Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
The American media has been in a loving embrace with the liberal approach to government for the last 50 years.
Sherman Frederick
In the last six presidential cycles, I believe they’ve treated progressive administrations with a motherly understanding, giving them the benefit of the doubt for most foibles and failures. Meanwhile, conservative administrations get the full proctology exam. In this century, I am sad to say, newspapers have even allowed unnamed (and unverified) government sources to dish misinformation on conservative administrations like the CIA does when trying to delegitimize third-world regimes.
Look, I have no problem with bare-knuckle journalism. My complaint is simply that it is applied selectively.
However, the advent of independent Internet journalism has expanded the flow of information beyond traditional media. Even in the infancy of social media journalism, President Bill Clinton’s rape-y activity could not be relegated to JFK-Marilyn Monroe lore, thanks to the upstart Drudge Report and a White House intern with friends smart enough to keep that blue dress stained with the president’s sperm.
Now fast forward to the last 36 months in which Twitter — not our nation’s big newspapers — exposed how the Biden Administration suppressed free speech on COVID-19 protocols and tried to block reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop by falsely calling it Russian disinformation. The truth got out anyway, no thanks to most in the corporate media.
Today comes the last minute Kamala Harris’ candidacy. There’s no doubt in my mind that tears of joy ran down the legs of the mainstream media when Joe Biden stepped aside and Kamala Harris took the helm of the good ship Democracy.
How’d that happen, exactly?
Don’t ask readers of the New York Times.
Or the Washington Post .
Remember 12 months ago when Kamala Harris was considered the most lightly regarded Vice President ever? Remember when Party thinkers and media op-ed writers openly said she ought to be replaced on the ticket because she’s such an unlikable figure?
That was then.
Now is now.
And now American newsrooms love Kamala.
That’s why when Kamala emerged from the convention with no — zero — post convention bounce, it wasn’t much of a story. No need to write about that. It’s a one off. Nothing to see here because, look at the polls, they said — see how Kamala is doing much better against Trump than Biden.
Also, newsroom decision-makers I believe worried the “no bounce” story might require some objective examination and thus put a negative spin on the Kamala enthusiasm story
And that’s the point I’m trying to underline.
Partisanship kills curiosity in a newsroom. It skews the process, which means the idea of doing a story exploring why Kamala isn’t running away with the race at this point can’t find air to breath in news budget meetings.
It also says something else is afoot in the 2024 election. .
Independent journalism done on platforms like Substack, YouTube, and X — not just Legacy media — now share in creating the news cycle.
It’s harder to remake a candidate in today’s media environment.
The Kamala Harris campaign is trying to take a far left San Francisco liberal and turn her overnight into a middle-of-the road Iowa moderate. It’s their only play given the weird machinations that landed her in the spot.
But a handful of big East Coast newspapers and television networks no longer gatekeep the narrative. Mrs. Harris’ flip-slops, word-salad clips and inconsistencies — along with devastatingly funny memes — are accessible through everyone’s phone. No newspaper subscription required.
I’m a bit sad about that, because I love newspapers. But, that’s the way it is.
TEAM SPIRIT
A federal judge placed a stay order on the Biden-Harris unilateral move to allow non-citizens married to citizens to stay in the United States indefinitely.
The effort is called the “Keeping Families Together Parole in Place program.” PIP for short.
Nevada’s senior Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto let her partisanship show when she said in this press release:
“I’ve consistently pushed the Biden-Harris administration to take executive action to secure our border and to protect hardworking mixed-status families – and in June they did both. I was thrilled to see the administration take critical steps to help keep our immigrant families together. I have full confidence in this process, which is a gamechanger for so many families in Nevada. While I’m deeply disappointed in the Texas court ruling, I’m not giving up. I’m going to keep working to deliver the relief our families deserve.”
I respect the senator’s perspective on this. Might even agree with it.
But seriously, senator, have you really “consistently pushed the Biden-Harris administration?”
I don’t remember CCM ever having a discouraging word for he Biden-Harris administration on this or anything else.
She’s been like most “Team Spirit” politicians who use immigration like a political football. When the administration is your flavor, you keep concerns private. When the Administration is not your flavor, you scream bloody murder.
Personally, I like my politicians without the pom-poms.
RAIDERS
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that a sports bettor has put $31,000 on the Las Vegas Raiders to win the Super Bowl. If the bet pays off, the bettor will win $2.48 million.
I wonder if he hedged that bet.
What kind of odds would you get to bet on the Raiders not getting into the playoffs?
NEW SCI-FI
My old Las Vegas journalist colleague Art Nadler has a new sci-fi novel out called “Weatherman: Birth of A Legend.” Something about telekinesis and a superhero in the making. This is a follow-up to his first book “Double Down: Lethal Indemnity.”
Both available on Amazon. Always good to support Nevada writers.
ONE MORE THING
(Thanks for reading. Remember to laugh a little, avoid soreheads and always question authority. You can read all Properly Subversive columns at shermanfrederick.substack.com.
