What would today’s political landscape look like if:
Mainstream-media would’ve given the fake Steele dossier and Mueller “witch hunt” the same scrutiny (demanding evidence of collusion) as they did post-election voter fraud allegations?
Journalists hadn’t damaged their credibility, abandoning long-standing standards/principles to slant every Trump narrative toward the negative?
Authorities had identified, arrested and charged last summer’s violent anti-cop rioters/looters as vigorously and publicly as they’re pursuing those who occupied the Capital?
The Wuhan bat-virus pandemic coverage had been unbiased, exposing Chinese lies and WHO cover-ups, posting progress on ventilators and vaccine development, instead of focusing on out-of-context “drink-bleach” quotes and a running death-count?
Partisan politicians hadn’t wasted January and February (2020) on a partisan impeachment, certainly a distraction as China’s disinformation facilitated COVID-19’s worldwide spread?
The truth is:
After four years of biased “reporting” millions of Americans are convinced the press prints lies. All the time. About Trump, about the election, about everything.
Cable TV anchors, downplaying last summer’s riots by repeatedly calling them “mostly peaceful,” and lenient local prosecutors eschewing charges helped foster this “rioting’s no-big-deal” attitude displayed by those D.C. insurgents.
In a world of partisan “reporting,” truth’s a commodity in short supply; blame’s available by the boatload.
In 1968, President Johnson, watching CBS news lamented, “…if I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” (and the war).
In 2021 the media has “lost middle America” as surely as LBJ lost Vietnam, yet they don’t appear to care.
At least they still have the coasts.
Eugene Mattecheck Jr. Moline
