POX ON BOTH HOUSES
“Cable news has long been considered slanted, but there used to be an attempt to acknowledge another side. Not any more. Fox News will regularly begin programs with reminders that you only have so many days left to vote for President Trump and a future, or Joe Biden and earthly destruction. Biden is mocked, referred to with nasty nicknames, and regularly derided for his age and cognitive abilities. In recent days, the Hunter Biden story either leads or is highly featured nightly.
“Meanwhile, you can’t find that story on the CNN or MSNBC broadcasts. It doesn’t exist. Instead, Trump gets a daily and nightly skewering on coronavirus, and is the focus and blame for a large percentage of their stories and panels. Even the rare piece of positive data — like last week’s report of record GDP growth for the third quarter — gets the ‘Yeah, but …’ treatment. Snide asides are woven into the dialogues.” — Mitch Albom
Those who get the digital replica edition of this paper — and all subscribers can — will note that we have additional pages called “extras.”
Writer Albom — of The Detroit Free Press, countless ESPN appearances, and The New York Times best-seller list — wrote such a bang-up column last week that we asked for, and received, permission to reprint it. You might have noticed it Tuesday morning.
The column argued that We the People have become so divided that one election might not make a difference. That is, if we don’t change, too. And the media is increasingly not helping.
It just so happens, we were just thinking that.
When we pulled up the CNN website Monday morning, we were greeted with this screamer of a headline at the top of the page:
“Trump tries to undermine democratic process”
He was hiring lawyers in anticipation of a close election. Did Al Gore and George W. Bush undermine democracy by lawyering up in 2000?
Other headlines early in the week: “The delicate matter of a potential Trump loss is not discussed widely among his team.” “Trump blitzes mustwin states with perfected rally route.” “Fact check: Trump’s top election falsehoods to watch for on Election Day.”
Also, don’t miss: “Joe Biden takes all 5 votes in tiny township.” And: “Trump’s final pitch is a false warning of ‘cheating.’ “
Much of the opinion articles on CNN.com are not labeled as such. Only as “analysis.” Such as:
Analysis: “America again has a choice between the past and the future”
Guess which candidate for president was targeted in that one?
It’s not a lot better on FoxNews.com. Headlines Monday and Tuesday include: “Election forecasts give Biden overwhelming odds to beat Trump, as some see 2016 deja vu.” “Pro-Trump supporters are heading to the polls making the race close in this battleground state where Biden was favored: poll.” “Will Republicans take over the House? Key congressional races to watch.”
And this: “Lil Pump attends Trump rally wearing ‘MAGA’ hat after declaring his support for the president.” Who?
Believe it or not, FoxNews.com was more balanced — no, really — than CNN’s website, or even the Fox News Channel itself. On Tuesday, we noticed a couple of Biden-will-probably-win headlines.
If a news outfit is going to have credibility, it should clearly label, and separate, the news from opinion. Newspapers, for the most part, do that. Even though The Washington Post— for example — heavily tilts left in its opinion columns, at least they are labeled opinion columns. And don’t pass off opinion as “analysis” in the news section. (Some newspapers aren’t as good as that as others, but that’s another editorial about The New York Times.)
The cable news networks and their websites have blurred the line between news and opinion. So much so that many watchers/readers/scrollers don’t trust what Big Media tells them any longer. And that filters down to smaller outfits, like this one. Trust us, we get calls and emails.
Talk about undermining the democratic process. When people stop trusting the “news,” they’ll look for information elsewhere. Like Facebook. And then we’ll all be in a heap of trouble.