Because now more than ever. Press Run is my proudly progressive dissection of the political press. And in this crucial election year, I feel like it's more important than ever. Press Run promises fearless media criticism. It will be a community where we'll find fault, sing some praise, and search for solutions. At a time…
Category: mediaanalysis
Impeachment has been a messaging disaster for the White House. Why won't the press say so?
The impeachment of Donald Trump was always going to be a messaging war, and on paper it should have been a rout for Republicans. With his Twitter megaphone reaching more than 60 million followers, Trump should have been able to use his uniquely digital White House bully pulpit to sway the nation's opinion. He should…
Media fail: The press keeps covering impeachment through the eyes of the Republican Party
The political press corps may have hit peak impeachment failure on Sunday when Meet the Press host Chuck Todd introduced a segment in which voters from a toss-up district in Michigan were interviewed about the House proceedings against Donald Trump. Touted as a way to take the temperature of everyday voters outside of the “Beltway,”…
The New York Times' impeachment coverage devolves into Republican talking points
Firmly adopting Republican spin as the best way to view the House impeachment of Donald Trump, The New York Times in recent days appears to have forfeited much of its news coverage to the GOP. Adopting Republican talking points that impeachment is “a political plus” for Trump; “risky” for Democrats; that the White House’s impeachment war room is…
Media pushes 'Dems in disarray' over impeachment—again
Poised to pass two articles of impeachment in the full House this week, Democrats have remained extraordinarily united throughout the process while nearly half the country stands in favor of taking the drastic action of removing Donald Trump from office. Yet press coverage in recent days has suggested (surprise!) that Democrats are in a state of…
The New York Times can apparently read Democrats' minds, but not Trump's mind to know if he's lying
A gigantic double standard was on display in The New York Times on Wednesday as the newspaper reported on articles of impeachment brought against Donald Trump. It's a disturbing double standard that revolves around the paper's stubborn refusal to call Trump, who is a congenital liar, a liar. The Times' front-page headline, as it appeared in…
CNN has yet another GOP problem
Last winter, CNN for weeks stood by its extraordinary and inexplicable decision to hire Sarah Isgur Flores, a career Republican Party operative with absolutely no journalism experience, to be the network’s political editor. A hardcore partisan, Isgur spent her career spinning for Republicans such as Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney, and Carly Fiorina. Until last year, Isgur…
The press doesn't have—or won't use—the proper language to describe today's radical Republican Party
Extreme times call for extreme measures, but the Beltway press just isn't willing to make that move in the Trump era. As a consequence, the news media fail to accurately capture the radical changes now underway in the country, and how today's Republican Party has become purposefully untethered from reality. Donald Trump remains a resolutely…
Is the media intentionally biased?
With the exit of Kamala Harris, which to be fair had major messaging issues within her campaign. The Democratic Party is en-danger of having an all-white candidate debate in December. As we all know, the media plays an essential role in giving candidates’ momentum through positive media coverage. So, the question is, does the media…
Half of America wants Trump removed from office. Why does the press keep shrugging that off?
With the House Judiciary Committee poised to take up the impeachment baton and hold a new round of public hearings this month, the Beltway press continues to absorb and echo Republican talking points that claim the inquiry isn’t resonating with Americans. Because impeachments aren’t legal proceedings, the messaging wars that surround them take on added importance. And…
John Solomon and The Hill's Ukraine reporting debacle: What it tells us about the D.C. media
Closing the barn door two years too late, the editor of The Hill this week announced that the publication is going to review all the dubious Ukraine conspiracy reporting John Solomon did while he worked there as an executive vice president. We “are reviewing, updating, annotating with any denials of witnesses, and when appropriate, correcting any…
Roger Stone and the media's shame of 2016
News on Friday that a federal court convicted former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone on seven counts, including obstruction of a proceeding, false statements, and witness tampering only added to Trump’s woes as the second day of impeachment hearings played out in Washington. Stone’s conviction certainly added to an aura of criminality that surrounds Trump, as more aides and…
Impeachment hearings confirm Republican Party is detached from reality. What does the press do now?
Republicans proudly advertised their radical ways during Wednesday's impeachment hearings into Donald Trump, wallowing in conspiracies and embracing debunked claims. The question now: How does the Beltway media cover a party that has aggressively removed itself from reality? How does the news business describe and treat a political party that routinely echoes the most unbelievable claims…
Memo to media: Don't screw up the impeachment hearings
Four months after the Beltway press badly failed in its coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller's congressional testimony on the Russia scandal, the D.C. press corps has a chance at redemption this week with the first public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump. Hopefully, newsrooms will be up to the important task at hand. “The stakes don’t get…
Michael Bloomberg and the media privilege for billionaire candidates
Here’s a quick news quiz: If you were editing The New York Times and advisers to Michael Bloomberg were telling your reporters that the billionaire might run for president, would you run that story on the front page? For how many days in a row? Considering he is the former mayor of New York, I could see the…
Ukraine floodgates open and Fox News tries to discredit everyone—but it won't work
Will playing whac-a-mole help save the Trump presidency? That's what Fox News and Donald Trump defenders have been reduced to in recent weeks as the White House and its media allies scramble to try to find a coherent defense for his admitted campaign collusion with a foreign power. (This time, it's attempted collusion with Ukraine.)…
Trump's reelection campaign spreads lies online—and the press touts it as savvy
Campaign Action It’s gone from bad to worse: After spending years refusing to call Donald Trump a liar, the press is now toasting his reelection campaign, which is built on lies. “That campaigns are now being fought largely online is hardly a revelation, yet only one political party seems to have gotten the message,” The New…
CNN's Sean Duffy problem is only going to get worse
How do you solve a problem like Sean Duffy? The former Republican congressman, who was hired by CNN to blindly defend Donald Trump while the impeachment process unfolds, is creating problems for the network by constantly fabricating facts and spreading reckless and dangerous conspiracy theories. And yes, he’s only been on the CNN payroll for 10 days. On…
The GOP's 'process' attacks on impeachment are a joke—and the press should say so
Nancy Pelosi called the GOP's impeachment bluff this week, and in doing so she completely undercut the “process” attacks they have been making about the House inquiry. Demanding that a formal House vote be held on impeachment, Republicans have insisted the lack of a vote represents a tell-tale sign that the inquiry is unfair. But…
Facebook and the shameful media tradition of enabling Breitbart hate
Here we go again: Facebook just became the latest traditional media player to enable the right-wing hate of Breitbart News. Unveiling its news tab initiative last week, on which Facebook is partnering with outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, the company also confirmed that the far-right conspiracy bastion Breitbart…
