Andrew Van Wagner argues persuasively in this article that the media tries so hard to avoid charges of left wing bias that it ends up repeating the Republican narrative. In bending over backwards, he writes, the media has an anti-Democratic bias.
This “both-sides-ism” led the media to predict a Red Wave, to anticipate how the Democrats would react to their looming election disaster. If you follow the headlines, Democrats were about to take a drubbing.
Journalists have substituted election predictions for substantive coverage of the issues. Voters end up less informed when reporting focuses on the horse race.
He writes:
It would be interesting to find out how many positive stories the NYT ran about the Democrats—or their electoral chances—in the week before the election. You can see potential anti-Democratic bias in the 5 November 2022 NYTheadline “Biden and Obama Reunite in a Last-Ditch Effort to Save Their Party”—you can also see potential anti-Democratic bias if you look at the stories on the NYT’s 7 November 2022 front page, which says “Party’s Outlook Bleak” and “Democrats Brace for Losses”.
Imagine reporting that focused on the issues rather than predicting the outcome.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I know we think we have two sided media, Fox, etc on the right & MSNBC, etc on the left. Yes, on the surface they both lean in those respective directions, but we must continually remind ourselves that practically ALL media is corporate controlled which means ratings & profits come first, not necessarily the full truth of any issue.
Amen, loved2teach, amen! That is EXACTLY it! And thanks D for posting this! Add to ‘broken,’ dysfunctional and deprofessionalized–all intended as necessary for corporate profits. Long, long gone are the days of a trusted newsperson of the likes of Cronkite, let alone Ed Murrow (granted, back during a male-dominated profession that has grown more inclusive but a checked inclusion). Today, it’s all coffee-clatchey, high school lunchroom table gossipy in the morning, the Oprahfication of life during the day, then screaming, shouting, fear, anger and hate from late afternoon into the evening. So nauseating.
The term “horse-race coverage” says it all. (Which ironically is the problem because the media and particularly love the catchy phrase to describe and entire party platform or dare say, position”) (And, ironic because the only substance we get on issues is when SPORTS gets into the political and social issues like LGBTQ controversy with FIFA and the anti-Semitic comments of an NBA player)
But this is the THE problem: The piece says that “‘not a single reporter asked about the extent to which record-high corporate profits are fueling inflation even as companies openly boast about their pricing power’”—there’s a media bias toward letting “working people bear the burden”.
“Not a single reporter…”
There is no substance to interviews or questions at “press conferences” (although the GOP candidates in our red state refused to participate in debates and only do photo-ops).
No follow up questions. No “Where’s your evidence for that?” or “… describe the details.” “With specifics, what is your plan – and leave out the dramatic adjectives”
“there’s a media bias toward letting “working people bear the burden”.
The mainstream media also don’t question the actions of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell whose interest rate hikes were specifically aimed at controlling worker wages, by his
own admission.
Even though he also admitted that it would have no impact on energy costs or food costs.
Oh, and Powell is also interested in getting Republicans elected.
The fellow is little more than a hack.
He’s a typical spoilled Princeton brat who has had everything in life handed to him on a silver plate.
This has really got me thinking. All through the campaign, I heard how the Democrats weren’t getting their message out. I wonder how much of that had to do with the media ignoring the message for their statistical predictions, which historically said the party in power would get creamed. They ran with the hype rather than the substance. Supposedly, nobody wanted to hear about policy; the Republicans were controlling the narrative with their culture wars.
More than that, the problem is greed and this:
“The media in the United States is controlled by just six corporations: AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, Newscorp and Viacom.”
“About 15 billionaires and six corporations own most (more than 90%) of the U.S. media outlets. The biggest media conglomerates in America are AT&T, Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, National Amusements (which includes Viacom Inc.”
It also helps to know who manages these companies (CEOs) and their backgrounds. Corporate think starts at the top and trickles down.
Thank you, Lloyd.
You are right.
Monopolies are the problem with everything.
Monopolies are even the problem with Monopoly.
The pollsters and election prognosticators feed the media frenzy and make lots of money doing it.
Curiously, the media and pollsters rarely examine the stuff they got wrong.
Far more commonly they simply say something like “we never claimed x y or z. You just thought we did.
That partisan tilt is why I do not subscribe to the NY Times.
And soon, the corporate sponsors will jump into their gold mine approach from sport branding the actual event going on, not just regular commercials
The Rolaids Relief Pitcher Moment
The XYZ Home Run Derby
….
Thanks for tuning in to the DEF Corporation Georgia Runoff with the
The PQR “Counties Too Close to Call” on the Hour Report
And now, Let’s go to the MNOP Flipped States Desk Reporter for her report on the aftermath of this election…
So for two years now I have been pointing out crime statistics on Diane’s blog and on Union Facebook pages . knowing that the American Public is always a sucker for the big bad Black man coming to get you ; or simply the Willie Horton story . Which actually predates Willie Horton going back to Goldwater and his Nation of Moral decay and Nixon’s war on drugs. Which targeted minorities disproportionately.
Both on crime and inflation the supposed “Liberal Media ” did its best to prove Trump correct in his charges against them. Whether it was intentional or not the hype was far greater than the reality. For a group of people who profess to despise Trump and his merry band of seditious Neo Nazi White Christian Nationalists, they did their best to bring them back to power. Crime sells advertising .
Inflation is the worst it has ever been except in its peak it was half the rate of the 1980s and accompanied by 3.5% unemployment not 8% .Endless stories of the terrible economy.
Last Fall when they started blasting away it was under 5% . With gas lower than it had been from 2011-14 . Wage inflation was already moderating. Tough to have a wage price spiral without the wage component. The media frenzy did allow Corporations with virtual monopoly power to take the Public’s expectation of inflation and deliver it to them, tacking on record profits far above increased costs.
But Crime is the issue that may have cost Democrats 4-5 seats in NY and with it the House. All in Down State districts formally represented by Democrats . Far more harm done to Democrats on MSNBC , CNN, WaPo and the NY Times than on Fox News, the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal”’…. No one who follows the Murdoch rags is voting Democratic to begin with.
On top of a redistricting enabled by Cuomo appointed Judges as part of bone thrown to Republicans when they controlled the State Senate with the help of Cuomo’s turncoat IDC caucus. On top of Adams and Suozzi running around like they were Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels, there were 800 stories a month in 2022 about crime in the NYC Media Market vs 130 a month in deBlasio’s last term ending in 2021. Talk about manufactured consent.
What was the reality. Last year there were fewer murders than 2011 a year Bloomberg was running around calling NYC the safest big City in the Nation . This year with a 13% reduction there will be fewer murders than 2012 the next to last year he was in office when he was taking bows for how safe the City was .
But not only lower than 2012; significantly lower than every year between 2012 all the way till when America was GREAT in 1960.
Your odds of being injured on a 2 mile ride in your car are greater than being injured in a violent crime in the NYC Subway. The murder rate in NYC truly does make it one of the safest cities in America with bail reform having little or no impact on recidivism.
Of course that is not the narrative from CNN, MSNBC, nor the local mass media. The Press made it sound that murders were like the terrible 60s when there were 1000 murders a year by mid decade . The 70s when there 1500 , the 80s when there were 1800 to 2000 and the early 90s when there were 2400 murders . There were 468 in 2021 and 379 as of last week in 2022 with only 6 weeks to go.
So here is the thing . Excluding the Garbage dump in the Harbor(Staten Island) that should be turned over to NJ. 82 % of Manhattan residents voted for Democrats. Ah but they are just woke liberals . 79% of Bronx Residents voted for Democrats not so woke , 73% of Brooklyn and 67% of Queens residents. So where all this supposed crime was happening it was not a concern enough to sway voters .
Yet in the NYC suburbs (all six counties) where all the seats were lost. Crime was lower in almost every major category recorded. 2021 Lower than not just 2020 but most years back to 2017 the last year listed in the state crime registry. The 100 million dollar Republican Willie Horton Campaign supplement by the ” Liberal Media ” and their 800 stories a month.
Heck of a Job Joe Scarborough , mission accomplished. And I know he is a Conservative Republican but he also claims to be a never Trump-er. Perhaps they will give him an extra hour to cover Hunter Biden’s Laptop.