How the left destroyed the credibility of a free press.
The slide may have begun with the Vietnam War when journalists began to question the government and then began to be overly sympathetic to protestors. Others believe the slide began with the election of Nixon in 1968 at a time of turbulence.
I think all might agree that the starting point could be drawn around Dan Rather who first put forward an unverified report regarding President George W Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Dan Rather: disgraced journalist
Once he was one of the most respected journalists in the news. But he introduced an era in which unverified material and unnamed sources would be used almost always to manipulate the news. Prior to Rather Journalism required that the necessary time was taken to verify stories. It wasn't just a matter of sloppiness or deadlines to meet. It was ideological.
How bad has it become?
About a dozen years ago a Politico host named Mike Allen asked various journalists such as the New York times Peter Baker and Mark Leibovich, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, and CNN’s Jake Tapper where they stood on the political spectrum. All answered "liberal." We the people knew they were left leaning, but the liberal characterization is far too modest. The fact is that legacy newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post slant the news on a daily basis. Just about every day one can find a Trump quote in the New York Times followed by the words "without evidence." Most recently was the Quote about destroying Iran's nuclear facilities. The fact is that there is no evidence one way or the other. It is more serious than that. For much of two years both of these publications carried out a hoax about Trump being involved in "Russian collusion." We (rational human beings) now know that the bullshit claims were all based upon the Hillary Clinton campaign's story which was concocted by Christopher Steele and promoted by agencies of the US government under then president Obama. After all this time, neither the Times, nor other media outlets have apologized for the false narratives. The Pulitzer Committee has never cancelled the awards given to the so-called journalists who were front & center of perpetuating the hoax.
Then of course is the divisive way that the leftwing media has handled stories involving race. In the very rare case of genuine racism against a minority, it is front page news. The day-to-day crime & mayhem perpetuated by young black men barely gets a mention. Add to the list illegal migrants who are now called "our neighbors' or "a Maryland man." They also get a pass and the fact that entering the country illegally happens to be a felony is seldom mentioned by the msm.
Who can forget how the media ran with Jussie Smollett's ridiculous story of being the victim of "racism?"
Add to that cable news and network news.
It is very difficult for a famous individual to sue the media for defamation. That is because the Court decided long ago that it might intimidate a free press. Of course, that sentiment has been widely abused by the modern msm. Despite the difficulty President Trump has managed to sue for some of the outright lies that have been told about him.
"ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos reached a settlement with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, with the network agreeing to issue an apology and pay a Trump-related foundation $15 million in addition to $1 million for Trump’s attorney fees."
Former Clinton campaign employee and activist: George Stephanopoulos
"The settlement, filed in federal court in Miami Saturday afternoon, marks a win for Trump, who sued the network and its star anchor for libel after Stephanopoulos said on air that Trump was found liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll."
ABC and Stephanopoulos to pay Trump $15M, apologize in defamation suit settlement - POLITICO
"CBS and parent company Paramount have agreed to pay another $20 million to President Donald Trump, on top of the $16 million they already agreed to pay toward his presidential library, Trump announced in a Truth Social post Tuesday."
CBS activist Bill Whitaker
"Paramount agreed in early July to pay $16 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle his lawsuit over the network’s editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the suit, through which Trump sought $10 billion in damages, he accused the network of “deliberate deception” for editing Harris’ response to a question about the war in Gaza.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the full, unedited version of the October 2024 interview in February, after FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr opened an investigation last October into the editing.
The full cut — nearly twice as long as what “60 Minutes” aired — revealed a completely different answer from Harris on a question about Israel than the one broadcast by the network."
Trump Announces $36 Million CBS Settlement
CNN and MSNBC are in a category all their own. All that is left of their audiences seem to be those who tune in to confirm their own biases.
Now we enter a new age in which the left wants us to have arbiters of what the truth is and guess who is going to do the programing.
I offer example A:
How biased ChatGPT tried to keep this column out of the New York Post
So here we are in a free country with a constitution which carved out all kinds of provisions for a free press and the left has all but destroyed the once great institution.
All I can say is thank God for Rupert Murdoch. He created an oasis of truth.
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I can still recall another so-called journalist telling us about the tingle he got when Barack Obama was elected.
Gone from MSNBC for "inappropriate comments."
so it's the media's fault that the leader of the world's largest cult of morons is a well documented liar/criminal/traitor/child molester. fucking hilarious. gosh darn that pesky 1st amendment that lets you say anything you want about the biggest bag of shit in DC. trump is the pee wee herman of politics in america ...
And you don't see the difference between the 2? True TDS.
this is the type of media coverage trump prefers ...
I think you type this stuff up for an audience of one --- yourself.
You will read what you wrote and say YES! I knew someone would agree with me!!!!
Fox News is arguably the largest news organization in America. It is also the most dishonest, and it has been proven in court.
I'm excitedly waiting for his next edition, "How the Left Destroyed My Brain" followed closely by "How the Left Turned Me into a Newt"...
oh dear, trump's iran war is really starting to take a toll on his legions of devoted ass-lickers ...
trump has likely lost the house, so he doubles down to lose the senate too. if he and his closeted thumper running the house can't get full control of the federal elections, trump may be headed for his 3rd impeachment and a trial this time ...
Equal parts delusional and indefensible. It must be exhausting.
About RFK Jr. sniffing cocaine off toilet seats?
it's snort, not sniff. sheesh, where were you in the 80's? /s
back in the 90's, all those flashy salesmen at the dealership use to chop their lines on top of the white porcelain tank covers of the toilets in the employee men's room. the used car manager caught wind of it and smeared a thin layer of vaseline on those tank tops one day. there were a few guys in expensive suits really unhappy that their peruvian marching powder had just dissolved before their very eyes, right before they lost their jobs ....
Fox (other than Bret Baier), CNN and MSNBC are not news. It is time Americans wake up to the truth and stop saying it is all the other guys that are not news.
And here you are reading it and throwing the expected tantrum because it doesn't fit your narrative.
It's cute you think they are news.
Looking at this article, CNN and MSNBC are just as dishonest.
Is it your position that when Fox News has the word news in their name they are lying
My position on Fox news is the same as my position on CNN and MSNBC. They are nothing more that vloggers / bloggers pushing an opinion. They stopped being "news" agencies years ago.
What destroyed the credibility of the press was the commoditization of the news. Greed has devalued truth.
Both the left and right have taken advantage of the weakened editorial standards required to increase profits. But political opportunism is not responsible for turning published news into clickbait. The root problem is the business model of engagement, reach, interactions, and viral spread that has cannibalized the press and turned into infotainment. The press is now reporting sensation rather than news.
So are you blaming the internet, smart phones or the average person's attention span being that of a goldfish in these "modern times"?
I am blaming neoliberals perverting capitalism into seeking short term profit rather than creating long term wealth. The press is now exploiting the brief life cycle of sensationalism for short term profit rather than seeking reputational wealth.
Trump's chaos is sensational. And Trump deliberately throws gasoline on the flames of chaotic sensation. Despite the complaints, the press really is giving Trump what he wants.
trump and his family members are neoliberals?
Does it help to think of them as "monetary Nazis"?
trump's family will probably have to escape america before his corpse drops down to room temperature ...
As long as they are not confused with Libertarian Monarchists.
That was funny.
Thanks Hal
I take it the job of journalism, according to the seeder, is to parrot the daily talking points, never delve deep to find the real truth, and kiss ass all day long
this article is basically a whinefest about americans not snapping to attention whenever the maga demigod speaks and the blind devotion they believe americans should express to their imperial president they think can do no wrong no matter what he says or does ...
you must yield to their king, or off with your head ...
I take it that you are saying part of the job of a free press is to question government, then I think we agree.
If you also say that this President got a free ride anywhere, you are dead wrong.
doesn't seem like you agree. Read what I wrote again. Those are your words, are they not? It's your blog so I assume this is original material? It better be original material
Not sure if I'd call it a 'free ride' but he does metaphorically get his balls licked and his toes sucked each day by rightwing media which is all rightwing religious conservatives watch. Rightwing media has convinced their gullible viewers that Trump isn't lying every time he opens his mouth, he isn't an admitted sexual predator even though he admitted it with his own mouth, and that somehow flip flopping on just about every position, even the "I won't get us into anymore foreign wars" position. I really can't imagine how stupid and gullible one must be to believe all the rightwing media lies.
Sounds like Newstalkers conservatives
Let's see:
A fake hoax, three baseless investigations, 2 baseless impeachments, and all kinds of lawfare during the last election cycle orchestrated by his political opponent's AG.
And the media was a major accomplice to of it.
I think it fair to say that the media acted as an arm of the democrat party.
If the media had treated Trump , for the past 15 years (we are now at the 15th anniversary of his birther madness) , like he deserved to be treated he wouldn't be president now, or even the first time. The media, including ABC, NBC , and CBS have never covered Trump in the way his pathological lying would seem to demand.
90 per cent negative coverage.
It should have been 100% negative. Trump has never been morally, ethically, or intellectually fit to hold any public office let alone the US presidency.
what issues do you think maga republicans will be running on this midterm election cycle?
gee, so many choices for maga republicans to choose from ...
even so he is a picked on victim /s
You made the claims....you provide the truth.
Legitimate sources only
as if. I don't waste my time on maga without being paid. are your hands painted on? look them up yourself ...
So you admit all the fake outrage over Trump and his supporters is nothing but fake generated, paid poutrage...
But we already knew that.
"look them up yourself ."
Did the rules change? Maybe if I identify as a D (with a big hit on my IQ), I, too, can arbitrarily change the rules when it suits me.
I really don't care what mental acrobatics maga vet trump supporters must utilize to justify their support of a liar, felon, traitor, and child molester. those that have convinced themselves that their oath of service exempts their hero from preserving, protecting, and defending the constitution and rule of law, as he repeatedly assaults it.
fully documented by the dozens of lawsuits that he has lost at every level of the judiciary in this term of his presidency, and some by judges that he appointed. thanks for your naval service by keeping the heads on the lower decks so clean. now go burn your uniforms and memorabilia and be thankful that your service retirement benefits still arrive in your bank account ...
This is the most insane of conspiracy theories. The media completely destroyed themselves by losing all credibility in their over the top opposition to Trump. Outside of shooting Trump themselves there's not much more they could have done. . Blaming the media (that was fully in the tank for Clinton/Biden/Harris and gave them billions worth of free public relations is a flat out denial of reality.
The much more real question is how big would Trump's margins have been if the media were actually honest....
And I have been telling y'all for months not to use AI
if for no other reason than, if it's based on human intelligence, then it's fucked up because there is plenty of evidence that "human intelligence" is an oxymoron.
How is that Journalism’s fault?! He does say insane nonsense - every mutherfuckin day - without evidence. Just this week he claimed Iran destroyed its own girls school with a Tomahawk missile it couldn’t possibly have. Without evidence.
There is a lot wrong with journalism, to be sure. My main criticism is they largely act as stenographers for the government, mindlessly and obediently repeating whatever the government tells them. It’s actually an improvement that they have finally found the stones to declare that the president promotes outrageous bullshit as fact, and does so without evidence.
And before you get too sanctimonious about the liberal media, let’s recall the hysteria from conservative media over Obama wearing a brown suit, saluting with a latte in his hand, smoking the occasional cigarette, or remodeling a tennis court so he could play basketball on it. Conservative media tries to find something critical to say about liberal politicians, and that is the petty shit they come up with.
I LONG for the days when the worst thing you could say about a president was that he wore a tan suit.
trump rewards the ass-licking maga media, punishes the free media for highlighting his crimes and can't figure out why they aren't blindly loyal to him like the spineless members of his own party of billionaire child molester protectors ...
“There is a lot wrong with journalism, to be sure.”
The bottom line is the bottom line. As consumers of the media business, it is our responsibility to make decisions based on digesting all the myriad information available and dismissing fact from fiction. Just as with any decision we make as consumers.
Too often, some are content in hearing what they want to hear to confirm their beliefs. The problem lies in broadcasting that bias as incontrovertible.
The solution is to be open to all viewpoints but with a healthy dose of skepticism until your own research leads you to reach an informed conclusion. And read, read, read…
Thanks, I needed a good laugh.
Isn't that the truth, lol.
All I can say is thank God for Rupert Murdoch. He created an oasis of truth.
Ah yes truth, that must be why Trump is suing Murdoch's WSJ for $15B.
It really hasn’t had any credibility in decades, but the media has gone completely bezerk since trump. CNN anchor claiming the Muslim terrorists we’re trying to kill Mamdani is just the latest example of completely unjustifiable lying
Donald Trump tried to overthrow the US government. It has been 5 1/2 years since he started claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him (he says it to this day), yet he has NEVER produced a single scrap of actual evidence that it was true, and if he was asked for specific evidence by anyone in the media he would blabber himself into utter incoherence,
Can you name a single reporter who has asked Trump to provide some actual evidence over the past 5 1/2 years?
The media has gone incredibly easy on him.
Why does Donald Trump make it okay for CNN to put anchors on the air who lie about Mamdani being the target of the muslim terrorists?
I guess you cant name a single reporter who has asked Trump for proof the election had been stolen from him. That is prima facie evidence they have gone easy on him.
LEt's ask Chatgpt:
So the short answer: Yes—reporters have repeatedly asked Trump for proof. In several cases he either repeated the claims without providing evidence or ended the interview when pressed.
Why do you think that matters? You can't possibly be claiming the media hasn't exhaustively debunked Trump's claim the election was not stolen? What do you imagine asking Trump, again, that question would have accomplished?
Another reporter asked him today..
How did that change the world?
How did he answer? Oh yeah he insulted her without answering the question
No kidding. Similar to what he does every time. And not one single person changed their mind about anything.
Again.
The question isn't some magic bullet.
She should have said answer the question please
And Trump would have done what Trump does and the world would continue to go round and not a single person would have changed their mind.
so what? the media puts zero pressure on him. they go easy on him and always have.
a few hours ago he said Iran is an excursion and a few moments later said bad things happen in a war. A reporter said "you just said it is an excursion and right after that you said it is a war, which one is it ?" and Trump answered "both". He then said it is an excursion to prevent a war. He sounds like an idiot and the press stands there and takes it.
Trump has claimed the election was stolen from him literally hundreds of times. Every time he does it a reporter should ask him for evidence.
No one on earth has ever heard Trump say what his proof is. This despite him making the claim hundreds of times. And you don't think the media has gone easy on him?
This is where you go off the rails. The idea that the media "went easy" on Trump is as about as divorced from reality as an opinion can be.
In fact, the media was so over the top hostile towards him and in the tank for Democrats that they lost influence. They outed themselves as little more than PR hacks for Democrats and thus lessened the impact of their actual legitimate criticism. They just yell ever more shrilly into a smaller echo chamber as everyone else tunes them out. That's how the MSM became so irrelevant compared to their importance 30 years ago. .
Democrats never learned, and still haven't learned, the lesson from the boy who cried wolf. They've been crying wolf for decades, even doing their best to try and make someone as anodyne as Mitt Romney into a monster. Calling the Republican of the moment a Nazi has been a thing since Truman was President. Decades of hysteria have led most people to simply ignore their shrieks.
Ridiculous. Trump had more baggage than any presidential candidate in memory X 10, and its only multiplied since 2015, and yet the media treated him as a legitimate candidate almost from the start. It has always been absurd the way they ignore his Himalaya like mountains of faults and defects,
You have a link, and not one from Facebook?
I'd post the link to Abby Phillip's retraction, but twitter isn't allowed. So feel free to look it up yourself.
I tried to find one on youtube, but for some reason, there is no video
She apologised for it.
Thanks for confirming what I said. The issue is not that she issued a retraction on Twitter (though not on air) but how a news anchor could lie about something so basic days after it happened.
And CNN's Ana Navarro said the same thing yet again....
Speaking of FOX's oases of truth ... t'was interesting that they edited out Trump wearing one of his signature caps at the 'dignified transfer' and inserted a capless video from 2025.
meh, trump will lose the maga vets as soon as they figure out what he just did to the VA ...
Hasn't Trump sued them or threatened to about the slightest edits?
Now they just blatantly cover for him.
Oases of truth my Irish...
The last journalists I considered reliable were Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow and the last news source that I knew was reliable was The Christian Science Monitor when they were annually winning the award for being the least biased news source. That award is no longer available for obvious reasons.