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Poll shows the media push to damage the administration not necessarily paying dividends

The press managed to have people develop a negative impression — about the press.

2020 has already been a banner year of media behaviors and April has been especially revealing. The coronavirus outbreak has brought out all of the long-suspected slanted traits from our national press corps, and they have managed to even exceed those projected biases. In the past week, there has been a remarkably consistent run of irresponsible, malpractice-ridden, and/or fact-free news reports that would embarrass anyone capable of such a reaction.

  • Nancy Pelosi challenged the administration citing it had enforced a travel ban on China early in January, stating that thousands were still permitted to enter the country from that nation. Jake Tapper never challenged her on the fact that these were US citizens and legal residents.
  • CNN made a production out of Chris Cuomo leaving his basement after 2 weeks of seclusion…despite our knowing he was outside at one of his properties, fighting with a neighbor the week prior.
  • Olivia Nuzzi suggested the pandemic in the U.S. was worse when she compared it to VietNam.
  • Donald Trump was said to have appointed a labradoodle dog breeder in charge of the coronavirus response team at HHS, when Brian Harrison was a career DC worker who sold that side business over 2 years ago.
  • A Dr. Rick Bright at a government research lab was reportedly fired for political reasons after calling to have testing done on hydroxychloroquine, when in fact he was combative with management for over a year and he stalled reactions to the pandemic for weeks.
  • President Trump was accused of telling people to inject Lysol and to drink bleach despite not ever saying so, and never even uttering the words of the products.
  • S.E. Cupp declared dozens of people ingested cleansers in New York, when the actual reports said there had been a slight increase of phone calls asking about possibly being exposed to products.

This is apart from daily insipid questions we witness during the White House task force briefings, and the desire by some networks to control the messaging from these briefing by refusing to carry them and delivering their own synopsis. The press has been on an active streak of perpetual damage delivery but the revealing thing is they are not having the influence on the national thought process that they have hoped.

A recent poll has shown that a mounting number of Americans feel as if the press is in fact targeting the President with their coverage of these briefings and, more revealing, that sentiment only grows among those who have watched the briefings.

When asked if they believed the press was attempting to shift blame for the viral outbreak from China and onto President Trump practically half of the likely voters – 49% – agreed this is happening. Nearly the same amount agreed when asked if they believed the press was acting unfair, biased, or disrespectful towards the president. What is really revealing is that the numbers for these responses jump within the group that watch the press briefings themselves.

Among all voters, 56% regularly watch President Trump’s coronavirus task force briefings,” the polling company said. “Among these voters who regularly watch the briefings, 59% to 37% they say that the media is unfair, biased, and disrespectful. While those who do not regularly watch the briefings only 34% say the media is unfair and 51% say that they are fair. The briefings are showing the bias and disrespect of members of the media towards the president.

When it comes to these briefings the desire to not carry them live has also been a bit problematic for CNN and MSNBC. While all the news networks are enjoying a surge in ratings during the month of April, due to a captive-in-their-homes audience hungry for updates, they are probably missing out on better numbers by being obstinate. Fox News is also seeing better ratings — all-time high numbers, in fact. In the time slots where Fox carries the briefings, its ratings are more than double the combined totals of CNN and MSNBC.

Compounding these issues for the media members is that those increased ratings mean more people are being exposed to the methods and practices of the journalists. People who normally would not be around to see these antics are now becoming aware of them. In the long term, this dawning may not be for the best regarding the news nets.

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Stephen Moore 8:30 AM | December 15, 2024
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