Biden in Philadelphia.
Biden made an excellent speech in Philadelphia. Best by a president since some made early in his tenure by Obama and certainly more important. Unfortunately, its effectiveness in today’s new cycle can be compared to the old saying, “If a tree falls in a forest and it is not heard, does its fate matter at all to us?” If Biden’s speech was not carried by most media, what does it matter? What was reported about it was universally panned and attacked in petty, irrelevant and biased ways. And not just by Republican office holders, which would be expected. Nor just by the right-wing press. It was a moment of truth for America, and the American corporate press failed to rise to the occasion.
Corporate Media Moves to the Right
There was a time when corporate media, while never without its biases, would never dare to be as one-sided politically as it is today. Although it still remains the main way the most people get what passes for news. While it may not have the influence it once had, it is a well-established economic and political monopoly. Even Fox News mimics its external format while bringing lies and distortions to new heights, or lows if you prefer.
For years the mainstream corporate media has been experiencing a steady decline in its independence and the quality of its reporting. Increasing costs, the desire for more profitability and corporate domination in ownership have slowly but steadily rendered it virtually useless at a time when an honest and objective national media is essential to our future and the future of the planet we call our home in the universe.
The Source of Corporate Media Bias
Media bias cannot be ignored.
The source of corporate media bias is no great secret: corporate ownership itself. All media tends to have a built-in bias, left or right or in the middle. The huge amount of funds necessary to maintain a national operation and the drive for profits automatically colors the way it reports news and politics. The net result favors and in practice aids and abets Republican fascism, even at times when it is not consciously attempting to back them. There is honest opinion and information that some people are able to seek outside the mainstream outlets, but sources range widely from the former to biased corporate networks to the right-wing spin machine. Those two tracks never meet. As a result, we now have a country more split and divided than at any time since the Civil War years. Not caused by actual events, but a manufactured crisis caused by propaganda and appeals to hate politics and our original sin of white supremacy and racial bias.
And while the Democratic Party itself has not been without serious faults and deserving of criticism down through the years the great polarization that has erupted in the last decade has largely been ignored by the national media as to its Republican causes and driving forces. Trump and his cohorts lied like a rug about everything and regularly called the Democrats left wing fascists and Trump appeared at press conferences surrounded by Marines in uniform more than once. And for that he got a free media pass. But Biden makes the same moves but has been spun in a negative way even when truth telling and managing to pass legislation benefiting the country.
CNN Drifts Sharply to the Right
If, for example, you judge the lack of any objectivity as to coverage of Biden’s recent speech, the intention of the corporate media is clearly to feign neutrality and pretend the attempted violent coup was not a failed coup and that there is no danger of a fascist take over. Among the worst coverage was from CNN, which has moved sharply right of late. The day after Biden’s speech they sent me this email, with not a word about Biden’s speech. Summarizing the featured article, it was intended to bemoan the government’s own misuse of marking up classified documents and it said in part: “But all of this talk about the secrets the government keeps from its citizens gets to a gripe of mine as a journalist: The US government often misapplies classification as a way to hide embarrassing rather than sensitive things.”
Trump Signaled the end of the Two-Party System
Trump at a Tennessee MAGA Rally
The corporate media has also largely kept the Trumpism MAGA image before us in their news reporting, always covering their latest nonsense and blathering as if it were worthy of being reported. In point of fact, Trump is 100% a creation of the news media, corporate television and the Republicans, going back to the 1960s when they prioritized racist appeals to voters after the success of the Civil Rights movement.
Beyond even politics, they have a financial material interest in keeping this buffoon and the MAGA elements in front of us in the news. They have failed to recognize or don’t care about the dire consequences of having a limited two-party system with one party fully committed to authoritarianism and the destruction of democracy and the right to vote.
Too Late?
My one criticism of Biden’s speech is that we desperately needed it back in the days following the failed violent coup on January 6th. The relative passivity of the White House and Democratic leadership to deliver a speech like this sooner allowed two years of “normalization” of fascist behavior, with threats and speeches going largely unanswered. In any case, I don’t think it’s too late but is vital for Biden to keep up the pressure and force a penetration in the corporate media’s unwillingness to alert the country to the dangers we face.
How to Attack Media Bias
One speech, not matter how timely, cannot undo the daily damage caused by slanted Republican media coverage. Biden and other Democrats must fight back and answer Republican propaganda promptly and daily to make a real dent in public opinion outside of left and progressive voters. And force coverage changes. I believe it can be done but it won’t be easy. Republicans have made many outrageous statements and it’s long past time they are responded to.
