Why the Media is Worse for Biden Than Trump

Intelligencer via MSN news ^ | 8/26/2021 | Jonathan Chait

[qam1]

Over the last week, the media has hammered Joe Biden with relentlessly critical coverage of his pullout from Afghanistan, resulting in noticeable drops in his approval ratings. Put aside for a moment whether this reflects failures by Biden or biases by the media. One conclusion we can draw is that this sort of dynamic is a regular feature of Democratic presidencies, and — as the Trump administration showed — a near impossibility during Republican ones.

Well, sort of. The mainstream media certainly gave Trump harsh and even overtly hostile coverage. But the mainstream media only describes roughly half the media landscape. The other half of the media is a right-wing messaging apparatus that makes no effort to follow traditional journalistic norms. Republicans communicate to their base through a media that functionally operates as part of their party, while Democrats communicate to their base through a media that still exerts substantial independence. If you want to understand the strange difficulty that Joe Biden’s sane, competent administration has in yielding measurably higher approval than Trump’s insane, incompetent presidency, the asymmetrical relationship between the two parties and their respective media environments is the most important place to start.

Conservatives often gloat about the ratings dominance of right-wing infotainment:

And they’re right: Conservative media really does command enormous audiences that frequently dwarf its mainstream-news counterparts. But this merely underscores the fact that what we think of as “the media” only accounts for a portion of the American news media diet. The other half of the media is simply a vehicle for partisan propaganda. And whatever its failings, the last week has amply demonstrated once again that the nonconservative mainstream media is not that.....

[qam1]

I would have put a barf alert, but it's comedic gold how delusional this guy is.

[Fai Mao]

Such BS. It smells like Oklahoma on hot day.

[willk]

Holy Cow! Unbelievable!

[The_Media_never_lie]

Who can read this crap?

[dainbramaged]

This guy is smoking the good stuff.

[AlaskaErik]

Republicans communicate to their base through a media that functionally operates as part of their party, while Democrats communicate to their base through a media that still exerts substantial independence.

This idiot got it backward. The fakestream media is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the DNC.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Media worse for Biden than for Trump? Chait must be from Upsidedown World.

In a sense, though, there could be some hidden truth there. If the media were to tell the truth about Trump, and then tell the truth about Biden, citizens would probably think very unkind things about Biden.

[Robert DeLong]

One conclusion we can draw is that this sort of dynamic is a regular feature of Democratic presidencies

Yes, I saw how the MSM hammered Obama. /sarcasm

So, I guess that pretty much blows up that part of your lying propaganda.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

while Democrats communicate to their base through a media that still exerts substantial independence.

Not sure what to say. This level of delusion used to be treated by shock therapy.

[Eddie01]

He writes for The Daily Projection

Groupthink is ugly.

[SmokingJoe]

If you want to understand the strange difficulty that Joe Biden's sane, competent administration has in yielding measurably higher approval than Trump's insane, incompetent presidency,

This guy needs to join “The Ministry of Truth” in Orwell's “1984".

[WashingtonSource]

This is beyond delusional — it’s hallucinogenic.

[lucky american]

Where do you find this crap and why do we give them clicks?
We need to stop giving these people recognition that they even exist. .

[rlmorel]

Exactly.

I saw this quote, and immediately branded him an ignoramus:

"...But the mainstream media only describes roughly half the media landscape. The other half of the media is a right-wing messaging apparatus that makes no effort to follow traditional journalistic norms...

What an ignorant jackass. But this is par for the course. It kind of reminds me of this old, but excellent cartoon from the incomparable Eric Allie:

[billyboy15]

I would have bet large this was straight from the Bee.

[Hojczyk]

The media got Biden elected and they cannot cover for him now..they covered for him with the Border,,Inflation gas at 4 bucks, and other things...there trying to save themselves now..they will blame Trump in a few weeks when there is no video from Afghanistan

[TornadoAlley3]

Putrid BS

[TChad]

If you want to understand the strange difficulty that Joe Biden’s sane, competent administration has in yielding measurably higher approval than Trump’s insane, incompetent presidency, the asymmetrical relationship between the two parties and their respective media environments is the most important place to start.

Would that be the "sane, competent administration" that forgot to evacuate civilians before evacuating the military? No one is that stupid. No one.

[gitmo]

The mainstream media certainly gave Trump harsh and even overtly hostile coverage. But the mainstream media only describes roughly half the media landscape. The other half of the media is a right-wing messaging apparatus that makes no effort to follow traditional journalistic norms. Republicans communicate to their base through a media that functionally operates as part of their party, while Democrats communicate to their base through a media that still exerts substantial independence.

That’s some powerful dope he’s smoking. Did he get it from Hunter?

[Engedi]

Well morning Joe was saying how this won’t hurt Biden for mid terms because people will forget and move on by 2022. Insane.