For years, the mainstream media — or legacy media — have been subtly biased, hiding beneath a combination of inherited authority and assumed objectivity. The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN. They were all seen as America’s go-to source for the truth about what is happening, both at home and abroad. Sure, they were guilty of the standard low-level subjectivity we can expect from coastal elites, but generally, they were seen as trustworthy.
One of the primary cultural benefits of Trump’s victory in 2016 — which, lest we forget, was enabled by the media who provided him with wall-to-wall coverage throughout the primaries and then panicked when they realized that he may win — was his impact on the news media. Trump should be credited for ripping away the false veil of objectivity from the field of journalism, and revealing the monster which lies beneath.
Because Trump was the first conservative to actively engage with the mainstream media as a partisan opponent, our journalistic overlords have been forced to show their hand, and it should forever tarnish their supposed reputations as arbiters of the “truth.”
Driven to Trump-induced insanity, they have fully embraced stories with no regard for investigation or verification. The Steele Dossier was promoted for months as unquestionable reality without any need for self-reflection or investigation. They refused to fact check even the most erroneous claims, such as the routine assertion that Trump called white supremacists and neo-Nazis “fine people.” And they provided a platform for the legitimization of anonymous claims, such as the accusation that Trump called veterans “losers” and “suckers,” while ignoring a mounting wall of non-anonymous counter-evidence in order to protect “the narrative.”
Then there are the lies of hypocrisy and inconsistency, where stories are cherry-picked for political gain or repackaged for political protection, with the only important variable being whether the story would be damaging to Democrats or Republicans. When Biden publicly boasted that he used American taxpayer funds to pressure Ukraine to fire a prosecutor, his actions were either dismissed as an example of standard foreign policy, or applauded. When Trump — albeit clumsily — seemed to do something similar, the media exclaimed that this was further proof of his filthy corruption on a global scale. Trump was expected to condemn white supremacy — whether appropriately or not — on a daily basis, while Biden is still never expected to condemn the actions of Antifa, the Black Lives Matter movement, or anti-Semites in his own party. When members of Biden’s family are embroiled in a scandal, the media are nowhere to be seen. When the focus falls on Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump, things are quite different.
Then there is the fundamental failure of the media to ask even the most basic questions if they could potentially embarrass their chosen political candidate. When Joe Biden openly evaded the subject of whether he would pack the Supreme Court, even the few journalists who dared to approach the topic did so as if they were scared to offend an elderly relative. When Joe Biden called a lid on his campaign before breakfast for days at a time, journalists happily traveled back to their desks with empty notepads. When Kamala Harris implied that Joe Biden was a racist, and on a separate occasion that he was guilty of sexual assault, and then went on to endorse him, the media seemed bizarrely uninterested in understanding why Harris could support a racist rapist. You know you’re in trouble when the deepest journalistic dive is performed by Stephen Colbert, who happily accepted Harris’ cackling response of “it was a debate!”
1) If @StephenAtHome is the only one willing to ask these questions, the media is failing.
2) If you think “it was a debate” is a valid excuse to flip on fundamental principles like racism, you have no principles. #KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/6nPmm7dGyh— Ian G Haworth (@ighaworth) August 15, 2020
This year’s election is certainly pivotal on a political level. However, we cannot forget that it is also pivotal on a cultural level. Regardless of whether Biden unseats Trump, or whether the incumbent is able to reverse the tide with recounts or legal challenges, we must not lose sight of the broader fight against our new opponent — the legacy media.
We are at a crossroads, and Trump’s potential departure from the White House leaves us undefended if we do not continue his fight. If we fail, the mainstream media will tighten their grip on our cultural reality — a grip which Trump has slowly and determinedly loosened during his first term. If we allow it, an unchallenged Biden presidency will usher in a return to the days of journalistic adoration for Obama — days which the media recall fondly.
It is time for the legacy mainstream media to reform or collapse, but this will only happen if we make it so. If Trump does lose, it is up to us to keep the floodlights firmly on the media’s blatant bias and shameless lack of integrity. Without our purposeful support of replacement media, we leave the reins of reality to self-congratulatory activists who masquerade as journalists and cannot wait to gleefully pull the wool back over our eyes for good.
Ian Haworth is host of The Ian Haworth Show and The Truth in 60 Seconds. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.