Elite Media Dismiss Voter Suppression on Grounds That It’s ‘Complicated’
Most of the Super Tuesday coverage downplayed any suggestion that there might be voter suppression going on in 2020.
Media Malfunction as Sanders Notes Positive Aspects of Latin American Socialism
Election Focus 2020: News organizations seemed unable to process that a major national political figure could say something positive about a socialist country, leaving these outlets flailing around in absurd ways.
For WaPo, Flourishing Elites Are a Matter of Perception
Election Focus 2020: The Washington Post gave us a major piece telling us how Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are two sides of the same populist coin.
Do Media Really Care About Money in Politics?
Election Focus 2020: If media really cared, they would make some distinctions between the different kinds of money corrupting our elections, and their size and impact—context that’s been lacking in the “they all do it” coverage of the issue.
‘We Are Going to Be Back to Where We Were After Reconstruction—Unless We Stop It’
Election Focus 2020: “All of these things have the aura of trying to protect democracy, trying to protect the integrity of the ballot box, but it’s based on the lie of massive rampant voter fraud.”
As Democrats Began to Vote, Pundits Hit the Panic Button
Election Focus 2020: The real Sanders attack machine isn’t the mythical machine run by Sanders to take down his opponents; it’s run by the establishment Democrats and their media counterparts to take down Sanders.
Debate Moderators Frame Questions to Define Acceptable Politics
Media debate hosts use their platform less to inform voters in an even-handed way than to define which positions—and candidates—are acceptable, and which are not.
Media Stoop to ‘Russian Assistance’ to Explain Sanders’ Rise
Election Focus 2020: The Washington Post’s poorly sourced, evidence-free and quickly walked-back report became the basis for endless stories linking Russia and Bernie Sanders.
Carol Anderson on Voter Suppression
Election Focus 2020: When it comes to voter suppression, the fight is less between parties than between democracy and its demonstrated opponents
Bernie Sanders Can’t Win (by as Much) Unless Youth Vote Surges (Like It Recently Has)
Election Focus 2020: Even when you assume that Bernie Sanders supporters won’t vote as much as they say they will, and will vote when they say they won’t, Sanders still wins
NYT’s Look at Democratic Tax Plans Is an Orgy of Really Big Numbers
Election Focus 2020: The New York Times gives a a true orgy of really big numbers in the form of trillions of dollars of additional taxes and spending, providing readers with no context that would let them know how much impact these taxes are likely to have on the economy and/or their pocketbooks.
Bernie Sanders Plunges to First Place
Election Focus 2020: While some coverage is still stuck in denial on Bernie Sanders, for the most part corporate media have moved on to the next stage of grieving, which is anger.
‘Corporate Media Are Not Observers of the Electoral Process; They Are Participants’
Election Focus 2020: “The Democratic electorate has been told, in no uncertain terms, that Bernie Sanders is not electable and that is your signal, people, that you should not vote for him, because the punditocracy has spoken.”
Factchecking NPR’s Attempted Takedown of Bernie Sanders
Election Focus 2020: a piece by two of NPR’s leading political reporters, which aired just before the Iowa caucuses, provides a view of how journalists speak with authority on issues they seem to know very little about.
Pundits Look to Bloomberg as Their Anti-Sanders Savior
Election Focus 2020: At the nation’s elite newspapers, it’s not hard to find pundits jumping on the Michael Bloomberg train as Joe Biden’s star plummets.
Jim Naureckas on Democratic Primaries, Nina Luo on Decriminalizing Sex Work
Election Focus 2020: The Democratic primary process has foregrounded far more “radical” ideas—and public receptivity to them—than corporate elites are comfortable with.
For Media in New Hampshire, Losing Is Winning and Winning Is Losing
Election Focus 2020: The “stop Bernie at all costs” mentality explains why some of the media simply ignored Sanders’ victory altogether, part of a longstanding Bernie blackout strategy.
ACTION ALERT: NBC Garbles Graph on Democrats’ Electability
Election Focus 2020: Please contact NBC and tell them to correct a February 2 graphic showing two of four Democratic candidates losing to Trump.
ABC Asking for Attacks Was a Lazy Way to Run a Debate
Election Focus 2020: The first half hour of the debate was almost entirely given over to non-policy sparring over electability (including the bogeyman of socialism) and experience.
Manufacturing Success: CNN’s Premature Parade for Buttigieg in Iowa
Election Focus 2020: Four days after the Iowa caucuses took place, no victor has been declared, and the vote remains mired in controversy and irregularities. But if you’ve been watching CNN for the last few days, you could be excused for imagining Pete Buttigieg had won.
