The Mueller coverage represented part of a larger pattern of how the news media deals with high-profile congressional hearings. For three years under President Barack Obama, the media narrative was that Benghazi hearings could be problem for Obama and Democrats. Then, when they inevitably were not, the press shrugged and waited for the next GOP production to materialize. This while Republicans were generally credited for applying relentless political pressure on the Democratic president. (So savvy!)
That was the exact pattern during six years of the mindless Bill Clinton hearings in the ‘90s, which started way before his affair with Monica Lewinsky was discovered. Back then, almost never did the press turn its focus on the GOP and suggest that its busted Whitewater hearings were a political problem. Yet with the two Mueller hearings last week, the press did that at the speed of sound. Within hours of their conclusion, the hammer came down on Democrats as journalists followed Trump's lead and announced that the days events had been a "flop," and that he had emerged the clear winner.
This is exactly what the press would do with any possible impeachment proceedings. Rather than let the story play out and let Democrats unfold a compelling narrative, journalists posing as theater critics would be issuing nasty reviews, urging the production be shut down. That's what we saw last week.
"Lack of Electricity in Mueller Testimony Short-Circuits Impeachment," The New York Times concluded last week, suggesting that "electricity" (?) is the key to possibly removing a sitting president from office. It was one of many theater criticism-type dispatches the Times published in the wake of the hearings, as the paper over and over focused not on the substance—on Trump's possible lawbreaking—of Mueller's nearly seven hours of testimony, but on the so-called optics and on the entertainment value of the hearings. "The Blockbuster That Wasn’t: Mueller Disappoints the Democrats," blared another Times headline, comparing the hearings to a summer movie release.
That misinformed approach was everywhere last week. Impeachment “took a blow on Wednesday when former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered muted and sometimes shaky testimony before two House panels," Politico announced, reading directly off Republican talking points. Separately, a Politico news story last week matter-of-factly referred to the hearings as a "flop," and insisted Democrats deemed the event a "disappointment," even though Politico couldn't actually find a single disappointed Democrat to quote.
Not only is that a superficial way to cover politics, but in the case of the Mueller hearings, the Times and others turned out to be dead wrong about the question of impeachment. Stressing that Mueller's testimony was a bore, news outlets rushed to suggest he had buried any chance of impeachment. Yet in the days following the Mueller hearings, more Democratic members of Congress came out in favor of impeachment (the tally now sits at more than 100), and Democratic leaders informed a judge that they needed access to grand jury testimony because they’re “investigating whether to recommend articles of impeachment” against the president. Blinded by GOP spin, and obsessed with optics, the press missed the week's big story: Mueller's hearings had upped the chances of impeachment happening.
At times, the Mueller hearing coverage seemed to be told exclusively through the prism of the GOP. Here, from late Wednesday afternoon, is a sample of Washington Post headlines updating the hearings:
- "Republican leaders take a victory lap in wake of testimony"
- "The reaction to Mueller’s testimony, outside the fundraiser in W.Va. where Trump is headed"
- “Trump declares it a ‘very good day,’ calls Mueller investigation a ‘witch hunt’”
- “RNC says ‘case closed’ after Mueller hearings”
Notice a trend?
Meanwhile, it was nearly impossible to find media coverage suggesting that the hearings had been a disappointment or failure for the GOP, whose members spent the entire day pestering Mueller about incoherent deep state conspiracy theories. Previously, Politico reported that GOP members would "lie in wait" for Mueller in hopes of exposing him as a fraud, which obviously never happened. But the press showed no interest scoring the Republican performance or grading it as a win or loss. Only the Democrats received a grade.
All of this, I fear, would apply to any impeachment coverage that might loom in the future.
Eric Boehlert is a veteran progressive writer and media analyst, formerly with Media Matters and Salon. He is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and Bloggers on the Bus. You can follow him on Twitter @EricBoehlert.
This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.
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