(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The press double-standard? It’s not complicated. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-06 Sooo, I don’t write a lot of stories, but I keep reading all these journals and articles and comments about the double-standards being applied by the mainstream press. You know what I’m talking about. Stuff like this very reasonable article on Salon, which goes on at length about the potential journalistic motivations for giving tfg a free pass for being verifiably cuckoo bananapants. They all boil down to one central mystery: Why oh why won’t the mainstream press apply the same critical eye to tfg as they do to Biden, or Harris, or any other person on our side of the fence? The answer I see most is that journalists don’t want to shatter the illusion of their objectivity. If they judge tfg against, y’know, objective reality, they might look like they’re biased in favor of things like sanity and reasonable discourse and not being a freaking lunatic. This conclusion has the twin merits of being completely acceptable and a sophisticated take on human motivation. It’s also super duper wrong. It’s so so so much simpler than that: Journalists give tfg a pass because they are afraid of him. I don’t mean they’re afraid of mucking up their careers. I don’t mean they’re afraid of looking biased. I don’t mean they’re afraid of “losing access.” I mean they’re afraid of him. Viscerally, physically afraid of him. They’re not afraid of calling Biden old or senile, because they know Biden won’t “Putin” them into a gulag, or “Pinochet” them out of an airplane. They know Kamala Harris won’t dox them or send a mob of torch-wielding maniacs to their house. They have every reason to believe tfg will do all that, and worse, if he gets back in power. The press is afraid of him, the way a victim of domestic abuse is afraid every time they hear keys getting drunkenly fumbled into the front door lock when their abuser lurches home from work. I’m not here to pass judgment; I grew up with that kind of fear, and I know what it’s like to compromise yourself just to keep safe. But let’s not kid ourselves. There’s no complicated explanation for why journalists feel safe picking apart gaffes and foibles on our side, but shrug off bad behavior from the MAGA crowd. It’s because tfg scares the hell out of them. And I’m willing to bet that when Kamala takes the White House, and tfg is no longer a potential threat, the press will have a field day with him. Heres hoping it’s not too late. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/6/2268310/-The-press-double-standard-It-s-not-complicated?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/