Press "bothsideism" has failed Biden, and America

[Nevilledog]

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Jay Rosen
@jayrosen_nyu
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It is hard to find a more consensus figure in American journalism than Marvin Kalb, formerly of CBS and NBC News.

He is now telling the American press that its lust to show how it can be critical of Biden is distorting the news and hurting the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the media as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
brookings.edu
Press “bothsideism” has failed Biden, and America
The journalistic curse of "bothsideism" has damaged Biden's presidency.
9:18 AM · Jul 25, 2022

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/07/21/press-bothsideism-has-failed-biden-and-america/

The American press corps struggles every day to prove to readers and viewers that it is “fair and balanced,” the slogan cleverly adopted by Fox News. If it strongly criticized Donald Trump during his presidency (and since), then it follows that it must also strongly criticize Joe Biden, which is exactly what it’s done.

Fair, isn’t it? Balanced, too, right?

Wrong.

Not only does criticism not come in equal shapes and sizes, appropriate for all presidents and both political parties (a journalistic curse called “bothsideism”), but, when unfairly applied, as it has been in covering Biden, it runs the serious risk of further damaging our still free press and weakening our already shaky democracy.

The press image of Biden, president of the United States of America, has been whittled down to that of a doddering old man, wobbly on his feet and barely able to articulate a single thought without slurring.

Is that a fair and balanced image of Biden? Hardly. But can the press do better?

According to columnist Perry Bacon Jr.’s analysis of the media’s cutting criticism of Biden, journalists seemed “poised” from Day One of his administration to “balance” their justifiably negative coverage of Trump with a run of unjustifiably negative stories about Biden. Granted, the press is ordinarily skeptical of any incoming president, but Biden was never given much of a honeymoon.

*snip*

[spanone]

1. K&R

[DemocracyWins202]

2. No kidding

Democracy is in danger all these guys in MSM only cares about is ratings.

[Evolve Dammit]

18. The media moguls admitted it publicly when the Orange One ran. He make us $. Welcome!

[JHB]

3. And it's worth reminding that this is a decades-long practice.

See 1993 and the "Clinton suck-up watch".

[uponit7771]

4. Bothsideist *BECOME* biased when they try not to appear so vs showing their work, challenging GZP

... bullshit when it comes at them and erroring on the side of facts.

[uponit7771]

5. Also the M$M did the same with Clinton's economy and Obama's economy, its **NOT** the economy

... stupid its what the M$M persuades people to feel about it despite the facts.

[Mad_Machine76]

6. Good blog post

[littlemissmartypants]

9. It's from the Brookings Institute which has a long, distinguished history, too...

The Brookings Institution traces its beginnings to 1916, when a group of leading reformers founded the Institute for Government Research (IGR), the first private organization devoted to analyzing public policy issues at the national level.

https://www.brookings.edu/about-us/

❤ pants

[YorkRd]

7. Chuck Todd is genius at bothersiderism propaganda!

We think he is awful, even joke worthy but his corporate masters love him!

[RockRaven]

8. They don't care how much they hurt the country. They care about today's ratings, tomorrow's

ad revenue, next quarter's financial statements, etc. Pointing out the harm or scolding them won't do anything. Their incentives are totally askew with the public good.

[Duppers]

10. K & R +100

[hibbing]

11. "negative coverage of Trump"

Gee, I must have missed that, from the escalator flight down until election night, every speech, every move, every tweet, all his criminal political team were promoted uncritically during the whole campaign. After the election, some mild criticism, but not one millionth of what one would have seen if it was a Democratic president for doing one millionth of the things he did....grrrr.

[Warpy]

12. Print media are somewhat better, but broadcast media have been useless

for a very long time since "preserving access" became a lot more important than providing any truth.

I will probably die waiting for some blow dried bobblehead to mention that Democratic grifterss go to prison while Republican grifters just keep getting reelected and ruining this country.

[The Wizard]

13. Those who profess both sides stand for nothing

Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.

[Quanto Magnus]

14. I have been feeling this way

for a long time.

I have kinda stopped watching some of the news because of it.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. While Biden deserves criticism on some issues, the media is going overboard

They are desperate to avoid being labeled “liberal” , even though that ship has sailed.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. Another smear that stuck. See how easy it is? Fake News, hoax, Democrat flu, etc. etc.

[Martin Eden]

16. Bothsiderism is BAD JOURNALISM

Very misleading.

[LymphocyteLover]

17. the for-profit media is addicted to rightwing clicks, ads from big corporations & GOP tax cuts

Also doesn't help that so many media corporations have been bought up by rapacious private-equity firms.