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Media Bias Tag

In a few days we may get a look at the much ballyhooed memo written by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Devin Nunes, regarding alleged FISA abuse leading to spying on the Trump campaign and the role of the Steele Dossier in justifying that spying on a presidential candidate. Very soon we may also see a report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz into the DOJ/FBI handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. What I expect those reports to show is a deep politicization of the highest levels of both DOJ and FBI.

As the #MeToo movement seems to be winding down, the New York Times reveals that back in 2008 a top adviser to then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was accused of ongoing sexual harassment of an aide.  Hillary herself, the NYT reports, insisted that he remain with her campaign. One of the great ironies of twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary's 2016 defeat is that had she been elected, the entire #MeToo movement may not have happened at all.  It certainly wouldn't have gained the traction it did if Hillary and Bill were occupying the White House.

Newsweek's fall from respected publication to tabloid trash has been a remarkable and sad spectacle. Like many other print publications, Newsweek struggled with reduced circulation when online news became the preferred medium for news consumption. In 2012, Newsweek printed what was supposed to be its last edition.

Things look glum for Republicans in 2018, if you listen to the left and right punditry. The generic ballot sways heavily towards Democrats, Democrats did well in Virginia, and the Alabama Democrat win is claimed to be a precursor of things to come despite the unique circumstances of Republican Roy Moore's downfall.

In this time of rampant Trump Derangement Syndrome saturating formerly credible news outlets, it's become the norm to expect the media to lie intentionally about President Trump. While it does not appear that the Wall Street Journal was lying intentionally, it has become clear that they (willfully?) misheard a quote from the president and then ran with its implications in a full article.

During immigration legislation negotiations, Trump singled out Haiti, El Salvador, and a handful of African countries, describing them as "shitholes," or so claimed the Washington Post. Their bombshell intel came from people who were not in the meeting but later briefed on the contents of said meeting, making their source on par with a game of telephone.

President Donald Trump's administration has decided to end special protections given to some El Salvador immigrants who came to America in 2001 after devastating earthquakes. Now, before you get all crazy, I'm seeing outlets bury this important detail: the protections will not end until September 2019. This will give those immigrants plenty of time to work on citizenship and stay in America. It will also give Congress time to work on immigration reform.

Poynter, which self-describes itself as "a global leader in journalism," recently released a survey showing a wide partisan divide in trust in the media and whether the media creates fake news to attack Trump. Not surprisingly, Democrats love, love, love and trust the media. Of course they do, the media is on their side. By contrast, Republicans understandably view the media with grave suspicion, because the media serves as lead attack dog against Trump. Poynter called this a "wake up call":

So far there is near silence from the mainstream media about the blockbuster Politico Magazine investigative report on how the Obama administration from the top down interfered with U.S. law enforcement efforts to take down Hezbollah's drug running of cocaine into the U.S. in order to facilitate the Iran nuclear deal. I summarized the Politico findings in my post, Obama allowed Hezbollah cocaine running into U.S. in quest for Iran nuke deal.

In an infamous one-liner aimed at then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R-MA), then-candidate Obama and incumbent president (D) said, “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back . . . the Cold War is over.”  This was after Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bungled the "Russian reset" by skewering the translation on her symbolic "reset" button.  This was also before Obama promised, in an equally-infamous hot mic moment,  "flexibility" with Russia after the 2012 election.