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Washington Post columnist says media spun for Democrats 'under threat of blowback' from left
Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle called out mainstream media bias in a column on Monday and accused the liberal press of hurting Democrats this election cycle.
"During this election cycle, I watched in astonishment as left-wing critics complained that the mainstream media was botching this election by ‘sanewashing’ Trump, failing in our duty to cover ‘not the odds, but the stakes’ and trading in false equivalence. I was not astonished that progressives wanted us to spend more time criticizing Trump and less time pointing out the flaws of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. I was amazed because they were talking as if this might affect the election’s outcome," McArdle wrote.
As Democrats and liberal media figures continue to determine where Democrats went wrong after President-elect Trump was declared the winner, McArdle highlighted a Gallup poll that found 54% of Democrats said they had "high trust" in the media, compared to 27% of Independents and just 12% of Republicans.
"This was damaging for the news media that had already spent down the very reputational capital that progressive critics were begging us to use. But it was also bad for Democrats. By letting them win so many news cycles, we handed them a series of pyrrhic victories," she continued.
Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle called out the mainstream media on Monday for liberal bias that ended up hurting Democrats. (Left: Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Right: (Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images), Right: Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
McAardle wrote that Democrats were counting on the media to "downplay" President Biden's decline before he eventually dropped out of the race.
"The stories that mattered the most during this year’s campaign were the ones where we had given Democrats the most ‘help.’ In the 2020 election cycle, Democratic primary contenders counted on us to give them room to move well to the left, especially on social issues, which is how Harris created the fodder for this year’s negative ads against her. This cycle, Democrats counted on us to downplay Biden’s shocking and obvious decline. The issue was handled with kid gloves, under threat of blowback from campaign operatives, readers and even fellow journalists," McArdle wrote.
McArdle added, several mainstream outlets "repeated the Democratic spin that accurate videos of his concerning behavior were "cheapfakes."
"In the age of the internet, it’s no longer possible to win elections by working the refs, because the only decisions that matter are made by the folks in the stands. The refs can keep your coalition in line, but they can’t help you expand it — indeed, they’re likely to shrink it, as more people conclude that the game is rigged. Which means the more often your party wins the calls, the more frequently they will lose the game," she continued.
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Did the media's attempt to hide Biden's obvious cognitive decline help Donald Trump to win the 2024 election?