Virtually every person who follows current events even casually knows that the national news media has a left-wing tilt – actually more than a tilt. When it comes to putting the journalistic thumb on the partisan political scale, the elitist media is onboard with both feet. Even some of the most liberal observers admit to the media bias.
It has been firmly established by study-after-study. They show that approximately 80 percent of the so-called journalists are liberal Democrats. That figure goes even higher when you look at the east coast, bubble-encapsulated Big Seven – ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times and Washington Post. That is, by far, not a complete list of the biased media. You see others as regular panelists – including, but not limited to, The Atlantic, Associated Press, Politico, Axios, Huffington Post and on and on.
It is an empirical fact that FOX News — despite its conservative lean — provides the most balanced reporting than either of their chief competitors, CNN and MSNBC. Unlike MSNBC, FOX has anchors and permanent contributors who offer the more liberal viewpoint. It frequently provides a legitimate debate between representatives of opposing opinion.
The FOX News ratings swamp those of CNN and MSNBC – combined. The most hardline conservative hosts – such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham – draw a much larger audience than Rachel Maddow, Larry O’Donnell and the crew on Morning Joe.
Despite FOX’s relative objectivity and popularity, those panels of parroting pundits on CNN and MSNBC engage in classic projection by accusing FOX of being the captive of the political right – when, in fact, they are the promotional platform for Democrats and the political left – but I repeat myself.
Objective reporting is no longer the standard among the left-leaning press. What passes for news is opinion, conjecture, hypothecation and, as they say, spin. The once rare and unethical practice of single sources and unnamed sources has become standard operating procedure. They – with malice aforethought – refuse to report facts and opinions that are not supportive of preconceived narratives as news. Their analysis of events is uniform and consistent. It is anti-Trump, anti-Republican, anti-conservative and contemptible of the millions of Americans who disagree with their port-side perspective. Major portions of the east coast news industry have succumbed to propaganda as their stock-in-trade.
While there is considerable discussion about the manifest biases of the elitist mainstream media, there seems to be less attention paid to the all-important outcome. Are those biases tipping the political scale? And as the headline question asks: Can Democrats win without a biased news media?
The extent of the advantage should be recognized. Many Americans are living with an old image of the news industry – with a bygone belief in its honesty, integrity and fairness. The most ill-informed voters in America are those who fixate on MSNBC. They never hear the other side of the story. They absorb propaganda in the belief that they are getting all the news.
Consider, for a moment, the huge advantage that provides to Democrats and left-leaning advocacy groups. Whatever they say or claim will be given the highest credibility and most favorable spin. Arguably, it is one of the reasons that Democrats have become so outrageous in their comments.
Even after the Mueller Report put the lie to more than two years of claiming that President Trump criminally colluded with Russia – presented as a matter of fact – Democrats continue to press that claim and their allies in the media ignore the facts and continue to favorably report (spin) in favor of a political absurdity.
It is entirely possible – even likely – that the constant negative spin against Trump and the Republicans was a deciding factor that handed the House over to the Democrats. There can be no doubt that it is the strategic intent of the anti-Trump east coast media to hand the Senate and White House to the Democrats – an achievement that would seem far less likely in a political environment in which the Fourth Estate operated with the spirit, traditions and ethics of … journalism.
So, there ‘tis.
