I&I Editorial

A blatant bias against Republicans and conservatives and in favor of Democrats and the left has existed in the media for decades. But never have we seen its fevered as it is today.

The mainstream, or legacy, media was triggered by candidate Donald Trump months before he was elected in 2016. Its palpable hatred of the man was ratcheted up when he beat Hillary Clinton, and hasn’t let up since.

If anything, it’s even become more intense during the COVID-19 crisis. The media, playing well the role of propagandists for the Democratic Party, has only a single objective in its “coverage,” and it’s not reporting relevant information. It simply wants to: Get Trump.

This is not some misreading of events on our part — 43% of the country, and 65% of Republican voters, believe most in the media “are trying to hurt Trump politically” with their coronavirus coverage, says a Rasmussen poll. That 43% would move up well over 50%, and likely even higher, if open minds would read what we’re about to say.

Unable to chase Trump from office through Russia, Russia, Russia; impeachment; and incessant whining about the Electoral College, the media are now riding the coronavirus panic. If they could just convince the public the president is responsible for every COVID-19 death, that he acted too soon, and acted too slowly, that he’s wielded too much power, and not enough, that he hasn’t said enough, but now he’s said too much, they could get their man elected in November. It’s almost as if the press was working from a list of Get Trump bullet points.

Showing a level of irresponsibility that borders on evil intent, the media have put in the overtime to poison malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. Why? Because Trump said it “could be a game-changer” and held “tremendous promise” in the treatment of the Wuhan virus.

But they can’t allow him to be right, to have so obviously contributed to the solution. So hardly an opportunity has been passed up by the press to call the drug a “false hope,” claim Trump is “being unrealistically enthusiastic” about it, imply he is recklessly “touting an unproven drug,” and accuse him of “playing armchair doctor.”

Our ever-informative media has even gleefully reported that the drug has side effects — as if it’s the only medication to ever cause adverse reactions in some patients. They have all but said: Don’t take this medication.

Meanwhile, doctors are saying that it is not only an effective treatment, there’s some indication that it could also be a prophylactic to COVID-19.

Demonstrating that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, the media continued their long campaign to portray Trump as a racist by calling him out for using the phrase “Chinese virus.” Clearly the press doesn’t understand that “Chinese” is not a race but a nationality, and also forgot that it liberally used “Chinese virus” to describe COVID-19, probably right up to the point that someone in the media or the Democratic Party thought it would be a good idea to use the accurate terminology as a bludgeon. Hypocrisy at best, malicious motive more likely.

What else? Oh, yes:

The loudest, tinniest voices in our media decided Trump’s coronavirus press briefings should not be aired live “because they’re unfiltered propaganda.” Both the New York Times and Washington Post have boycotted the briefings. It’s their right, of course, to stay away. They’re not obligated. The media are state-owned only when a Democrat is in the White House. But do they not recall that pre-pandemic they were complaining that Trump wasn’t holding enough news conferences?

Similarly, Trump was criticized by the press for three years for acting like a dictator. Then comes the coronavirus, and the media criticism is that he didn’t “dictate” hard enough or soon enough.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is America’s “acting president” – because it’s such a clever way to insult the president.

New York Times editorial board member Michelle Cottle wrote last week that Trump’s media briefings were “a thick fog of self-congratulation, political attacks, misinformation and nonsense.” Would the mainstream media have ever said that about an Obama news conference, even when it was a perfect characterization, which would have been often if not always? Never. To the media, he was a god.

Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik, flew off in a maniacal rage earlier this week, yelping that Trump was “acting a fool,” before finally declaring as if his point were unassailable that “people are dying because of his foolishness. It’s really foolishness at this point.” Can anyone imagine Zurawik saying the same thing about Obama, and not another media figure trying to pull him back to Earth, when hundreds of thousands were dying during the swine flu pandemic of 2009? Under any circumstances? Not a chance. Remember, he was a god.

At the same time Trump is being torn apart for his crisis response, Joe Biden, Trump’s likely Democrat opponent in the fall election, gets a media pass on charges that sexually assaulted a former staff member. The New York Times eventually “investigated” the allegation (19 days late), decided there was “no pattern of sexual misconduct by” Biden, and even removed some noncontroversial language from the report because the Biden campaign asked it to. (Would the Times ever soften a story about Trump at the request of the campaign? Would never happen.) Give the Times a half point of credit, because “there has been a total blackout of the serious allegation on ABC, NBC and CBS,” according to the Media Research Center.

Compare this current media disregard to the press carnival that surrounded Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who had also been accused of sexual assault. In the eyes of media inquisitors, Kavanuagh was a witch, and they were out to burn him. Journalists are rigorously adhering to the credo “believe all women who have made accusations against Republicans and conservatives, and them only.”

Why can’t the media simply admit that they hate Trump and drop the pretense of objectivity? Why can’t journalists acknowledge that their unchecked emotions have driven them to tantrums? When will they stop the childish games and recover some sense of professionalism?

It’s unfortunate for this country, but it’s quite clear few in the press have grown up enough to even consider those questions.

— Written by J. Frank Bullitt

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