Article in FAIR by Conor Smyth 10/18/24

Headeline: “To Be a Media Expert on Economics, It Helps to Have the Right Politics”

“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” John Maynard Keynes made this observation in 1936, in his masterwork The General Theory. Nearly a century later, readers and viewers of corporate media face the same fate.

“The fundamental problem confronted by these news consumers is not that corporate news outlets consult economists in their reporting; as experts in their field, economists often have important and worthwhile contributions to make. The problem is that these outlets consistently elevate the views of specific economists who serve particular ideological interests over the views of other economists, or even the academic profession as a whole.”

“. . . On the face of it, this system makes some sense. But think a little deeper and you can see an insidious chain servicing the dominant players in American society. That chain needs to be broken. Media outlets need to listen to the evidence, not the false wisdom of economists hand-picked by American elites.”

https://fair.org/home/to-be-a-media-expert-on-economics-it-helps-to-have-the-right-politics/

Article in the New Republic by Michael Tomasky, 10/18/24

Headline: “Democrats Are Enthusiastic About Harris—but Don’t Tell the Media”

Subhead: “Another press failure: Endless curiosity about Trump voters. About Harris voters, not so much.”

“Polls, polls, polls. Way too many polls, way too much media coverage and obsession with polls. Right? Well … it depends on which ones. Because there is one set of polls that isn’t driving much press coverage at all, and I find it interesting and telling.”

“. . . It’s a close race. There’s a lot to worry about. I worry every day, and you should too. But you should also remember this: Democratic voter enthusiasm is high—higher than Republican enthusiasm, according to numerous polls. From the way this race is being covered, you’d never know that. Harris’s enthusiastic voters, especially Black women, aren’t “real Americans.” They’re being erased from the narrative. By the “liberal” media.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/187308/kamala-harris-voter-enthusiasm-polls-2024

Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 10/16/24

Headline: “Finally, Trump’s Alarming Mental Decline Has Become a Big Media Story”

Subhead: “As new developments focus attention on Trump’s derangement, a shrewd media observer dissects whether the press is finally treating his deteriorating mental state as a major news event.”

“Is the media finally figuring out how to cover Donald Trump’s profound mental unfitness for the presidency? First, CNN’s Jake Tapper dressed down a Trump surrogate for whitewashing his threat to unleash the military on his enemies. Then Trump held a strange town hall at which he abruptly stopped answering questions, which generated aggressive media coverage.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/187192/finally-trumps-alarming-mental-decline-become-big-media-story

Dice from Getty Images

Article in Daily Kos by Feris Hero, 10/16/24

Headline: “The Legacy Media Is Gambling With Its Future With Its Election Coverage.”

“I’ve heard and seen a number of comments from people lamenting that Trump is going to win. When asked about it, they point to the general old guard media who’re doing their usual horse race coverage.

” . . .I sort of understand what is going on here. Year after year of getting yelled at by angry conservatives for having the audacity to print factual information wears a person down. Add in that newsrooms across the country are shedding staff and moving to alternative methods to covering the news, and its a nightmarishly stressful job, I imagine. They need more paying customers, but the most vocal people reading their coverage are always complaining about it. So why not switch to ‘both sides’ coverage, appease the yelling people and widen your readership base? Such an elegantly simple solution that will ultimately destroy the institutions pushing them.

Yes, the news outlets will make excuses. They’ll hem and haw that its really hard to know what people are thinking. They’ll say this despite the fact that most news sources have turned into places that only report what is happening on social media, the place where people literally tell you what they are thinking.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/16/2277199/-The-Legacy-Media-Is-Gambling-With-Its-Future-With-Its-Election-Coverage?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Article in Media Matters by Eric Hananoki, 10/15/24

Headline: ” ‘Your time is coming when Trump wins’: MAGA media figures claim FEMA committed treason”

Subhead: “One commentator said: ‘Hang them by the necks till they’re dead … I believe it’s way past time for an armed revolution.’ “

Article lists commenters and their opinions about retribution for perceived “treason”

“Numerous Trump-aligned media figures have accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its officials of committing treason over its handling of Hurricane Helene.

“Those right-wing figures have said that ‘whoever is running FEMA is guilty of treason your time is coming when Trump wins’; that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ‘should be in prison for the treason he has perpetrated against this country’; and that someone should ‘hang’ government officials “by the necks till they’re dead and let their dead bodies rot while people see what is done to treasonous government. … I believe it’s way past time for an armed revolution.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/hurricanes/your-time-coming-maga-media-figures-claim-fema-committed-treason