Fake News- the Real, Hidden Danger in Biased Reporting

There is nothing new about biased reporting. In a free society, where freedom of the press is guaranteed by law, it is practically and systematically impossible to avoid slant in the coverage of news. Even the most objective reporting, as quaint as that may sound in this day and age, is inevitably going to be flavored by the viewpoint of its writer. In the case of broadcast news, this is doubly true, as the on-air personalities- in both inflection and expression- are going to slant the delivery of news beyond the slanted scripts already prepared to be read from the teleprompters. As long as humans write and read aloud news coverage, there will always be an innate bias, whether the story is sports, business, current events or, especially, politics.

Let’s face it. Freedom of the press, in all its varied forms, has one drawback- the total lack of either filter or fidelity. This is because, in the final analysis, the freedom of press carries with it the inability to condone or censor, as the dictates of empirical truth would otherwise warrant.

The most egregious form of bias in political reporting has been the regrettable standard for many years, going back to the beginnings of our republic. In the last four or five generations, political reporting has always, always favored the Democrats. If you don’t believe this, take a look at the last twenty-two presidential elections going all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt’s first run in 1932, and name the Republican nominee who ever benefitted from election coverage.

(crickets chirping)

Nothing new.

As overtly and negatively biased as was the coverage of Richard Nixon’s five runs for national office (1952, 1956, 1960, 1968 and 1972) and Ronald Reagan’s four runs for national office (1968, 1976, 1980 and 1984), nothing can compare to the outright hostility that was so obvious in the coverage of Donald Trump’s lone presidential run. While Nixon’s and Reagan’s presidencies received equally-negative and biased coverage during their respective terms, nothing comes close to the jaundiced coverage that Donald Trump has received in the first eleven months of his own presidency.

The same could be said in reverse when it came to the overtly and positively biased coverage which enormously benefitted FDR, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and, especially, Barack Obama. In the eyes of the national press, neither of these four could do anything wrong by comparison to the aforementioned Republicans. The only reason that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson didn’t receive the same glowing coverage is that they came into the Oval Office as the result of the death of their respective predecessors.

Political bias in presidential coverage is, and always has been, a double-edged sword that can, at once, protect the favored and slay the unfavored. For instance, every week we hear unsubstantiated claims of how Donald Trump treats women. Where was such news coverage about John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, when it came to substantiated and multiple instances of their own very real improprieties toward women? While the media has outright protected Hillary Clinton in their refusal to cover the very real felonies that she has committed over many years, they continue to focus on the fantasy of alleged collusion between Russia and Trump- a story that they damn well know is as fictional as Star Wars. Worse, as has been recently documented during the past few months, the media is not beyond fabricating false stories out of thin air, and to a degree never imaginable in the days of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.

When Trump is re-elected in 2020 (and there is nothing of substance to suggest that there is any reason he shouldn’t be re-elected), it will doubtlessly be at the end of a campaign which will witness an altogether new low in campaign coverage. His second term will no doubt be trashed by the national media to an even greater degree that what has been the case, to date. That much is certain.

Nevertheless, the real danger of fake news, as it has come to be known, is directly proportional to the degree to which Americans believe what they hear when watching/reading the news. The fact that the so-called fourth estate- that watchdog of democracy so invested in representative democracy, and so ordained in our constitution- is dead, doesn’t portend well for an informed electorate whose voting suffrage is essential to the maintenance of our freedom and independence. Without an informed electorate- an electorate who is correctly informed on the issues of the day, the people they elect become accountable to no one, especially in the absence of term limits. That the national media has unwittingly revealed its absolute fear and dread that Donald Trump might well keep the vast majority of his campaign promises, scares them to no end- just as it scares the living hell out of Democrats as well as the NeverTrump Republicans who also fear that their days of wine and roses are quickly coming to an end in the wake of Trump’s presidency.

A president who actually keeps his promises? The nerve of that guy. Just who does he think he is, anyway?

-Drew Nickell, 12 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

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