In his first such appearance as president, Joe Biden took to the stage in Milwaukee for a CNN town hall. While the softball questions were an expected element of the package, the gliding over of Biden’s responses – followed by almost zero legacy media coverage – suggests America’s Fourth Estate has entered a new era of wilful blindness.
Whether it was explaining that the internment of Chinese Uighurs is merely a cultural difference or that black and Latino folks don’t know how to use the internet, Biden went unchallenged. In fact, one of CNN’s headlines on this event proclaimed, “Joe Biden brings compassion, centrism and a big-time vaccine promise at CNN town hall.” The cable news network had an opportunity to break what under President Trump may have been the biggest story of the year so far, yet it was squandered in the name of presenting a “compassionate” president to the viewing public.
Chinese What?
Almost as if he were reading from a prepared statement courtesy of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Biden downplayed the recent uprisings in Hong Kong, tacitly blamed Taiwan for escalating tensions, and dismissed the suffering of the Uighur people in Western China.
It is worth pointing out that in recent days, even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be reluctantly coming around to labeling what is happening to China’s Muslim population as a “genocide.” He said recently:
"It's a word that is extremely loaded and is certainly something that we should be looking at in the case of the Uighurs.
"We are extremely concerned about that and have highlighted our concerns many times. But when it comes to the application of the very specific word 'genocide,' we simply need to ensure that all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed in the processes before a determination like that is made."
Just As Bright?
In a moment reminiscent of Biden's 2019 stumble in which he declared that “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” the commander in chief suggested that the reason for low vaccine acceptance in black and Latino communities was their inability to use a computer.
Strangely, these two responses have not been widely covered by the legacy media.
Saving Face?
Perhaps in an effort to muster a semblance of credibility, several outlets did report on a misleading statement Biden made regarding the COVID vaccine rollout. After Biden claimed that there had been no vaccinations available when he took office, CNN reported that this was “a puzzling statement given that he received both doses” before his inauguration, and even commented that by January 20, roughly one million doses per day were being administered.
Selective Coverage
When statements from the president are downplayed or ignored by the legacy media, it begs the question of who can be trusted to deliver the news. There is an ongoing censorship war between social media giants and smaller boutique outlets that do not follow the party line. This situation has gone far beyond which service is most likely to deliver factual information and has descended to the point where the sins of omission are not only ubiquitous but also destructive.
News has a duty to be informative, regardless of whether that information is personally damaging to the White House occupant.
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Read more from Mark Angelides.
