With only about half the states having cast their votes in the Democratic primaries, the Covid-19 pandemic has frozen the majority of campaign activity, but the New York Times has already chosen its winner. In Times headlines, Sen. Bernie Sanders is as good as conceded, despite him still being in the race, hosting a virtual town hall to discuss a coronavirus relief package and advocating for frontline workers during the pandemic.
It’s not that the Times is ignoring Sanders; in fact, from February 1 to April 6, he’s been mentioned in far more articles than his rival Joe Biden, 1,973 vs. 735. But at best, the paper is dismissing Sanders. At worst, it’s demonizing him.
On March 18, the Times published “Bernie Sanders Has No Realistic Chance to Win. Some Democrats Say, ‘It’s Over’” (3/18/20), taking it upon itself to call the race. But days later, “How It All Came Apart for Bernie Sanders” (3/21/20) truly read like post-mortem coverage. In fact, the article does not clarify that Sanders is, indeed, still in the race until the sixth paragraph. The piece explains how Sanders’ early success was eclipsed by former Vice President Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday comeback, leaving Sanders’ campaign “all but vanquished.”
In this piece, Sanders was “revolutionary to a fault,” delivering “anti-establishment diatribes,” while Biden is “safe-and-steady.” The article highlighted Biden’s endorsements from Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, uniting more Democrats on his side. It presented conflicts among Sanders’ inner circle, and his difficulties in uniting the Democratic Party—and engaging the majority of black voters— as reasons the Vermont senator was trailing. It also mentioned his conflict with Sen. Elizabeth Warren over whether he had told her he didn’t think a woman could become president.
A March 30 Times article (3/30/20) discussed a Washington Post/ABC News poll that found Republicans are more excited to vote for Trump than Democrats are to vote for Biden. Just 24% of voters said they were “very enthusiastic” about voting for Biden in the presidential race—the lowest level of enthusiasm for a presidential candidate the Post and ABC have recorded in 20 years.
There was no mention of why many voters might be less excited to vote for Biden—aside from the fact that during the coronavirus, people are preoccupied. There was no mention, for example, of Medicare for All, a program that is extremely popular among Democratic voters—76% supported it in the latest Morning Consult poll (4/1/20), up 9 points in net approval since the impact of the pandemic was widely felt—but is decisively rejected by the former vice president, who says of the coronavirus crisis (NBCNews.com, 3/30/20), “Single payer will not solve that at all.”
The Times piece acknowledges that voter enthusiasm can be the critical difference between who shows up to polls and who stays home, but does not entertain the fact that Sanders’ voting base is notoriously dedicated and enthusiastic. The poll the article cited did not compare how excited citizens would be to vote for Sanders vs. Trump.
A 538 blog post (4/1/20) pointed out how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a similar enthusiasm problem in 2016 — one that ultimately cost her the presidency. The Times failed to draw that same parallel in the brief article that pointed out Biden’s enthusiasm gap.
The New York Times coverage (4/1/20) of “never Bernie” voters calls to mind the old journalism adage: “News is what happens to or near an editor.”
Another Times article, “How ‘Never Bernie’ Voters Threw In With Biden and Changed the Primary” (4/1/20), asserted that “a chief reason for Mr. Biden’s success” was voters who “found the prospect of Mr. Sanders and his calls for political revolution so distasteful that they put aside misgivings about Mr. Biden and backed him instead.” These voters, the piece argued, saw Sanders as “the only candidate in the vast Democratic field they found objectionable for reasons personal and political.”
Such voters no doubt exist, but that they exist in numbers large enough to swing the election is dubious. In the last Morning Consult poll conducted prior to Super Tuesday (2/23–27/20), 74% of Democratic voters said they viewed Sanders favorably, vs. 22% who saw him unfavorably. For Biden, it was 67% favorable, 27% unfavorable. A month later (3/23–29/20), no doubt boosted by media treating him as the nominee-apparent, Biden’s numbers had improved to 76%/20%—but Sanders favorability was little changed, at 72%/23%.
While there aren’t an overwhelming number of Democratic voters who saw Sanders as utterly unacceptable, that is a common attitude among the “donors and party officials” that the Times (4/16/19) has acknowledged are the core of the “anti-Sanders campaign.” The Times has always been close to these “establishment-aligned Democrats,” going back to the 19th century, and the paper has routinely served as a platform for their concerns (FAIR.org, 10/28/17).
The Times and others treat Sanders pointing to the coronavirus pandemic as proof of the need for his Medicare for All plan as somehow egregiously self-serving. In a political memo, “As Coronavirus Crisis Unfolds, Sanders Sees a Moment That Matches His Ideas” (3/26/20), Sydney Ember wrote that Sanders is “still pushing his agenda” in the midst of the pandemic, though “it’s not clear who’s listening.” She suggested he remains in the race to take advantage of the pandemic to bolster his agenda—as if arguing that a more progressive health system would be beneficial during a public health emergency is selfish and opportunistic. Ember wrote:
Mr. Sanders will take the stage when he can get it—including on the Senate floor Wednesday night, but also in news releases, radio and television interviews and livestreams where he studiously repeats his mantra to loyalists who once crowded Iowa auditoriums to cheer him, but now must settle for sometimes technologically challenged digital presentations.
The result of such coverage may be a reverse causation. As recently as February 29, Sanders had a double-digit lead over Biden in polling averages among Democratic voters. As coverage painting Sanders as an unviable candidate mounted, so did Biden’s popularity in polls.
The coronavirus may have halted most campaigning for now — but it evidently has not stopped anti-Sanders media bias.
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Featured image: New York Times depiction (3/21/20) of Bernie Sanders.
The New York Times is in its death throes, if it thinks Bernie can’t win. Both Trump and Biden are brain dead sell outs, who truly do not treat women, nor the nation well at all. Trump is mean and delusional and and Biden follows the money. Where has the rule of law gone?
Bernie is the only one who actually works for the People. ALL of the People. He is the only one who fights the oligarchy, while Trump and Biden are owned by the oligarchy.
America has been losing its mind like Reagan did since Reagan started the dismantling the unions and the environment—- and no president after, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama and certainly not Trump have worked for the People.
This appears to be America’s last gasp—-a wanna be emperor, Trump, or a brain dead sell out to the corporates with Biden———this could be the last gasp of a could -have- been- great nation——-but with a long line of past presidents who were —- or are— too fearful of the oligarchy and the military industrial complex to act for all the PEOPLE.
NO matter what the DNC says this race is not over—although I am wondering if tainted voting machines and soulless reporters will dare to tell the truth about the currently failing America.
America ends with a whimper—-unless, a Man with a Plan for the Future arrives , and that man is Bernie.
Thank you, WW. Well said.
That’s why St. Bernie made some grandstanding opposition to the CARES corporate bailout, but then, like AOC, voted for it. Also like when St. Bernie announced for president in 2016; at the same time announcing his intent to endorse everything he ran against once he was smooshed by the Dim Party. Not to speak of the fact it was Bernie of all people trotted out to provide absolution for Hillary’s email scandal. Anything to get that warmonger out of the race, even were it moss growing on the east side of a tree on the west coast of Canada. I believe St. Bernard could have won on that issue alone. But like this year, he was in it to lost it. Couldn’t even land a knock out blow of a doddering neoliberal like Biden.
Well said!! I am still voting for our Bernie! While listening to his speech just now, today. He never gave up. He said, he is still in the fight. He needs to be written on the ballet.
Self fulminating prophecy
I will not vote for Joe Biden under any circumstances. He is a clueless, out of touch, tone deaf, befuddled, and increasingly demented old man. Just like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and the rest of the so-called democratic establishment.
If Bernie Sanders isn’t nominated I will either write Sanders in on my vote or vote for the Green Party Candidate. I’m not doing this because I am a “Bernie-Bro”. I am an intelligent, informed individual who sees what’s on the horizon for us all unless we change course NOW.
Jay, I feel exactly as you do. They must not believe we are very aware if we haven’t noticed Pelosi and Schumer’s deficiencies.
I too will not vote for Biden because I don’t know what the hell (if anything), he stands for, other than kowtowing to corporate interests. And when (NOT ‘if’) he becomes infirm, who will take over the helm?
I would probably vote for the Green Party candidate again since their platform/policies are the most closely aligned with my beliefs.
In any event, unless the makeup of Congress magically changes, it will make little difference who’s POTUS.
Fair’s Fair .. Sanders’ insipid whimpiness and servility to established power contributed significantly to his failure to be the shining star that his followers believed he would be.
Exactly, there are very few voices in progressive media pointing this out. Bernie had a hand in his own failures as a candidate as well. When he hired people from the Center of American Progress did his campaign no favors. And he decided to listen to those voices inside his campaign that were working against him from the beginning. He railed against the latest CARES ACT and then he voted for it? He didn’t once question why the exit polling was so far off. When his own campaign surrogates tried to call out Joe Biden’s corruption, he spanked Zephyr Teachout and apologize to Joe Biden and shockingly now he’s going to expect us to vote for him. It’s not going to happen, all his campaign did was ensure another 4 years of Trump. You can’t start a political revolution against your “friends”.
At least Bernie’s still got a friend in Joe.
Big Thank you, Olivia Riggio, for the fair analysis.
I have noticed the trend among newspapers I used to respect, like the NYT, to belittle and demonize Sanders, and I wondered why no one talked about it. Are SO many people blind and deaf?
Thank you again! I trust that the future is in the hands of a young generation. They see the reality by their eyes and not through the lenses of the establishment that is too comfortable and corrupt to think about people it represents.
I am not a Bernie-Bro, am old, have the highest level of education and am a woman, so basically not the typical individual who supports Sanders, as they say. There are many of us, and I am going to write-in his name if he is not nominated. And if Bernie Sanders asks to vote for Biden, like he asked to vote for Clinton in 2016, I will go against his wishes and will vote for the Green party. I am tired to make a choice between evil and a lesser evil.
The New York Times has placed its thumb heavily on the scale to ensure that the US will not see a universal health care plan in our life time. We will see income inequality grow and grow. The wealthy will control our government to their own ends. Higher education costs will continue to cripple people’s lives. As described by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s (FAIR) April 7 article “NYT Writes Post-Mortems for a Sanders Campaign It Did Its Best to Kill” — “As recently as February 29, Sanders had a double-digit lead over Biden in polling averages among Democratic voters. As coverage painting Sanders as an unviable candidate mounted, so did Biden’s popularity in polls.” If you should find yourself in the future bankrupted by health care, unable to buy a house because of student loans or working in a minimum wage job for $7.15 an hour don’t blame the politicians, blame the New York Times who helps make or break the people we elect.
Arthur Bell
Brooklyn NY
Here’s an local article, from vtdigger, that follows the NYTs script: https://vtdigger.org/2020/03/29/with-presidential-bid-all-but-sunk-sanders-turns-attention-to-covid-19/ . I responded to it, by asking the author to incorporate the work of Mark Weisbrot, from CEPR, particularly regarding the so-called “generational” difference in support for Bernie, and Biden. I also mentioned FAIR. Its easy enough for them to look in these places, but they seem unwilling.
Bernie still has my vote!!!
Given Sanders’ embrace of anti-Semites, it’s hard to shed many tears.
Are you that uninformed? Sanders is a semite, himself.
Are you that uninformed? You don’t know that Sanders employed Linda Sarsour as a campaign surrogate? And that Sarsour is a booster of brazen anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan?
Where the heck is Ron Paul when the U.S. AND THE REST OF THE WORLD needs him most. The current crop of candidates looks like an escaped-from-the-netherworld pantheon of anti-heroes.
The Revolution started 5 years ago when Bernie decided to run. He is a once in a million chance to turn our country in a better direction.
Many in the Corporate investor class don’t want to face it, but they have participated in a Grand Theft of wealth from the working class to the investor class with the help of the Establishment Trifecta…Wall Street, the TWO political parties and the Mainstream Media.
The theft of wage wealth has transformed into stockholder gains with obscene CEO salaries and has impoverished many Americans, unable to afford the basics of life, food and affordable housing AND shackled to their jobs for health care.
The People know!
Oregon’s primary on May 17th is all vote by mail & so will go on as planned. I still intend to vote for Bernie.
He has more ideas on how to deal with the pandemic than Biden.