The Biden news coverage requires less hysteria, more journalism
Instead of hurried, opinionated and even factually incorrect reporting, our mainstream news reporters really must get back to the basics by putting facts first. This story is too important.
Media critic Jamison Foser nails it: “A lot of things are newsworthy; media companies do not “merely report the news,” they *decide what the news is.* And when it comes to Trump & Biden, the lack of proportionality speaks volumes.”
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times adds this: “As media, we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans thinks is important and *how* they perceive these issues, yet we keep pretending it is not so. If Americans don’t recognize the crisis our democracy is facing, that’s not their fault, it is ours.”
What’s happened to journalism since the last debate is entirely out of proportion and not in keeping with the responsibilities of a free press. “Feeding frenzy” doesn’t even come close to describing the news media coverage about Joe Biden’s debate performance.
Full-blown hysteria has taken over too much of the mainstream press, with the Times leading the pack. By last count, the Times has done 70 stories, 20 opinion columns, four podcasts and one editorial about the president’s dismal debate. All in less than a week. Broadcast media is doing its best to keep pace with the Times, and social media is a dumpster fire of gossip and disinformation.
Through all of this, important journalism values like facts and context are sometimes taking a back seat. Journalists are posting false and misleading information. CNN’s lead news anchor Jake Tapper shared a breathless “breaking news,” four-part social media post claiming that Democratic governors were turning against the president. Within two hours, Tapper deleted the bulk of his post, but not before it had been viewed by over 5 million people and shared nearly 2,000 times. So far, Tapper has yet to adequately acknowledge the mistake.
NBC News seemed to go out of its way to distort an interview with key Biden ally, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, to make it seem more anti-Biden. This post reads: “I will support” Vice President Kamala Harris if President Joe Biden “were to step aside.”
But Clyburn’s actual quote is this: “I will support her if he were to step aside, but I want to support her going forward sometime in the future. I want this ticket to continue to be Biden-Harris, and then we’ll see what happens after the next election.”
At today’s White House press briefing, a reporter’s exchange with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was interrupted with the snide comment “if he’s awake.” That snark came from James Rosen of Newsmax, a propaganda outlet that doesn’t even belong in the press corps. But it’s not just the faux news outlets that are piling on. Longtime media critic Brian Stelter crossed the line with a post implying Joe Biden had Parkinson’s Disease. He’s since deleted that post but has continued to defend some indefensible media coverage.
Much of the news coverage of this very serious moment in history isn’t journalism at all but some sort of advocacy steeped in outrage. We expect that from Newsmax, Fox and the other disinformation specialists but when mainstream journalists leave objectivity behind, we have a serious problem. In recent days, too many journalists from outlets like NBC News, Politico and The New York Times have started making very pointed claims and comments about the debate story. Aaron Rupar noted:
“It’s been jarring in recent days to open this app and see employees of major mainstream media outlets with “reporter” in their bios offer hot takes like this. They’re totally committed to the anti-Biden bit. This is not reporting, it’s punditry.”
Former White House staffer Dan Cluchey says the press is cherry picking gossip at best:
“Some have openly loathed Biden for years, & are salivating at the chance to torch his team. It’s ugly and wrong — but more gravely, it’s a massive failure of journalism at a moment when America desperately needs them to act like grown-ups. … rather than petty, gossipy vengeance-seekers. There are legitimate questions here that POTUS must address head-on. But we are doomed either way if our political press can’t demonstrate the clarity and capacity to do *their* job, too.”
Some of this is the outcome of a presidential debate that was completely devoid of any fact-checking by the CNN moderators. Trump spewed at least 50 lies, but the debate hosts just moved on to the next question instead of offering any pushback. CNN’s excellent fact-checker Daniel Dale didn’t appear on air until over an hour after the debate had ended and most people had tuned in elsewhere. Trump’s lies have gotten too little attention since then because of the news media’s overwhelming coverage of Joe Biden.
Biden’s poor debate performance is real news. But it is not the only important news. Some journalists are so caught up in the debate furor that one of the most dangerous and consequential Supreme Court terms in memory was pushed off the front pages. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on immunity found that president’s might actually be kings, that’s a game changer that deserves more attention than it got. Instead, news outlets have dedicated most of their resources to covering every blip on the Biden debate follow up instead.
I agree with Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali, who says, “Maybe reporters and journalists should spend some column space and airtime on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, and the calls of a second American Revolution by conservative leaders?” Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin decries the failure to pay serious attention to Trump’s fitness for office
“The problem is made more acute because of the refusal to consider Trump’s mental state, thereby creating a false image that he’s the fit one. This has been media malpractice. Trump should have stepped away. The media should have been on the issue of unfitness from the get go.”
The Biden frenzy is unlikely to die down any time soon. But instead of hurried, opinionated and even factually incorrect reporting, our mainstream news reporters really must get back to the basics by putting facts first. This story is too important to get wrong. It’s also not the only critical story that merits coverage, so some re-balancing to refocus on Trump — including his dangerous Project 2025 plan — would also be welcome.
Jennifer Schulze is a former Chicago journalist talking about journalism. You can read her columns here and at Heartland Signal. Follow Jennifer on Threads @jenniferschulzechi or Twitter/X @NewsJennifer.