Column: Why the American media and their critics won’t stop telling the same lie
Newspapers are on display at a bodega in the Brooklyn borough of New York a day after a New York jury found former President Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, on May 31. Across the ideological spectrum, from the Chomskyite left to the Bannonite right, partisans, politicians and journalists themselves exaggerate the power, influence and importance of “the media.” Let’s start with the journalists. As a conservative media critic who has written scores of columns about the press’ liberal bias — which is real — I’ve had my own obsessions over the years. The media’s whole “defund the police” conversation, to give another example, transpired amid near-zero support for the idea among most Americans. The response from some on the left is a variant of the old trope about how socialism doesn’t work because it’s never really been tried: If only the media had really held Trump accountable — or took climate change, race or some other issue even more seriously — it would make a difference.
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