QOTD -- An Existential Crisis Ignored By Horserace Journalists

Colbert I. King on the fundamental issue not getting the serious attention by the media it deserves:

White nationalism is on the rise and worming itself into the Republican mainstream. The country is experiencing a “racial justice crisis,” as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told a virtual Howard University audience this week.

Yet, that’s not what’s dominating the front pages or cable news shows. Instead, the Biden administration is being subjected to “horse race” reporting that pays more attention to whether the president is winning or losing against Republican rivals on a range of issues — infrastructure, gun control, climate change, withdrawal from Afghanistan, you name it — than to the substance and merit of the issues themselves. Public life in Washington is once again being reduced to a competitive game between Democrats and Republicans — who’s ahead, who’s behind in the battle over who knows what.

However, some of today’s issues are more than passing fancies that grab public attention until the next big thing comes along. One that looms large with those of us deeply concerned about the health of our democracy: the Republican voter suppression crusade that will diminish access to the ballot for people of color.

The worst offenders are the "savvy DC insider" types (Politico, Punchbowl, Axios, etc.) and some cable pundits like CNN's bottom- dwelling Chris "But Her Emails!" Cillizza.  But there's plenty of blame to go around, and consumers need to be alert to what's being reported and, most importantly in the context of King's op/ ed, what's not.  And let the offenders know you know the difference and the significance.

Post Time! Local "News" Plays Its Role In The Horserace Narrative, Too

We mostly focus on the role of the national media in creating the 2016 horserace narrative, but local "news" plays its brain dead part as well.  As an example, here are clips from yesterday's local NBC affiliate in Washington, DC, with the local anchor using One Poll to flog the "race tightening" theme (although the delta between polls is within the margin of error) and, to his credit, NBC News' Mark Murray offering her a little perspective (in the second clip):



The clip continues:



We see this almost every day on our local "news," who are just as willing as their network counterparts to try to "normalize" this campaign and neo- fascist ass boil Donald "Rump" Trump, and reduce it to a "who's up, who's down" metric. That's why we had to give a little "yay" to Murray's putting things into perspective for the eager local fluffer.

Post Time! The Media's Horserace Narrative

With the hastily- arranged run down to Mexico by neo- fascist wall builder Donald "Rump" Trump, the amoral media has yet another opportunity to "normalize" the Rump candidacy.  As Charles Pierce points out, the trip isn't to garner Hispanic American votes, or the votes of squishy Republicans who want a veil of respectability in order to vote Rump.  No,

 ... it's primarily aimed at the suckers in the elite political press, some of whom, I guarantee you, will fall for this malarkey because…optics! He has a gift for dominating the news cycle! And all this on a day in which ABC and the Post are tootling the call to the post because of their new poll showing that Hillary Rodham Clinton is as unpopular as Trump is among likely voters. Whee, kids! As Fred Caposella used to say, the crowd is moving closer to the rail and that can mean only one thing—it is now post time!

Like the gleeful little nihilists they are, the "mainstream media," this time in the form of ABC News and the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, takes credit for their ability to damage the "sane, competent" person standing in the way of a Rump regime:

Clinton’s rise in unpopularity follows renewed attention on her use of a private email server and alleged conflicts of interest over her connections to the Clinton Foundation fundraising while she served as secretary of state.

Mainstreaming more of the halfwit email server nothingburger, in service to right- wing Clinton pursuer Judicial Watch, and the Clinton Foundation's "alleged conflicts of interest" (alleged by the same right- wing noise machine and some media watercarriers like the AP) will certainly pull those numbers down to horserace levels! You've done your jobs well, you useful idiot ratf*ckers!  Every poll point up or down will now be portrayed by the media as "Rump's comeback, race tightening!" (Enjoy the view from inside President Rump's enhanced, barbwire "press pen!")

All of which makes it easier to understand why there's one group that's far, far, far more unpopular than Clinton or even Rump:

Trust in the news media is being eroded by perceptions of inaccuracy and bias, fueled in part by Americans' skepticism about what they read on social media. 

Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public's view of other institutions.  (our emphasis)

Not trustworthy!  Sad!

BONUS: Now, the Rump fluffers in the media are whining that Rump didn't take them to Mexico for his "visit." Not to worry; he'll bring back some tequila for them and everything will be "Presidential."

Horserace Reporting

American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman Ornstein has an article in The Atlantic that explores a theme that we've touched on:  the pass that's been given to extremist Republican candidates by the political press, in particular the formerly great Washington Post Bezos Bugle and the New York Times.  Ornstein believes that it's because to expose their radical views -- which are in part borrowed from the John Birch Society -- would run counter to the "narrative" that the press has established for this election cycle.  The narrative, in brief, is that "establishment" Republicans have re-captured their Party from the "kooks," represented in the past by such luminaries as Christine "Not A Witch" O'Donnell and Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin.

With campaign journalists locked into "The Narrative," any evidence to the contrary is avoided, and focus is placed instead on gaffes and miscues from the opponents. As Ornstein concluded:

"For horserace reporting, the broader narrative is a good one to frame and organize stories and coverage. But it’s not a very good way for readers to figure out how the people they vote for might actually behave in the Senate. And that’s not very good news for voters or the political process."

BONUS:  Charles P. Pierce has more evidence -- if that's even necessary at this point -- of silly, blinkered, horserace reporting at the expense of, you know, real journalism.