Examples of pure bias by the mainstream media is fairly rare, but there are many examples of bias by association or bias by what gets reported. I like to get my news from C-SPAN. During the day (for the most part) they turn a camera on press conferences, floor debates, or have a camera crew follow around a candidate. There is very little commentary or op-eds. I can watch what happens and make my own conclusions. So it's interesting to watch an event on C-SPAN and then catch how the MSM handles it. You can tell the bias by the news station in what they choose to cover and how they put a spin on it.
1. A good example was the recent incident when Trump called a meeting with Congressional leaders (McConnell, Ryan, Schumer, Pelosi) for Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday morning Trump tweeted that Schumer and Pelosi were soft on crime, soft on immigration, wanted to raise taxes and that he expected nothing to come of the meeting that afternoon. Schumer and Pelosi subsequently decided not to attend the meeting since they figured "the President doesn't see a deal between Democrats and the White House."
So what was reported?
I saw Bret Baier's Fox News show later that afternoon state that Schumer and Pelosi had turned down an invitation to meet with Trump to discuss keeping the government running and avoiding a shutdown, then Fox showed a picture of Trump sitting in between two empty chairs with Schumer and Pelosi nameplates in front of the empty chairs. Implication--Democrats are afraid to meet with Trump and want to shut down the government.
CNN and MSNBC showed a graphic of Trump's tweet insulting the two Democrats then told how they declined to attend the meeting because of Trump's insults and tweet-baiting. They even brought up the "delusional" card. Implication--Trump is unfit to govern and he wants to shut down the government.
2. Headline half-truths. This one epitomizes what is wrong with the mainstream media. This one is similar to the joke about the NY Times reporting on the imminent annihilation of earth by an asteroid with the headline, "Earth to be Destroyed: Minorities and Children Hit Hardest"
From the Washington Post:
38 Percent of Americans Won’t Get a Sizable Tax Cut Under the Senate GOP Plan
Sounds bad, huh? "38 percent won't get a sizable tax cut". But consider--well that means that 62% WILL get a sizable tax cut! Why wasn't the headline "62 Percent Will Get a Sizable Tax Cut". Furthermore, the way the headline is written it allows that within that 38 percent are many people that WILL get a tax cut, just not "sizable" whatever that number is, and it is at the whim of the WaPo writer. Consider a baseball team that "only counts 38 percent of their games as losses", well their W-L record at the end of the season would be 100-62, that's probably good enough to win the division, certainly make the playoffs. Or consider a candidate that gets 62% of the vote. That's a landslide victory.
3. Opinions presented as news. This one always bothers me. Not so much during election season--there is some relevance--but for every day stuff an opinion poll simply is not news. You wonder why the MSM keeps running "news" stories about Trump's unpopularity ratings? It's a way for them to overtly show they disapprove of Trump. Or a "news" story about the number of editorials that have come out for or against a certain issue or person.
Here's a great compound example of this that also crosses another line. The NY Times ran an editorial recently condemning the GOP tax reform plan. But that wasn't enough for the NY Times. Oh, no, they went ahead and placed a call to action at the end of the op-ed piece imploring people to call their congressional reps and demand they vote NO on the bill. I don't think I've ever seen that before. But wait, there's more! TheHill.com "reported" on this, presenting it as a "news" story:
NY Times Editorial Board Tells Readers to Call Senators to Oppose GOP Tax Bill
Ha ha ha! Can you get any more blatant?!
4. This one is interesting, guilt by association.
Alcohol is already linked to 88,000 deaths each year. The Senate tax bill could add 1,550 deaths to that annual toll.
I had no idea the Senate tax bill was a drinker. Or that it could drive ("Story" is from Vox.com)
5. Celebrities as political experts/commentators
The West Wing’ cast hits Huckabee Sanders for comparing herself to character
So, one of the cast of the West Wing, a TV show which was canceled in 2006, took offense to something that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said about the show. The cast member of the West Wing took umbrage because Huckabee Sanders compared her job to the job of the press secretary in the West Wing. This is simply another way for the MSM to slam members of the Trump administration
This is news, ladies and gentleman!
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for bias in the MSM. It's everywhere. Thing is, most of us are so inured by it, we hardly notice it, especially when it's practiced by "our side".
