Sunday, September 4, 2016

Media “fairness” is bogus


I’ve been noticing this in the past several weeks. Maybe you have, too.

The media, after finally getting around to actively and explicitly reporting the grotesquely negative aspects of Trump’s presidential campaign, are spending more or less “equal time” grinding away at the Clinton campaign.

Example: a few days ago TheNation.com reported “Hillary Clinton’s [August 25] speech on the racial bigotry and white grievance that pollutes Donald Trump’s campaign should turn out to be the most consequential address of the campaign, even of the decade.”

You can agree or disagree about how notable the speech was, but there’s no denying that Trump is ringing so many bells that encourage public display and, in effect, legitimize public expression of hatred and bigotry against our fellow Americans who don’t have white skin.

In response, Trump said and tweeted repeatedly that Clinton is “a bigot.” No details, just that dastardly epithet.

Now, Joan Walsh at TheNation.com goes on, “…you can dislike Clinton’s speech. You can fact-check it, and perhaps find something wrong—although to my knowledge nobody claimed any inaccuracy. But what you really shouldn’t do, if you are a journalist of any kind of conscience or capacity, is act as though Clinton had somehow gotten down in the gutter with Trump—merely by describing what Trump is doing.


“Yet that’s the kind of coverage we got. Some commenters got it right, but the reporters and editors charged with “objectivity” immediately equated Clinton’s clear-eyed exegesis of Trump’s racially divisive campaign with Trump’s calling her a “bigot.” The Washington Post headlined its story: “Clinton, Trump exchange racially charged accusations.” Bloomberg went with “Trump and Clinton trade charges of racism.” Lots of outlets went for the more colorful metaphor of “barbs:” The Huffington Post, Fox News, CNBC, and the Financial Times all went with some version of “Clinton, Trump trade barbs on race.”

....and on and on....Shame on American media for hyping their coverage of the campaign for audience ratings points, and for trying to cover their tracks by foolishly and fecklessly giving “fairness” a bad name.

I don’t believe there’s a “media conspiracy” favoring either the right or the left.

I do believe that almost all of the media are doing a crappy job. This is congruence, not conspiracy. It’s worse than conspiracy.










Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2016  All rights reserved.

No comments:

Post a Comment