A buddy of mine grew up in the Soviet Union. Nice guy. He always insisted that the biggest fallacy Americans had about the Soviet people was that the Russians weren’t aware of the news. According to him, Americans knew that the Politburo censored Pravda (and all Russian-language media outlets), so we crazy capitalists assumed the Soviet citizens were living in a land without information.
“Those poor, gullible Rooskies! They’ll believe anything their government tells ‘em!”
In fact, he actually argued the opposite was true: It was the Americans who were most manipulated by the media because so many of us assumed our media was honest and objective. Until relatively recently, that was the “default setting” for most Americans: Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw were our friends.
By contrast, Soviet citizens read their newspapers assuming the bias was baked in. Thus, they could deduce from the spin, propaganda, and obvious lies of omission what was really going on in the world.
Well, it’s now 2024, just about 24 hours from Election Day. And more Americans than ever before are consuming media… like Soviets!
How did this happen?
To quote Hemmingway in “The Sun Also Rises”: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
It’s not that we were oblivious to media bias in the past. We all saw it. In the early 1980s, I overheard my dad — who’s an anesthesiologist and biochemist (so pretty smart about medical stuff) — say to my mom, “It’s so weird. When I watch ‘60 Minutes,’ they always look like they’re doing a good job, but whenever they do a story on something I know a lot about, they make a ton of mistakes.”
Until relatively recently, we assumed that media bias was merely an occasional bug, not a systemic, overriding feature. Now we know the opposite is true. Media bias isn’t a weird little hiccup, but an intrinsic part of their DNA: They cannot change because this is who they are.
Before, conservatives would grumble and moan about it, but at the end of the day [shrugs shoulders], what can ya do? There are only three TV stations and two papers in our city, so I guess we gotta live with it. Where else are ya gonna go?
Not anymore. It hasn’t been that way since the talk-radio revolution led to the Internet explosion, which led to social media and podcasts.
One of the lasting legacies of Rush Limbaugh — and his colleagues in talk radio — was exposing and ridiculing media bias. Their voices changed everything. Suddenly, it was okay for candidates to fight back.
But they only fought back meekly and modestly. Do you remember President George H. W. Bush in the 1992 debate?
“My favorite bumper sticker is, ‘Annoy the Media. Re-elect President Bush.'”
It was tepid, but hey, at least he made the effort. Then, of course, his son also failed to defend himself from unfair media assaults with any degree of gusto or competence (and in subsequent years, McCain and Romney fared even worse). Finally, the GOP had enough and turned to the Orange Bomb-Thrower to protect us. And that was it.
Trump, of course, had a different approach to the media: Flame on, bridge gone!
That further freed the media’s hand. Today, they no longer even give lip service to objectivity. Now, they let their liberal freak flag fly! Which they surely have, on MSNBC, ABC, CNN, The Washington Post, and elsewhere.
So, knowing their biases (and divining the media’s tea leaves like '70s-era Soviets), what can we deduce from their recent articles? All we’ve gotta do is refer to our media-to-truth decoder ring:
- When the media says it’s a “pure toss-up,” it usually means the Republican is well in the lead.
- When the media says it’s “down to the wire,” it usually means the Republican is well in the lead.
- When the media says the Republican has “a problem with women,” it usually means the Democrat has a problem with men.
- When the media runs a story 48 hours before an election wondering, “Why are Democrats having such a hard time beating Trump,” it usually means they’re very aware how badly they’re losing.
- When the media says there’s “no clear frontrunner,” it usually means the Republican is the clear and obvious frontrunner.
- When the media wonders “how to get through election season without despair,” it usually means they’re sad because they’re being soundly beaten.
Please don’t misunderstand me: Nobody knows what will happen on Tuesday. Everything depends on the get-out-the-vote ground game! But when the Harris campaign leaks info, it's usually leaking it to the press. Never forget: The mainstream media is her staff’s bullhorn as much as it’s Kamala’s! And based on the stories they’re running, I’d say it’s about a 60% to 40% probability Trump will win.
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