Judd Legum in Popular Information notes that the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal ran 81 articles about Hur’s assessment of Biden’s memory in the four days following his report’s release. (NYT ran 30 and WaPo ran 33.) Yet Trump’s mental lapses and incoherence barely merited mention in those same publications. Legum cites a NYT article stating Trump hasn’t felt the same political blowback as Biden concerning their ages. “It does not mention,” Legum concludes, “that the perceptions of the two men by the public are shaped by media coverage.”
I was born when Ike was president, and I have to say that Joe Biden is by far the best president in my lifetime. Of course that's my opinion but it's also a fact for the majority of Americans. He's done more for the working class and poor than any president since FDR. But most people don't even know it because of the mainstream press and the toxic levels of misinformation and disinformation on social media.
His gaffes are simple brain misfires; he's been doing it for as far back as I can remember. The gaffes have nothing to do with his age. Look at what he's accomplished, not how eloquently he speaks.
The primary concern of the mainstream media is about turning a profit, not informing the public, and NEGATIVITY SELLS PAPERS AND AD CLICKS. They love it when somebody decent gets shivved. Like a school of sharks, they smell blood in the water and all of a sudden it's all over the front page.
Mainstream media completely abandoned its sense of decency a long time ago.
“Journalistic malpractice” is the right term for this, one I used in an email to Peter Baker of The Times over the weekend about his “Biden’s age” story. The only way Big Media will change is if we quit reading their political speculation pieces. Dry up the demand. I’ve started my own personal boycott, and with your platform, Margaret, you could spread the idea. Thanks for this column and for keeping up the fight!
Right on the nose as always, Margaret. Thank you. A question. In your opinion, is the Times (and CNN, etc) legitimately unaware of the dangerous role it is playing in undermining our democracy, or do they just not care because it’s good for business?
Margaret, thank you so much for saying what so many of us are thinking. It's helpful to get your insider confirmation of my subjective experience. This drum beat about Biden's age which has no comparison to Trump's massively dangerous psychopathology, is terrifying to witness. I am appalled by the failure of news outlets to recognize the danger we are in when we tear down a sane and eminently competent man, and ignore the raging maniac at the gates of the White House!
The people running news orgs have to be smart people to do and keep their jobs...and I find it impossible to believe that they don't realize how they are crippling Biden by shrieking about his age while not reporting his successes, or reporting them with bias. (As Twitter's NY Times Pitchbot account might put it, "The economy is great! Here's why that's bad news for Biden.") I also find it impossible to believe that they don't realize they under-report what a second Trump term would do to daily life in America and our democratic future. The question I have is why the MSM deliberately puts a heavy thumb on the scales to help Trump, and the only answer that makes sense to me is money. People from the orgs' owners on down all seem to be putting personal profit above America's founding principles and journalistic ethics. I'd like to think I'm wrong, but it seems like the only thing that adequately explains what we're seeing.
Josette, it's further confounding that MSM seem to be "putting a heavy thumb on the scale" for Trump when we know that one of the first things Trump did, and will do even more if given the chance, is to denounce and destroy all news agencies that don't echo and amplify his p.o.v. exclusively. Authoritarians always take over media and destroy pluralistic voices because they are men who NEED TO BE THE ONLY VOICE IN THE ROOM. MSM outlets that favor Trump for ratings and profit, are digging their own graves and colluding in the demise of the 1st Amendment that protects free speech and freedom of the press. It's hard to believe but they seem to know not what they do. :-(
I agree, Madeline! It's like they are sawing off the tree limb they're sitting on, because if Trump were to win, I think they'd be forced to either become state propaganda outlets (like Fox is now) or be shut down. They just don't seem to be able to grasp how likely it is they'd be unemployed. Or worse -- because as with Putin, those who annoyed Trump would develop a sudden tendency to fall through open windows.
Biden has completed more than any president in recent history. He put the US back on its feet and restored our reputation internationally. His opponent, agent orange, has been found guilty of rape by a civil jury and is under serious and numerous indictments.
This is complete nonsense by the media, based on a political hit job by bob hur, who may be seeing greener pastures if agent orange cheats his way back into the Oval Office.
NY Times - agent orange hates you as well as WAPO. He will seek reversal of NY Times vs Sullivan and you can kiss your journalistic protection goodbye. So much for trying to appear neutral in your coverage.
The loser - agent orange - is going to change everything and throw out the Constitution and rule of law; and the news focus is on a total mischaracterization of a deposition. Damn them.
Corporate media wants Trump to win because they think they will make more money that way. It was bad enough in 2016 when they gave him free media coverage 24/7 because I don't think they believed he could win. But, now, they know better. They know there is a chance he could win and, if they read their own reporting, they know that it would mean the end of democracy.
You can write to the news organizations or individual editors or reporters. You can post on social media. But probably, the best bet is to vote and get your family and friends and neighbors to register and to vote.
I try to identify like minded journalists and offer encouragement and/or story ideas. I'm also a subscriber to Simon Rosenburg's Hopium Chronicles, who offers hope along with many ways to get involved politically beyond voting.
I would also offer the following quote for inspiration in these times. No not the current Robert Kennedy...
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance." – Robert F. Kennedy, South Africa, June 6, 1966.
And they will shrug and deny it’s a dictatorship, using euphemisms and denial like they do now., and chide the rest of us for exaggerating the situation.
Absolutely spot on, Margaret. I’m having trouble reading the NYT without losing it entirely. The paper needs to be called out for what they’re doing. I wish there were more critics with your courage.
First, it’s clear the American public wants neither Biden nor Trump as the next leader of the free world.
Second, it’s only right that facts, age, competence and character should count in major media stories - not to mention the key issues of the day. The media should highlight all of these issues more, not less, regardless of what the Democratic and Republican parties and their leaders say (mainly for media attention and their respective constituencies.).
And third, the other all-important issue that the most of the media underplays or largely ignores is winnability. Highlighting this real-world issue more would force both Trump’s and Biden’s hand to justify their candidacy to the public and it might open the nomination door to other unknown potential candidates as well as potential running mates.
And last, the media should place more attention on independent and young voters. The political parties have now lost trust and favor with much of the American public. In the current political environment their controlling voices only serve to further more division, misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Thank you Margaret, I just subscribed. Your two points about why big media does what it does are spot on. I would also highlight another commentor's mention of Popular Information's analysis of NYTimes and other media coverage on Biden's age.
NYTimes had an article by Gina Kolata titled "Memory Loss Requires Careful Diagnosis, Scientists Say" published 4 days after the Hur report landed. It was the #3 memory story on the NYTimes online page very briefly then it disappeared and also could not be found under the Health category. Only a search for "memory diagnosis" unearthed the article. So I'm guessing very few people saw it.
Margaret, for 8 years experts on violence and dangerousness, such as Dr. Bandy X Lee have not appeared on MSM print, television, nor any other popular platforms. Certainly not the NYTimes. Dr. Lee was the first to alert the public regarding TFG's dangerousness; she held a conference on the Yale campus, edited a book of essays by herself and colleagues called, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump in 2017, began The World Mental Health Coalition, had taught at Yale for 17 years and written their coursework on dangerousness, yet her voice and those of her esteemed colleagues were silenced when it came to enlightening the public about observable behaviors of Donald Trump that heralded danger for America. YET, Special Counsel Robert Hur , who has no medical training that I know of, is allowed to raise questions on the meaning of President Biden's so called "memory lapses," without criticism. There's something suspicious about this, don't you think?
The Times and others like it need to hire people who really understood horse racing. Bill Nack (Newsday/Sports Illustrated), Jim Murray (LA Times), Australia's Nat Gould. They knew their way around race tracks and loved the horses about which they wrote. Political reporters today should prove they can understand the nuances of the Daily Racing Form before they are permitted to tilt the odds in anything as essential as an election, something Nack and Murray would find reprehensible.
Judd Legum in Popular Information notes that the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal ran 81 articles about Hur’s assessment of Biden’s memory in the four days following his report’s release. (NYT ran 30 and WaPo ran 33.) Yet Trump’s mental lapses and incoherence barely merited mention in those same publications. Legum cites a NYT article stating Trump hasn’t felt the same political blowback as Biden concerning their ages. “It does not mention,” Legum concludes, “that the perceptions of the two men by the public are shaped by media coverage.”
Judd does important work
Exactly! They shape public opinion, then they reinforce it by reporting on it as if it were a phenomenon that arose on its own. 🙄😡
I was born when Ike was president, and I have to say that Joe Biden is by far the best president in my lifetime. Of course that's my opinion but it's also a fact for the majority of Americans. He's done more for the working class and poor than any president since FDR. But most people don't even know it because of the mainstream press and the toxic levels of misinformation and disinformation on social media.
His gaffes are simple brain misfires; he's been doing it for as far back as I can remember. The gaffes have nothing to do with his age. Look at what he's accomplished, not how eloquently he speaks.
The primary concern of the mainstream media is about turning a profit, not informing the public, and NEGATIVITY SELLS PAPERS AND AD CLICKS. They love it when somebody decent gets shivved. Like a school of sharks, they smell blood in the water and all of a sudden it's all over the front page.
Mainstream media completely abandoned its sense of decency a long time ago.
“Journalistic malpractice” is the right term for this, one I used in an email to Peter Baker of The Times over the weekend about his “Biden’s age” story. The only way Big Media will change is if we quit reading their political speculation pieces. Dry up the demand. I’ve started my own personal boycott, and with your platform, Margaret, you could spread the idea. Thanks for this column and for keeping up the fight!
Right on the nose as always, Margaret. Thank you. A question. In your opinion, is the Times (and CNN, etc) legitimately unaware of the dangerous role it is playing in undermining our democracy, or do they just not care because it’s good for business?
I think they don’t believe that it’s the case. They see it as simply doing their jobs, but they also (mostly) shrug off constructive criticism.
Margaret, thank you so much for saying what so many of us are thinking. It's helpful to get your insider confirmation of my subjective experience. This drum beat about Biden's age which has no comparison to Trump's massively dangerous psychopathology, is terrifying to witness. I am appalled by the failure of news outlets to recognize the danger we are in when we tear down a sane and eminently competent man, and ignore the raging maniac at the gates of the White House!
Exactly this.
The number of people posting, with photo, of cancelling NYT subscriptions is substantially greater than other times people were upset with coverage.
Will this have any effect on Sulzberger.
Completely agree. Will circulate further. So important. The media will decide this presidency.
😢😡
The people running news orgs have to be smart people to do and keep their jobs...and I find it impossible to believe that they don't realize how they are crippling Biden by shrieking about his age while not reporting his successes, or reporting them with bias. (As Twitter's NY Times Pitchbot account might put it, "The economy is great! Here's why that's bad news for Biden.") I also find it impossible to believe that they don't realize they under-report what a second Trump term would do to daily life in America and our democratic future. The question I have is why the MSM deliberately puts a heavy thumb on the scales to help Trump, and the only answer that makes sense to me is money. People from the orgs' owners on down all seem to be putting personal profit above America's founding principles and journalistic ethics. I'd like to think I'm wrong, but it seems like the only thing that adequately explains what we're seeing.
Josette, it's further confounding that MSM seem to be "putting a heavy thumb on the scale" for Trump when we know that one of the first things Trump did, and will do even more if given the chance, is to denounce and destroy all news agencies that don't echo and amplify his p.o.v. exclusively. Authoritarians always take over media and destroy pluralistic voices because they are men who NEED TO BE THE ONLY VOICE IN THE ROOM. MSM outlets that favor Trump for ratings and profit, are digging their own graves and colluding in the demise of the 1st Amendment that protects free speech and freedom of the press. It's hard to believe but they seem to know not what they do. :-(
I agree, Madeline! It's like they are sawing off the tree limb they're sitting on, because if Trump were to win, I think they'd be forced to either become state propaganda outlets (like Fox is now) or be shut down. They just don't seem to be able to grasp how likely it is they'd be unemployed. Or worse -- because as with Putin, those who annoyed Trump would develop a sudden tendency to fall through open windows.
Biden has completed more than any president in recent history. He put the US back on its feet and restored our reputation internationally. His opponent, agent orange, has been found guilty of rape by a civil jury and is under serious and numerous indictments.
This is complete nonsense by the media, based on a political hit job by bob hur, who may be seeing greener pastures if agent orange cheats his way back into the Oval Office.
NY Times - agent orange hates you as well as WAPO. He will seek reversal of NY Times vs Sullivan and you can kiss your journalistic protection goodbye. So much for trying to appear neutral in your coverage.
The loser - agent orange - is going to change everything and throw out the Constitution and rule of law; and the news focus is on a total mischaracterization of a deposition. Damn them.
Corporate media wants Trump to win because they think they will make more money that way. It was bad enough in 2016 when they gave him free media coverage 24/7 because I don't think they believed he could win. But, now, they know better. They know there is a chance he could win and, if they read their own reporting, they know that it would mean the end of democracy.
Terrific article!
What actions can we frustrated readers take to wake up the NYT and WAPO before their journalistic malpractice delivers a MAGA dictatorship?
You can write to the news organizations or individual editors or reporters. You can post on social media. But probably, the best bet is to vote and get your family and friends and neighbors to register and to vote.
I try to identify like minded journalists and offer encouragement and/or story ideas. I'm also a subscriber to Simon Rosenburg's Hopium Chronicles, who offers hope along with many ways to get involved politically beyond voting.
I would also offer the following quote for inspiration in these times. No not the current Robert Kennedy...
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance." – Robert F. Kennedy, South Africa, June 6, 1966.
Did you get chills like me?? :)
That’s such a great quote. Thanks for sharing it here.
And they will shrug and deny it’s a dictatorship, using euphemisms and denial like they do now., and chide the rest of us for exaggerating the situation.
🫤😡
Brava.
Thanks, Jeff
Absolutely spot on, Margaret. I’m having trouble reading the NYT without losing it entirely. The paper needs to be called out for what they’re doing. I wish there were more critics with your courage.
I terminated my subscription to the New York Times over this issue…
First, it’s clear the American public wants neither Biden nor Trump as the next leader of the free world.
Second, it’s only right that facts, age, competence and character should count in major media stories - not to mention the key issues of the day. The media should highlight all of these issues more, not less, regardless of what the Democratic and Republican parties and their leaders say (mainly for media attention and their respective constituencies.).
And third, the other all-important issue that the most of the media underplays or largely ignores is winnability. Highlighting this real-world issue more would force both Trump’s and Biden’s hand to justify their candidacy to the public and it might open the nomination door to other unknown potential candidates as well as potential running mates.
And last, the media should place more attention on independent and young voters. The political parties have now lost trust and favor with much of the American public. In the current political environment their controlling voices only serve to further more division, misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Thank you Margaret, I just subscribed. Your two points about why big media does what it does are spot on. I would also highlight another commentor's mention of Popular Information's analysis of NYTimes and other media coverage on Biden's age.
NYTimes had an article by Gina Kolata titled "Memory Loss Requires Careful Diagnosis, Scientists Say" published 4 days after the Hur report landed. It was the #3 memory story on the NYTimes online page very briefly then it disappeared and also could not be found under the Health category. Only a search for "memory diagnosis" unearthed the article. So I'm guessing very few people saw it.
Thanks for mentioning that piece. I certainly don’t think Hur was any kind of expert.
Margaret, for 8 years experts on violence and dangerousness, such as Dr. Bandy X Lee have not appeared on MSM print, television, nor any other popular platforms. Certainly not the NYTimes. Dr. Lee was the first to alert the public regarding TFG's dangerousness; she held a conference on the Yale campus, edited a book of essays by herself and colleagues called, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump in 2017, began The World Mental Health Coalition, had taught at Yale for 17 years and written their coursework on dangerousness, yet her voice and those of her esteemed colleagues were silenced when it came to enlightening the public about observable behaviors of Donald Trump that heralded danger for America. YET, Special Counsel Robert Hur , who has no medical training that I know of, is allowed to raise questions on the meaning of President Biden's so called "memory lapses," without criticism. There's something suspicious about this, don't you think?
The Times and others like it need to hire people who really understood horse racing. Bill Nack (Newsday/Sports Illustrated), Jim Murray (LA Times), Australia's Nat Gould. They knew their way around race tracks and loved the horses about which they wrote. Political reporters today should prove they can understand the nuances of the Daily Racing Form before they are permitted to tilt the odds in anything as essential as an election, something Nack and Murray would find reprehensible.