As demonstrated by the Election Day result, an uprising of voters against the political elite has asserted itself. It represented a triumph of the people over the political establishment as well as the news media, as they repudiated the MSM’s bias and attempts to influence the election.
Throughout the race, people were derided over claims that the main stream media (MSM) was “rigged” against Trump in favor of Clinton. But Trump pulled off a stunning upset victory in spite of being discounted by the media, proving the accusations of media bias are not far-fetched.
Before Election Day, many said Trump faced unfair negative press, as news outlets published story upon story painting him as racist, xenophobic and so on. For example, the Huffington Post published this editor’s note after stories about Trump:
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence, is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.
Many voters lack confidence in the MSM’s ability to report accurately. According to a poll by Investor’s Business Daily, over 67% of voters report that news stories on the candidates were usually inaccurate. As the media devoted most of their attention to the words and deeds of Donald Trump, half of voters felt the media was going too easy on Hillary Clinton.
Despite the MSM’s best efforts to defeat Trump through negative stories, most Americans were not swayed. Election Day delivered the best evidence of media bias against Trump and the nation’s rejection of its influence over the election narrative.
On the day of the vote, most media outlets were sure Clinton would emerge the victor, as they indicated poll after poll claiming she had a comfortable lead against Trump. This coverage appeared to affect voters’ sentiment regarding who they expected to win. In the final issue of the daily IBD/TIPP Election Tracking Poll, released on Election Day, 46% of voters believed Clinton was all but certain to win, while just 24% said they thought that Trump was likely to become president.
Nevertheless, the media’s negative coverage was unable to stifle Trump supporters. As predicted in the final poll, which indicated that Trump had a 1.6-point lead over Clinton- and history was made as Trump astonished the MSM and won the presidency easily.
After an election which saw news media obviously hell bent on defeating and belittling Trump’s candidacy, media outlets are now forced to spend some time soul searching and to come to terms with the election result which caught them by surprise.
The New York Times was forced to admit their bias after readship severely fell off over the course of the presidential race. They published a letter to their readers that served as somewhat of an admission of poor quality journalism. In the letter, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. asks whether the Times underestimated Trump’s support, and if so- why.
In a recent article entitled “A ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Lesson for the Digital Age,” New York Times journalist Jim Rutenberg admits that the MSM has failed to “capture the anger of the electorate that feels betrayed by a selective economic recovery.” He writes of his amazement over the frequency with which “the media has overlooked populist movements which have been rocking national politics 2008.”
While these writers deserve credit for admitting the paper’s election coverage was wrong, they have failed to acknowledge that most of the coverage was meant to sabotage Trump’s campaign by portraying him as immoral and insane.
All through the election cycle, the NYT spun negatively on Trump, even in hard news stories that should contain only statements of fact. For example, a Nov. 6 piece on the end days of the campaign said: “Mr. Trump still muses about the ways he plans to punish his enemies after the election.”
The question also bears asking regarding whether the Times would have published these “mea culpas” if Trump had lost the election.
But the point about the media overlooking populist sentiment comes close to clarifying what is likely the root cause of the MSM’s underestimation of Donald Trump’s support, and the media’s bias in general.
Because most media outlets are based within major American cities, journalists are sheltered inside the bubble of a common elite liberal mentality. Perhaps if members of the media elite had taken a step outside their comfort zones and looked into the problems facing the hard-working, middle-class people in the Midwest and Rust Belt, they would not have delivered such poor projections on the election.
However, things are not likely to change, as evidenced by fevered reporting by CNN and other outlets on how Trump went to dinner without alerting the press- in which Brian Williams and others come up with fantastic explanations as to why this is somehow a national scandal.
~American Liberty Report
