Opinion: The media fails to meet the moment

[mcar]

Opinion: The media fails to meet the moment
Opinion by
Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
Feb. 12, 2021 at 10:24 a.m. EST

Less than a month into the new presidency, many mainstream media reporters are floundering. Given a normal, competent administration moving quickly on multiple fronts, too many in the media often do not seem cut out to cover the influx of substantive policy. Instead, they have reverted to a number of crutches and false assumptions.

First, rather than ask tough questions on a slew of policy issues, White House reporters comically allot a good deal of the 45 minutes in the daily briefings to ask what President Biden is thinking about impeachment, why he is not watching and why he won’t tell them what he is thinking and watching. How can he not tell us? Hmm, maybe because he is fighting a myriad of historic crises. Don’t we deserve to hear his views? No. Isn’t he really watching? No, he takes his job seriously....

Second, reporters — despite evidence to the contrary — assume (or pretend to assume) Republicans are acting in good faith. They tell us with a straight face that the voluminous impeachment evidence has not persuaded Senate Republican jurors, as if these Republicans ever intended to listen to evidence. They pepper Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, with questions as to why he is not being more bipartisan — despite replete evidence (from their conduct at the impeachment trial, for one thing) that fact-based politics is not Republicans’ thing. They do not grill Republicans as to why they are out of the mainstream of their own party’s voters on a rescue plan. Refusing to recognize Republicans as cynical, hardened partisans is the newest, worst form of false equivalency between the parties.

Third, for all the coverage of the trial itself, the media does not take domestic terrorism seriously. Remember in the wake of 9/11, when the media for years rightly gave top billing to the dangers posed by Islamist terrorism? Who were the radicals? Who was harboring them? Where did their money come from? What religious figures were turning them into violent extremists? There is no comparable interest in probing the same questions with regard to domestic Christian White nationalists who have turned to terrorism. Have they been grilling community and religious leaders from the terrorists’ hometowns as to why they have not denounced the violent, racist elements in their midst? That is how they treated Muslim communities after 9/11. With scenes of extremists carrying the Confederate battle flag in the Capitol, why have we not seen Republicans asked to explain their defense of these symbols on flags and their reverence for traitorous secessionist military figures?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/12/media-fails-meet-moment/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Putin bought off three branches of government, why not the media too?

He has the money and he is not stupid?

No one has looked at the media connection to Russia.

[bullimiami]

2. The last 4 years have really exposed how ill equipped and foundering our media is.

[mcar]

5. This!

[c-rational]

3. Well said Jennifer Rubin..I especially like this line -

"Second, reporters — despite evidence to the contrary — assume (or pretend to assume) Republicans are acting in good faith."

[Wellstone ruled]

6. That has been the

accepted view and the real truth is,their Employers are major supporters of those Republicans .

Never bite the hand that feeds. Your Ego may be trashed.

[crud]

4. her third point

is very on point...but media does not treat them like terrorists. They cover them all the time, trying to explain them, and end up justifying their grievances. Muslims weren't treated the same. If we treated trumps terrorists the same, all white, male, christians would be banned from flying.