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A New York Times reporter was asked why they consistently frame things as bad for Biden but never bad for Trump.

"I think what you're reacting to is that, at the moment, Biden is an unpopular president seeking a second term while Trump is a popular figure inside his party who is winning primary races. I wouldn't necessarily compare the two."

Credit to @JoshuaHolland

97 comments
  • Why do you guys consistently frame things as bad for Biden but never bad for Trump?

    And your reply was to frame things that exact way. You're acting as though you're just reporting the "view from nowhere" or something but you're not. You're talking about two unpopular politicians, and yet when Trump came up you only spoke about his popularity within his own base.

    The old "let me disprove your point by proving your point" technique.

    • Yeah.

      I mean, the one point towards fairness: It's clear that that's actually how he sees it. If he were trying to engineer some boost for Trump by cleverly slanting his coverage, then he would have obfuscated it with how he answered this question. His answer shows that he clearly just believes that's how the world is: Trump is popular, Biden is unpopular, and they need to accurately reflect that in their political coverage and there are no other relevant objective facts that should impact that decision.

      Which is not like I'm trying to insult him personally for that being how he sees it, but it does mean he has no business being a journalist. If you tend to freeze up under stress, then no shame about it, but it means you can't fly an airplane for a living.

      • I think you’re misunderstanding his point. Biden is facing the difficult task of governing a divided country. Trump is looking to consolidate power within his own party. One of these tasks is a historic, perhaps insurmountable challenge, and the other is routine. Even from a completely neutral perspective, this means you will report on more failures by Biden and more successes for Trump.

        I personally don’t find this “the media is so mean to Biden!” narrative any more compelling than when Trump was claiming the same thing as president. The media has always been critical of those in power and this is a healthy part of our democratic system.

      • Your own wording softens the blow too much, imho. How is it "fairness" to point out that he may or may not have been lying (you seem to think not but... how can you tell, really? after all: his answers were prepared in advance, thus the fact that they were not inconsistent is not a surprise?)

        Also, even if like you say he is massive unintelligent, he still collects a paycheck to do the job - how then is he not a liar, either way? When people get into a plane, it is with the expectation that the "pilot" knows how to fly the plane. Then, if someone passes themselves off as one, how is that not a lie?

        There are so many more ways than one to be incorrect. For example, just b/c they don't slant the coverage as much overtly towards Trump does not mean that it is unbiased for it to have been slanted away from Biden.

        The job of a newspaper is to tell the unvarnished Truth. Whether it fails to do so for reasons of profit, or b/c of Russian interference, or they are merely unintelligent, or whatever - does it matter? Whether it is a "lie" (and that fact demonstrable in a court of law) or not, it is not the Truth, and thus fails the criteria of being "news", and remains mere opinion instead.

    • Dude, the other day I was reading some rag because there was nothing else to do in the train... One article was just Trump's agenda without any commentary. How is that news if you don't put it in perspective and with the context that Trump barely reached any of his goals in the first term. Unbelievable.

  • Most likely main news outlets want to gain favor with the impending fascist takeover so if Trump wins and the takeover does happen, they aren't seized or gone after or imprisoned. While they KNOW a Biden or other sane president would never dare attack a newspaper or news channel without clear felonious activity. It's an effort to play both sides that WILL end with fascists attacking them regardless of how much of Trump's chode they suck.

  • A viable Trump candidacy courts controversy and sells subscriptions. End of democracy? We will worry about that later.

97 comments