12 Comments
Nov 6Liked by Mark Jacob

“...a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality.” I stumbled onto Ornstein’s and Mann’s book and op ed several years ago and think of it that constantly.

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Someone should send this to WaPo...

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Nov 6·edited Nov 6Liked by Mark Jacob

Reached for comment, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung complained about the questions but did not answer them. Instead, he referred to President Biden, who has never been charged with a crime, as "crooked" and referred to Trump, who has been charged with 91 felonies and been found liable for fraud and sexual assault, as always having "stood for law and order, and protecting the Constitution."

This really isn't that difficult, and the reporters in pretty much every other section of any newspaper would write it this way in a heartbeat. It's only the people who get paid astronomical sums of money to report on national politics who think they have an obligation NOT to tell people what is happening around them.

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Trust in legacy media continues to plummet on both sides of the political divide.

It's a self-inflicted wound that will grow, no matter the outcome in 2024.

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And this is why print media has declined in the past decade.

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Too true: "..balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality.”. The consequences are severe. I ask who benefits from distorted reality - the answer is not a particular party, per se. This balanced treatment does not affect all causes or groups equally, ironically enough. Certain groups or causes benefit from the twisting of reality, which then leads to the public growing more cynical and distrustful of media. Steve Bannon and his ilk only reinforce this distrust. Today, we see many groups, not only Bannon, that hold views, resembling authoritarianism. "Fair', textbook coverage of the news is not in Steve Bannon's manual for the new America.

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