The American media were not always utterly biased. Decades ago, most reporters aimed for objectivity. Unfortunately, in the last fifty years, the media have increasingly become tools of the Democratic Party.
In the early 1970’s, the mainstream media worked feverishly to destroy President Richard Nixon and succeeded in forcing him to resign. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan was the subject of constant media harassment. The media seized upon the Iran-Contra story and turned it into another scandal like Watergate. Reagan survived the witch hunt, but it took a toll on his approval ratings, at least in the short term.
While Nixon and Reagan received horrific media treatment, Democrat Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were treated much differently. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the investigation that resulted in his impeachment, Clinton was portrayed as the victim by the media. It was independent counsel Ken Starr and congressional Republican investigators who were the real culprits, according to the press, which covered the story as nothing more than a “sex” scandal.
Throughout his presidency, the media were cheerleaders for Barack Obama and viewed him as a “historic” figure. The controversies during his tenure, such as the “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups, and the Benghazi terrorist attack that resulted in the death of United States Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, never received the type of intense media scrutiny that was appropriate. Obama glided through all the controversies without much impacting his popularity.
In contrast, when Donald Trump descended the golden escalator and entered the presidential race, the media found a new enemy to attack. Since then, there has been a relentless assault on President Trump that has never ended.
The media trumpeted the Access Hollywood story, the Russian collusion narrative, and the phony Steele dossier. The Mueller investigation was breathlessly covered, and when it failed, the first Trump impeachment investigation was launched with tremendous media excitement.
Trump’s actions during the pandemic, the George Floyd riots, the election controversies, and the January 6th protests were all negatively portrayed by the media. As he has been abused by the lawfare of the Biden administration and local Democrat prosecutors, the mainstream media have supported those bringing the charges against Trump.
With the 2024 presidential race in the home stretch, the mainstream news media's position is clear. Starting July 17, The Media Research Center reviewed the evening news programs of the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) for four weeks.
Not surprisingly, these news programs gave Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, 84% positive coverage. In contrast, President Trump received an astounding 89% negative coverage. Not only was the coverage of Harris positive, but she also received 66% more airtime than Trump.
The same type of bias extended to the Vice-Presidential candidates. Republican U.S. Senator J.D. Vance suffered through 92% negative coverage, while left-wing Democrat Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz benefitted from 62% positive coverage. Thus, these networks are more interested in covering Vance’s “cat ladies” comment than reporting on legitimate claims that Walz engaged in stolen valor.
Obviously, there is no objectivity from these journalists. The same type of one-sided coverage is provided by CNN, MSNBC, NPR, major newspapers, news magazines, and most political websites, such as Politico.
Along with discriminating against President Trump, the broadcast networks totally ignored independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. While these news programs showered 221 minutes of coverage on Harris during this four-week period, Kennedy was relegated to receiving only 4 minutes of coverage or 2% of the total given to Harris.
When Kennedy exited the race on Friday and endorsed President Trump, he gave a memorable speech. It included a rigorous lambasting of the news media for their dereliction of duty.
He said, “Over the course of more than a year and a campaign where my poll numbers have reached at times in the high twenties, the DNC aligned-mainstream media networks maintain a near-perfect embargo on interviews with me.”
Kennedy noted that in 1992, independent presidential candidate Ross Perot received much more mainstream media coverage. Instead, Kennedy received very few interviews, and whatever coverage he received was almost always negative.
He blamed President Joe Biden for forcing “media companies to censor political speech.” In Kennedy’s view, these actions are “an attack on our most sacred right of free expression, and that’s the very right upon which all of our other constitutional rights rest.”
In his speech, Kennedy asked reporters “to consider the many ways that your institutions have abdicated this really sacred responsibility, the duty of a free press to safeguard democracy and to challenge, always, the party in power.”
Sadly, few reporters will respond to Kennedy’s challenge. They are happy to cover for the inept Kamala Harris and justify her decision not to give interviews or conduct news conferences. These reporters will attempt to blur her far-left record and focus on her appeal to “joy” and “good vibes.’
Kennedy referred to the transition of the American media from “maintaining that posture of fierce skepticism of authority” and being a “guardian of the First Amendment and democratic principles” into becoming “government mouthpieces and stenographers for the organs of power” and joining “this systemic attack on democracy.”
The media have regressed from government watchdogs into government lapdogs, akin to Pravda during the height of the Soviet Union.
Our media try to destroy President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. because they are threats to the status quo. Conversely, the media are cheerleaders for this administration and the Democratic Party and censor political opposition.
As Kennedy eloquently said, “The media justifies their censorship on the grounds of combating misinformation, but governments and oppressors don’t censor lies. They don’t fear lies. They fear the truth, and that’s what they censor.”
In America, truth is a rare commodity, thanks to our corrupt media.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian, and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com