Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

2017 Might Have Been Worst Year in U.S. History for Media Bias
Townhall.com ^ | January 20, 2018 | Justin Haskins

Posted on 01/20/2018 5:51:17 AM PST by Kaslin

A cornerstone of a truly free society is the presence of a vigilant news media, one that is willing to hold powerful government officials accountable when they abuse their offices for their own personal gain or the advancement of corrupt special interests. A sign a society is on the path to tyranny is when the overwhelming majority of a nation’s journalists are committed to doing whatever they can to destroy one political group while they work feverishly to cover up the scandals of another.

Which of these two scenarios sounds more like America today?

To say that there is a conspiracy to destroy the Trump administration would be a gross understatement. The media’s collusion with left-wing politicians and groups hell-bent on avenging Hillary Clinton’s election defeat is at an all-time high. Never before in the United States have journalists been so eager to adopt conspiracy theories and hurl unsubstantiated negative media at a sitting president—or anyone, for that matter. When the growth in internet media and cable news is taken into account, it’s very possible President Trump has received more negative attention over the past year than any person has ever had to endure in the history of mankind.

And no, this isn’t partisanship. Consider the following evidence: A recent study of media bias conducted by the Media Research Center (MRC) found television coverage of the Trump administration on the evening newscasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC was historically slanted against Trump in 2017. Of the 99 hours of airtime discussing Trump—which, by the way, is much more coverage than President Obama received in his final year in office—only about 10 percent involved positive statements. In some months, negative coverage reached as high as 93 percent.

MRC claims these figures are unprecedented for a first-year president.

If you support high taxes, more regulations on businesses, and enjoyed the Obama world apology tour, then perhaps you’re thinking, “Of course Trump’s coverage was negative! His policies are terrible.”

In order for this logic to hold, however, the media would have to actually spend time discussing President Trump’s policies, rather than gossip, alleged Russian collusion, and the president’s Twitter feed. Here, too, the Media Research Center found the media came up way short. According to MRC, “More than two-fifths of evening news coverage of the Trump administration (43%, or 42 hours, 37 minutes) centered on various controversies associated with the President and his top aides. The Russia investigation was the networks’ favorite topic, with an astonishing 20 hours, 34 minutes of coverage, or more than one-fifth of all Trump coverage last year.”

Further, when the media did focus on Trump’s policies, they mostly avoided those areas where Trump has been most successful, such as the tremendous economic growth Americans have enjoyed since Trump was elected.

MRC reports the “five most-frequently covered policy issues [were] the effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare (475 minutes); the nuclear showdown with North Korea (364 minutes); immigration policy, including ramped-up deportations and a potential border wall (258 minutes); the temporary travel ban and the ensuing court fight (251 minutes); and the ultimately successful push for comprehensive tax reform (222 minutes).”

Meanwhile, unemployment for minorities and working-class Americans has reached historic lows, the value of the stock market has risen by $6.9 trillion,food stamp enrollment has plummeted, Medicaid rolls are dropping, hundreds of thousands of employees have received additional salary bonuses after Congress and Trump passed their tax reform legislation, housing prices are up 6.2 percent, and the list goes on and on and on.

Perhaps most revealing of all is the media’s decision to cover stories that would have once been deemed laughable, embarrassing, or, on occasion, even offensive. For instance, in May 2017, CNN published an article titled “Trump gets 2 scoops of ice cream, everyone else gets 1 – and other top lines from his Time interview.”

In November, CNN reported, “Trump feeds fish, winds up pouring entire box of food into koi pond,” a story in which the entire lede is designed to make readers think Trump somehow foolishly erred in overfeeding fish while on a trip to Japan. In reality, he was simply following the lead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a fact buried in the fifth paragraph of the article that CNN tried to conceal by selectively editing the story’s video.

Then there’s last week’s “big scandal”: Trump’s weight. Apparently, media outlets aren’t buying the height/weight listed by the president’s doctor following his first official physical in office, leading to endless speculation about Trump’s “real” weight, height, and body mass index. I know you’re sick of hearing “what about Hillary?” arguments, but can you imagine the intense backlash that would occur if the body mass index of a President Hillary Clinton were ever called into question? Even those who loathe Trump must admit that this sort of thing would never be tolerated by the mainstream media under different circumstances.

More than slightly reasonable arguments can be made about some of the things the president has said, done, and tweeted, but fair-minded people must acknowledge that mainstream press bias is worse than ever—and there’s absolutely no sign of the situation reversing course in the near future.

This is not only disheartening, it’s incredibly dangerous. The news media is losing whatever credibility it had left, making it harder than ever for the public to discover the truth about the nation’s most important issues.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2017review; drivebymedia; mediabias; presidenttrump; trumpmedia
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 01/20/2018 5:51:18 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

2 posted on 01/20/2018 5:52:59 AM PST by Diogenesis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The mainstream media is actively engaging in warfare against the American public.


3 posted on 01/20/2018 5:56:24 AM PST by KyCats
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We need a foreign news agency to replace all the “Fake News” losers we are forced to listen to. The Brits seem more truthful.


4 posted on 01/20/2018 5:57:34 AM PST by DaveA37
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Lets see what happens this year. Looks good.


5 posted on 01/20/2018 5:58:53 AM PST by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Bookmark


6 posted on 01/20/2018 5:58:55 AM PST by Pajamajan ( Pray for our nation. Thank the Lord for everything you have. Don't wait. Do it today.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The MSM has gone psychotic. They’re irrational. And getting worse.


7 posted on 01/20/2018 6:07:21 AM PST by Vinnie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
MSM_credibility
8 posted on 01/20/2018 6:07:57 AM PST by FrankR (Journalists are shoulder-chipped playground kids afraid of being beat up...so, they write.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

No doubt he msm-Dec has set the bar high.
although,I have a feeling they can out do 2017.
They could hire obaama to be a host on CNN?
They could show clips elementary students reading their poems about how much Trump scares them?
They could have an illegal give the weather report broken english?


9 posted on 01/20/2018 6:09:29 AM PST by Leep (The dims better watch it..Trump is CRAZY!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Hubs gets coffee every AM at McDonald’s after dropping me off at work. The restaurant TV is always on CNN and the lead story for days — five days, he counted — was “Trump said a bad word.”

That apparently meant more to CNN than fires, floods, natural disasters, economic improvements ... anything.


10 posted on 01/20/2018 6:11:12 AM PST by Cloverfarm (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I don’t even know why they’re still referred to as “media”. They are clearly the public attack wing on the democrat party and global elitists. They have no interest in reporting what’s going on to America. They are involved in doing their part in taking out a President elected by the American people.

I don’t know what the word for it is, but it sure isn’t media.


11 posted on 01/20/2018 6:11:26 AM PST by JudyinCanada
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

No doubt he msm-dnc has set the bar high.
although,I have a feeling they can out do 2017.
They could hire obaama to be a host on CNN?
They could show clips elementary students reading their poems about how much Trump scares them?
They could have an illegal give the weather report in broken english?
Never under estimate how low the msn-dnc can go.


12 posted on 01/20/2018 6:12:24 AM PST by Leep (The dims better watch it..Trump is CRAZY!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JudyinCanada

Alleged media and their alleged sources.


13 posted on 01/20/2018 6:14:14 AM PST by Leep (The dims better watch it..Trump is CRAZY!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

That takes a LOT, but it just might be.


14 posted on 01/20/2018 6:24:25 AM PST by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2018/01/Acosta-Clown.jpeg


15 posted on 01/20/2018 6:27:32 AM PST by Nicojones
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leep

The militant arm of the Democrats used to be the KKK, now it’s the media.


16 posted on 01/20/2018 6:28:09 AM PST by Spok ("What're you going to believe-me or your own eyes?" -Marx (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
A cornerstone of a truly free society is the presence of a vigilant news media

Vigilant media a cornerstone? I question that premise. Although news reporting is an essential element of a free society, vigilant is not the quality I most want in reporting. Honest, factual, fair, evenhanded, unbiased to the extent it is possible for humans to be unbiased...all these are qualities that matter to me. We have none of those qualities in our media these days. I would argue that we don't even have vigilance.

17 posted on 01/20/2018 6:45:44 AM PST by Avalon Memories
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The media doesn’t report the news. They’re tabloid gossip and propaganda.


18 posted on 01/20/2018 7:01:33 AM PST by EdnaMode
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

I don’t even read their clickbait crap anymore, I know it’s fake. Yesterday there was a headline about Trump wanting to abort Tiffany - she may have been an unexpected pregnancy, I don’t know, I refused to read an article w such a headline, and you’ll never get me to believe that of him.


19 posted on 01/20/2018 7:24:29 AM PST by Ciexyz (I'm conservative & traditionalist, a nationalist and patriot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Citizens need to be vigilant. Media needs to be independent. As long as media is doing what it's supposed to be doing, then citizens will be informed and be able to do what they need to do according to their rights as citizens.

We don't have media "bias" we have media hyper-partisanship and they are a threat to a free republic.

20 posted on 01/20/2018 7:42:43 AM PST by TimSkalaBim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson