This has long been the case. The pinkos who run so-called “news” media don’t warp public opinion solely by what they report, but even more so by what they choose to not report.
Compare this with the attention given to Jim Jeffords and Lincoln Chafee. This shift took the balance of power from Republican to Democrat in the US Senate in 2001, and put Tom Daschle in as Senate Majority Leader.
Of course the mainstream applauded this “conversion” as it threw a wrench into whatever agenda the Republicans may have had in those years. It certainly tied Bush-43’s hands.