Pandemic Brings Out the Best
and the Worst in the Media
Real Clear Politics,
by
Mark Hemingway
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
3/28/2020 5:13:59 AM
The coronavirus crisis is a make-or-break moment for the American media.
According to Wednesday’s Gallup poll on the coronavirus response, “Hospitals Rated Best, News Media Worst.” The survey shows that 44% of the public says the media has been doing “a good job.” This is high considering how the press fares in normal times, but let’s be honest: It can’t be comforting to a press corps that has been persistently adversarial to Donald Trump that it ranks 16 points lower than the approval of the president’s own handling of the crisis.
Predictably, some of the media’s worst tendencies, such as myopic concerns about political correctness and electoral politics, have often
Reply 1 - Posted by:
BarryNo 3/28/2020 6:27:18 AM (No. 360539)
I have yet to see, "the best..."
37 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 3/28/2020 6:30:37 AM (No. 360544)
"Best?"
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 3/28/2020 6:33:48 AM (No. 360545)
"the media is not a monolith to be judged collectively"
Well, yeah, mostly they are. If I get a basket of apples and most appear wormy, I am not going to spend a lot of time hoping I can find a few that are not bad. Experience has shown us that there are a LOT of rotten apples in the media basket. A bunch who we think are OK are rotten deep inside and are subtle about it until you take a big bite and then, YUCK.
And OK, the media has some feel good pieces. After thrashing us with hyped bad news and politically slanted "journalism" they "reward" us with one minute of people acting encouragingly. Yet the actual balance of happenings in the world is more like the last minute, people being good to each other and life going on pretty well. So why do we get all the bad stuff? Because the hair on fire, scary stuff is what sells. The, I got up this morning and had a nice breakfast, got my kids ready for school, kissed my spouse, went to work and got some good work done which my boss appreciated, had a fun lunch with my workmates, came home and helped make a great dinner, watched my kids do their homework and interact well, watched a family movie, and snuggled up with my spouse and went to sleep story is too normal.
Watching the news is like being in some dystopian future. Horrible weather happens every day, to most people. Car accidents kill millions. Your house is a death trap about to burst into a conflagration. Because you are 1/1024th Native American, you are certain to be the target of racial bias. Politicians are scheming to launch WW III. The air you breath and the water you drink will knock 20 years off your life. Hackers are going to get into your old Montgomery Ward charge account information and steal your identity and empty out your $1000 in savings in your local bank. You can count on every other person you meet being armed with a full auto assault machine gun and planning to shot you any second now. Healthcare is impossible to get and the flu will probably kill you before you're 30. If the "other" political party gets into power and makes any changes the Country will collapse.
I don't live in such a world and don't recognize it but the media sure as heck tries to tell us we do, every day.
46 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
BarryNo 3/28/2020 6:42:31 AM (No. 360550)
What malarkey! Writer gushes over how a single publication included itself and the media as having been wrong in the initial assessment of the problem. And media is stepping up to inspire and uplift? What media is that?
We're in the situation we're in because the media is so hateful of Trump and his supporters that they are 1. All over the map. 2. Blaming everything on Trump. 3. Making up stories about Trump. 4. Making up stories about swamped hospitals, hospitals leaving certain patients to die...
Media coverage frankly has been almost pure propaganda and has incited panic, all in the hope of tarnishing 'Orange Man Bad.
I havent seen any best in the media. Only bad and worse. Including this swarm article.
45 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Sister 3/28/2020 8:13:45 AM (No. 360593)
Reminds me of Jayson Blair’s report for the NYT of “bodies being stacked like cord wood” during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina crisis. Too much hysteria to be believed.
17 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Krause 3/28/2020 9:02:13 AM (No. 360636)
The on-air peanut gallery of the left media is dishonest, obnoxious, and is a world-wide terrible example of our 'news' industry.......just because Trump won the election.
10 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 3/28/2020 9:09:16 AM (No. 360651)
I would suggest quarantining the msm in a place where there is no wi fi. Then we would see the best of the msm - no lies, no fake news, and no msm.
9 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Rinktum 3/28/2020 9:19:08 AM (No. 360666)
Honestly, how many of us turn on the news and expect truth or even fairness anymore? I certainly do not. Anything I hear from the media I am suspect of and usually go research whatever it is myself to find out the truth. The media have destroyed any reputation they had for accurately reporting the news. Most talking heads are “analysts” which means they are giving their opinion, but you can’t tell the analysts from the news casters anymore. The news casters are as biased as the analysts or commentators. They cannot deliver the news without slanting it. It is very seldom straight up news and I am so tired of it.
I watch one program on Fox News in the evening and he is getting on my last nerve with his never ending doom and gloom. The media have committed suicide. They are not relevant and certainly not trustworthy.
15 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
franq 3/28/2020 9:22:16 AM (No. 360676)
Drudge is definitely in the "worst" category.
12 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
HotRod 3/28/2020 9:23:28 AM (No. 360677)
Every time I hear some media hack railing against a Republican for not doing something about a problem, since they are part of Congress, I wish the Congressman would ask: Why don't you do something to stop the fake news? You are part of the media institution!
Of course, the media hack would babble something about the First Amendment, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, blah, blah, blah! They certainly don't allow the same things to Congress, which is made up of many individuals- some who have the same bias and propensity to lie as the media does!
So, tell a hack journalist to clean up their own house before acting so morally superior!
10 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
MSUDoc 3/28/2020 9:27:47 AM (No. 360685)
Mark’s wife is much more of a straight talker than he is.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Strike3 3/28/2020 9:39:43 AM (No. 360701)
It seems that every news story that comes out has the same underlying black tone, including Fox.
"It's getting worse." "Stock Market plunges." "Two more deaths in Ohio." They should not be classified as right or wrong, only by accuracy of reporting and on that measurement, nearly all of them fail. Of course it's hard to print facts without spin or blaring headlines when you are being paid billions of dollars by democrats and liberals to make it look as bad as possible.
The dimwit celebrities, speaking without benefit of knowledge or facts, have been especially bad.
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 3/28/2020 9:45:16 AM (No. 360713)
Toward the end of this article you will find the following "NR’s Jim Geraghty compiled “The Comprehensive Timeline of China’s COVID-19 Lies,” and it’s infuriating." It is a worthwhile read and as it says it is infuriating!!
4 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 3/28/2020 10:50:19 AM (No. 360793)
Enemedia says it best.
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
4freedom 3/28/2020 11:15:18 AM (No. 360826)
The commie MSM is doing more damage to this country than COVID-19, bunch of hateful lying ........
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
jacksin5 3/28/2020 11:23:42 AM (No. 360832)
More facts, less opinion. I think I'd be happy in these days of the 24/7 news cycle. If there was a channel that did nothing else but stream factoids at the bottom of the screen.
2 people like this.
The best represented by OAN and some of FOX but their getting rid of Trish Reagan does not bode well for them. And once in awhile Lou Dobbs and Tucker join the crowd of hysterics as well. Most of the time they are lucid but it does bother me when they go off the rails. Greg Gutfeld is good on the Five but It is almost impossible to watch when Juan is on. Everything he says is always an attack on Trump either that or linked somehow to his myopic prism of racism.
8 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 3/28/2020 1:25:28 PM (No. 360980)
Mark, I guess you missed the ABC political analyst's proud boast during the 2004 presidential race that they can add or subtract numbers from anyone they like or dislike. So following that logic, I always add or subtract my own numbers to any media outlet poll. I think that the American public numbers for the media are actually down in the mid 20's to low 30's for media job approval right now. I think any number we see for Trump anymore should automatically be regarded as 10-20% lower than the reality when it comes to approval.
By the way, Mark Halprin was the former ABC analyst who let the game slip that year. He has pretty much been in political/media obscurity ever since.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
NotaBene 3/28/2020 1:55:44 PM (No. 361019)
Trish Regan called on the Mainstream Media and speculators and got fired instantaneously by Fox Business News. Hope the President finds a job for her in the administration.
2 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
RedWhite&Blue2 3/28/2020 1:59:33 PM (No. 361026)
The “influence-peddlers” have us surrounded and are blasting us with narrative and agenda of the dnc.
We all know that.Even faux news does it.
So if Bloomberg has a news network..
I’m willing to volunteer, to work, to donate..
We need an American Conservative Nationwide News Network to tell the truth and counter the lefty sock puppets on tv!!!
Is anyone wealthy enough and capable enough to start this information revolution?
I pray for this to come true.
3 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 3/28/2020 2:50:30 PM (No. 361091)
I turned off the media on TV. My local commie propaganda rag still churns out nothing but OrangeManBad
1 person likes this.
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