Beware of political propaganda masquerading as journalism.
There's been some great fact-based political journalism this week. That sleazy WSJ piece on President Biden is not on that list.
The Wall Street Journal this week featured a news story about President Joe Biden that reads like a republican attack ad. This article appears to be about the president’s declining mental acuity but it's really Trump campaign propaganda. The main source for the story is former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a serial liar and Trump ally whose quotes contradict his own contemporaneous description of Mr. Biden’s acuity during the meetings in question.
It’s important to note that this story -based on flimsy sourcing and Republican flip flops- comes just days after Donald Trump became a convicted felon. So not only is the WSJ amplifying Republican propaganda, it’s also helping the Trump campaign distract us from his unprecedented conviction.
The piece obviously raises all sorts of questions about the journalism values at the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal where new newsroom leadership appears far more interested in click bait headlines and shoddy reporting than actual journalism. Former WSJ reporter John Harwood wrote: “not that long ago, the only way the WSJ would have published this story is if the lead examples/anecdotes about Biden "slipping" came from fellow Democrats speaking on-the-record.”
CNN’s media critic Oliver Darcy noted:
“Even more inexplicable is why The Journal would quote former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the piece as a serious person speaking in good faith. McCarthy is, in fact, a MAGA Republican who has for years lied on behalf of Trump. I'm sure reporters at The Journal would acknowledge McCarthy's extreme record of dishonesty in private. So why present him to readers as an honest arbiter of reality?”
Clearly, I am not alone in my concern about betrayal of basic journalism values. You can read critiques from Poynter here and Media Matters here. This broadcast critique from Morning Joe is also powerful. In this New Republic podcast, Greg Sargent and Aaron Rupar also dig into problems with the piece including how coverage of the WSJ piece by other news outlets just further helps spread the phony narrative about Biden’s mental fitness.
President Joe Biden at the White House
The core tenet of journalism is ‘seek truth and report it.’ That’s not what happened here. Instead, the WSJ built a story around a MAGA talking point using mostly anonymous sources, questionable information from people they know to be partisan liars, and all but ignoring contradictory evidence about Joe Biden’s mental fitness. The Journal says it stands by its reporting so we should expect to see more shoddy work like this ahead.
But while Murdoch and company lean into propaganda, others are stepping up with meaningful journalism. That includes Abby Phillip of CNN who continues her stellar work calling out falsehoods as she did here with Republican Congressman Byron Donalds: “I'm going to interrupt you on the facts, Congressman” and here with Senator Tim Scott: “What evidence do you have that the justice system is hunting Americans?”
I was also heartened to see this from the New York Times. It is the best effort yet at reporting on what a repugnant liar Donald Trump is. The story by reporter Alan Feuer is about Trump’s false claims that the FBI was prepared to kill him during the search two years ago of Mar-A-Lago. From the headline to the very end of the story, there is remarkable clarity about Trump’s lies:
“Donald Trump’s lies about the FBI…”
“Trump has tried to flip the facts”
"Trump’s baseless statements"
"...his escalating use of incendiary language"
“Trump making those false claims…”
"Trump’s warped version of the Mar-a-Lago search"
"The mischaracterizations"
“…he falsely accused Mr. Biden of having “authorized the FBI to use deadly (lethal) force” during the search”
It wasn’t that long ago that news organizations shied away from even using the words “liar’ to describe Trump so this piece by the Times is particularly notable. Frankly, seeing this strong effort by CNN and the New York Times helped moderate my anger over the WSJ piece. In the remaining five months before this extremely consequential election, we need more hard hitting, fact-based reporting, not unquestioning amplification of Republican talking points.
Jennifer Schulze is a former Chicago journalist. You can follow her on Threads @jenniferschulzechi or Twitter/X @NewsJennifer.