in the senate, minus all votes of “present”. Because really he was running the whole time.

    Interesting that we have heard NOTHING about Hillarys voting record!

    • #15
  16. Hank Rhody Contributor
    Hank Rhody
    @HankRhody

    David Sussman:

    Hank Rhody:Regarding that graphic, I’d like to see Obama’s total bolstered by all votes cast in the senate, minus all votes of “present”. Because really he was running the whole time.

    Interesting that we have heard NOTHING about Hillarys voting record!

    It’s gotta be the least scandalous thing about her.

    • #16
  17. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    The MSM must be outed publicly for what they are: a biased bunch of hacks. They are as great a danger to America as the Democratic Party (but I repeat myself). Maybe once the vast majority of America rolls their eyes at every “news” report and makes jokes about it on late night TV, the MSM will take cease to shape the news and simply report the news.  I am not holding my breath for that to happen.

    • #17
  18. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    David,

    What about the ultimate in media double standard. Obama non-vetting v. Ben Carson vendetta.

    Obama Made At Least 9 False Claims About His Bio That The Media Ignored

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #18
  19. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    The number one threat to the country, in my mind, is the bias. I know lots of people who would never vote for the GOP brand, but who are conservative on almost every issue. They are patriots too. Yet, they vote for the Democrats because they do not want to vote for evil Republicns.

    • #19
  20. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Great roundup. I recognized media bias in the 1980s after living overseas. Then I discovered Rush.
    One thing to add here on votes – the media operates under the pretense that government is the single most important thing in news, as though we all will be doomed if some vote in the Senate goes 59-41 or 58-42.
    Most bills solve some problem (often caused by preceding acts and bills) and cause more problems near term and even more as the bill is implemented.
    Too many Republicans have allowed this to happen partly from their own vanity, as they LIKE being seen as crucial and important.
    Jeb piling on Rubio in the last debate said everything about this effect.
    Who will ask Jeb, ” exactly which were the votes Rubio missed that caused such consternation and chaos in Florida?”

    • #20
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