Democrats spend a great deal of time talking about perceived threats to democracy. They also like to focus on election “interference” – at least when an election doesn’t go their way. What they refuse to acknowledge is the media bias and spin obviously designed to benefit them. Overwhelming favoritism in media reporting of political issues not only interferes with the electoral process by influencing voters in a partisan manner but, by extension, also constitutes a threat to democracy. When journalists and pundits are promoting a particular ideology while demonizing all opposing points of view, elections are tainted because votes are cast by people whose knowledge of the issues is limited to what ideologically motivated news outlets want them to believe. The concept of democracy is rendered impotent.
A new study from the Media Research Center (MRC) highlights how much effort news media organizations are putting into influencing the 2022 midterms in favor of the Democratic Party.
While conservatives are painfully aware of the media bias that permeates everything reported by the cable news channels CNN and MSNBC, the Media Research Center studied the evening news offerings of NBC, ABC, and CBS.
The study covered the period from Sept. 1 to Oct. 26. Evening newscasts from these “Big Three” TV news stations devoted a total of 213 minutes of airtime to the 2022 midterm elections. MRC noted the number of positive and negative comments directed at or referring to both Republicans and Democrats, including Joe Biden.
Media Bias by the Numbers
Democrats weren’t off the hook completely. MRC recorded a total of 13 positive comments and 26 negative comments about either Joe Biden or other Democrats. That equates to a 67% “negative spin.” However, Republicans were on the receiving end of 94 negative comments and just 14 positive remarks, for a “spin score” of 87% negative.
Back in 2016, MRC carried out the same study. Republicans, including then-President Donald Trump, registered an 88% negative spin, so things haven’t changed much.
Herschel Walker, who is running on the Republican ticket to challenge Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) was a major target for left-leaning media types who know how important the Peach State is to the balance of political power. Walker racked up six positive and 50 negative statements for a total negative spin of 89%.
There’s more to the media’s influence, though, than merely saying something positive or negative about one party or the other. The issues to which these news outlets devoted the most time are of equal or perhaps greater importance. The economy, which figures as the most important issue for voters in every recent major survey, received less coverage than abortion and “threats to democracy,” including Republican “election deniers.”
Walker racked up almost 39 minutes of airtime on the Big Three evening newscasts combined. Almost 24 minutes were devoted to the abortion issue and 21 minutes to election denial and the dreaded threats to democracy. America’s massive illegal immigration crisis warranted just five and a half minutes and economic issues were discussed for 15 minutes.
These numbers, it must be said, are indicative of a strategy pursued by Democrat politicians and their media allies. Notice that crime did not even register as a blip on the radar. As for inflation – the effects of which all voters are feeling – MSNBC’s Joy Reid implied on Oct. 3 that Americans were not aware of it until Republicans “taught people the word inflation.” The plan, obviously, is to avoid addressing the issues that reflect badly on the Democratic Party.
While one can debate the effects of media influence on elections, there is little doubt that the establishment media is going to some lengths to shape the narrative in the run-up to this year’s midterms, now just three days away. Democracy, if not threatened, is at least distorted by these efforts. Though the United States is not a democracy, its political leaders are still chosen by supposedly free and fair elections – but how free and fair are they when the media machine puts its thumb on the scale?
