It's a rather strange experience to watch the mainstream media "report" on events when you know something about the subject and then to realize that only one side of the story is being told. It's even stranger when you realize after seeing multiple reports that the entire mainstream media is reporting only one side, the same side.
Let me give you examples of this phenomenon.
1. Yesterday, there was a meeting at the White House between President Trump and Congressional leaders. Both the GOP and the Democrat leadership was there. The meeting lasted only a very short time before it ended when the Democrats walked out. So far, this story was what was reported everywhere. The mainstream media reported that the Democrats walked out because President Trump had a "meltdown" and viciously insulted Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Supposedly, Trump called her a "third rate politician" and mentioned that some of the groups in Syria were Communists and the Democrats might like that. That's the version told by the Democrats at a news conference that they just happened to have called immediately after the walk out. (How convenient!) The White House and the GOP members at the meeting told a different story. They say that Pelosi blew up at the President and that she is the one who had a meltdown. Then, as if pre-planned, the Democrats walked out. I saw this reported nowhere in the mainstream media. Of course, none of the reporters were in the meeting, so they have no way of knowing which story is correct. They just ALL chose the one that helps the Democrats and makes the Republicans look bad.
2. It's not limited just to US politics, however. Over the night, a Brexit deal was announced. The UK and the EU made a tentative agreement to achieve Brexit. It's substantially better than the one that former PM May had made. At least, it goes quite a way towards meeting the objections that had been raised to the May deal. The mainstream media reported this as the EU making a deal. Seriously, British Prime Minister Johnson is hardly mentioned in the stories. Of course, Johnson only became PM because of May's inability to close a deal on Brexit. Johnson promised to get Brexit by the end of October. If this deal is approved, he will have succeeded in meeting that promise. None of the mainstream media mentioned that. One of the key parts of the deal is that there will be no customs stops on the border between the Republic of Ireland and the British region of Northern Ireland. The mainstream media treats this as a big deal, but they don't mention that before both sides of that border were in the EU, there were no customs stops on that very border.
3. Sometimes, the story is simply not covered by the mainstream media. Let's stick in the UK for our example. The Labour Party under its leader Jeremy Corbyn has become a center for anti-Semitism. Yesterday, a senior long-serving Labour member of Parliament resigned from the party because of its failure to rid itself of the anti-Semitism. The mainstream media didn't cover this. Imagine the coverage if a senior Republican senator in the US became an independent because of bigotry in his party; the coverage would be wall to wall. To be fair, though, if it were a Democrat leaving that party for the same reason, the coverage would be uniform in "finding" that there is no bigotry among Democrats. In Britain, however, yesterday's move is not some random act. Since Corbyn became leader of Labour, over a dozen members of Parliament left the party due to its anti-Semitism. Have you ever seen a report in the mainstream media of this story? I doubt it.
4. Then there are stories that get a slant where none should be. Yesterday, congressman Ellijah Cummings passed away. Cummings had a long career in Washington. So what did the mainstream media cover? Every article I saw went quickly to President Trump calling Baltimore (Cummings district) a "rodent infested" dump. We also got to hear Cummings response. Seriously, this was treated as the high point of Cummings career. It wasn't, but since it was a chance to take a shot at Trump, that's what the media covered. Of course, none of the media bothered to explain how this dispute came to happen; it didn't matter to the media. For them it's one side fits all.
Let me give you examples of this phenomenon.
1. Yesterday, there was a meeting at the White House between President Trump and Congressional leaders. Both the GOP and the Democrat leadership was there. The meeting lasted only a very short time before it ended when the Democrats walked out. So far, this story was what was reported everywhere. The mainstream media reported that the Democrats walked out because President Trump had a "meltdown" and viciously insulted Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Supposedly, Trump called her a "third rate politician" and mentioned that some of the groups in Syria were Communists and the Democrats might like that. That's the version told by the Democrats at a news conference that they just happened to have called immediately after the walk out. (How convenient!) The White House and the GOP members at the meeting told a different story. They say that Pelosi blew up at the President and that she is the one who had a meltdown. Then, as if pre-planned, the Democrats walked out. I saw this reported nowhere in the mainstream media. Of course, none of the reporters were in the meeting, so they have no way of knowing which story is correct. They just ALL chose the one that helps the Democrats and makes the Republicans look bad.
2. It's not limited just to US politics, however. Over the night, a Brexit deal was announced. The UK and the EU made a tentative agreement to achieve Brexit. It's substantially better than the one that former PM May had made. At least, it goes quite a way towards meeting the objections that had been raised to the May deal. The mainstream media reported this as the EU making a deal. Seriously, British Prime Minister Johnson is hardly mentioned in the stories. Of course, Johnson only became PM because of May's inability to close a deal on Brexit. Johnson promised to get Brexit by the end of October. If this deal is approved, he will have succeeded in meeting that promise. None of the mainstream media mentioned that. One of the key parts of the deal is that there will be no customs stops on the border between the Republic of Ireland and the British region of Northern Ireland. The mainstream media treats this as a big deal, but they don't mention that before both sides of that border were in the EU, there were no customs stops on that very border.
3. Sometimes, the story is simply not covered by the mainstream media. Let's stick in the UK for our example. The Labour Party under its leader Jeremy Corbyn has become a center for anti-Semitism. Yesterday, a senior long-serving Labour member of Parliament resigned from the party because of its failure to rid itself of the anti-Semitism. The mainstream media didn't cover this. Imagine the coverage if a senior Republican senator in the US became an independent because of bigotry in his party; the coverage would be wall to wall. To be fair, though, if it were a Democrat leaving that party for the same reason, the coverage would be uniform in "finding" that there is no bigotry among Democrats. In Britain, however, yesterday's move is not some random act. Since Corbyn became leader of Labour, over a dozen members of Parliament left the party due to its anti-Semitism. Have you ever seen a report in the mainstream media of this story? I doubt it.
4. Then there are stories that get a slant where none should be. Yesterday, congressman Ellijah Cummings passed away. Cummings had a long career in Washington. So what did the mainstream media cover? Every article I saw went quickly to President Trump calling Baltimore (Cummings district) a "rodent infested" dump. We also got to hear Cummings response. Seriously, this was treated as the high point of Cummings career. It wasn't, but since it was a chance to take a shot at Trump, that's what the media covered. Of course, none of the media bothered to explain how this dispute came to happen; it didn't matter to the media. For them it's one side fits all.
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