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0 pointsremote_phone3y ago0 comments

Did you work during the Trump era? Because it’s clear to me that that’s when journalists believed that their moral obligation was to further the agenda of their respective political parties and not care about the absolute truth.

That’s when things went from bad to worse and I abandoned the mainstream media entirely.

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barbariangrunge3y ago

I was not a fan of trump, at all, but even I noticed this. If trump scratched his butt in public, figuratively speaking, the media jumped on him for it, and would then decline to cover any story about whether butt scratching (figuratively speaking) was ever appropriate. The media also cast his supporters in an incredibly dark light, which was worrying because that was roughly half of voters who voted for a major candidate. Media coverage was hysterical at times (at other times, their concerns seemed appropriate and valuable).

Merad3y ago

If you really think that this started with Trump, you must not have been paying attention before. The media (conservative media in particular) hounded Obama about some extraordinarily stupid things. Famously there was a significant controversy one time about the color of his suit [0]. I honestly can't remember whether Bush 43 got similar treatment. Maybe the prominence of clickbait/outrage journalism didn't come about until the end of his presidency? Or maybe the incidents have just faded from my memory.

0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama_tan_suit_controversy

colpabar3y ago

I don't remember that one, but I do remember fox talking about how obama was "disrespecting the office" because he took his suit jacket off in the oval office. It was at that point that I realized fox is not a serious news organization, because who could seriously think that was worth talking about? And then when trump got two scoops of ice cream, every major "news" outlet except fox ran stories about it, and I decided to stop taking any of them seriously, because they exist to make money by pissing people off, not to help us understand what's going on in the world.

godshatter3y ago

> I honestly can't remember whether Bush 43 got similar treatment.

Probably, but the main thing at that time was 9/11 and the Iraq war. Media was pushing the weapons of mass destruction narrative hard, and woe be the person that disagreed.

anthomtb3y ago

I remember left-wing media hounding Bush 43 for his pronunciation of nuclear:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2002/09/why-does-bush-go....

That Slate article is actually pretty fair to Bush. But others from that time, which I cannot find, were not so fair. Nuc-u-lar versus nuc-lee-are certainly gave my left-leaning extended family reason for an hour of Bush-bashing at one of our gatherings. While I thought then, and still do now, that the whole thing was ridiculous.

q1w23y ago

It got way WAY worse with Trump.

Many news organizations happily threw out their journalistic integrity to "fight Trump". Honest reporting became taboo. You were either FOR or AGAINST Trump, and anyone not choosing a side was just secretly on the other side.

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remote_phoneOP3y ago

Fox has always been biased and never trustworthy. Trump is definitely what broke the rest of the mainstream media though.

lordfrito3y ago

Before Trump they dumped on Obama

Before that they dumped on Bush II and Chaney

Before that they dumped on Clinton

Before that they dumped on Bush I (I remember the ridiculous attacks on Quayle)

I'm sure they did it to Regan too, and Carter before that, and Ford before that.

But I would agree that any pretense of "balanced" or "fair" reporting got thrown out of the window with Trump. It's like they aren't even hiding their intentions anymore.

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tablespoon3y ago

> Because it’s clear to me that that’s when journalists believed that their moral obligation was to further the agenda of their respective political parties and not care about the absolute truth.

For that to be harmful, it doesn't even have to be all journalists, just enough of them that people come across that bias often enough to be familiar with it.

I'm certain that many journalists value the truth and fairness over party, but I'm also certain that too many journalists put party/ideology over truth and fairness (in many areas), and the news organizations have become more tolerant of bias.

UhUhUhUh3y ago

The NYT and Bush was earlier.

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