Pundits Fixate on an Issue Simpler Than Threat to Republic

Coverage of Biden's debate stumbles pushes a one-sided narrative, Rebecca Solnit writes
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2024 11:35 AM CDT
Pundates Fixate on an Issue Simpler Than Threat to Republic
Donald Trump and President Biden stand during break in a presidential debate hosted by CNN on June 27 in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The New York Times, by one count, has published 142 news stories and 50 opinion pieces since the presidential debate about the pressure on President Biden to leave the race. The New Yorker's editor wrote that Biden remaining the Democratic nominee would endanger the country, Rebecca Solnit points out in an opinion piece in the Guardian, and the Washington Post's editorial board offered a suggested resignation speech. "Sometimes I wonder if all this coverage is because the media knows how to cover a normal problem like a sub-par candidate; they don't know how to cover something as abnormal and unprecedented as the end of the republic," Solnit writes. "So for the most part they don't."

The result of the piling on is "wildly asymmetrical and inflammatory coverage" of Donald Trump's opponent, Solnit says, that ignores the dangers of the Republican nominee. "Why aren't we talking about Trump's fascism?" asks a headline on a piece in the Nation, even as another piece in the same publication calls it "Biden's patriotic duty" to go away. Self-awareness isn't a strength of media pundits, but a bit of it would be a good start. Solnit quotes Nikole Hannah-Jones saying, "As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it." The way they're covering this Biden issue, Solnit writes, the pundits "are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one." The Guardian piece can be found here. (More opinion stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X