19 Comments

MSM is failing is so badly. Why aren’t they reporting on an entire political party’s dissent into fascism? Criminal defendant Trump is threatening to shut down NBC, assassinate the retiring general of the JCOS of the military yet the WaPo headline calls Milley the polarizing figure. I am beyond disgusted. Democracy is on the line & the MSM is playing footsie with fascists.

Expand full comment
founding

I was completely flabbergasted when I read that poll and now I am outraged at this breach of basic journalistic ethics. But then again look at the NY Times editor who okayed David Brooks column recently where he lied about the bill for his sandwich being so high when it wasn't the food price but his bar bill and tip made up 80% of the cost.

Expand full comment
founding

Too early to prove anything, but making our side pissed off might push people harder on getting out the vote and registration of younger voters.

Expand full comment
founding

That poll was a statistical failure and NEVER should have been published. Needless to say, I'm turning off my TV earlier than planned, because the statistical BS is insufferable. I'm urging my colleagues to do the same. If a TeeVee station mentions a poll, off the set will go.

Expand full comment

Would like to offer my own conspiracy theory: ABC/WP knew of the scrutiny of media by Trumpanzee should the electoral college hand him the presidency next year and so to curry favor they released this poll warts and all. There, fixed it for you.

Everyone knows polling is for the birds and grain of salt, etc. etc... Legacy media at this juncture is laying the groundwork for worst case scenario to soften the shock ala 2016. They are quite aware that Democracy hangs in the balance and prematurely hedging their bets. The mere fact that some are already on the fascist bandwagon tells you all you need to know: Fed up with propping up an injured democracy, media has decided to eliminate competition the fascist way.

Expand full comment

Polls are a joke. They talk to, on average, 1200 people in a country of 333M. The real media malpractice has been and continues to be the normalizing of Trump, as if he’s just an ordinary candidate and not a twice-impeached, four-times indicted insurrectionist who is literally out on bail, not to mention that he oversaw the deaths of approximately 650K Americans.

Expand full comment

The MSM is doing for Trump now what they did for him 2016: giving him free publicity and making his campaign legitimate. The new host for Meet the Press gave Trump a one on one interview where Trump spouted his lies without challenging him or calling on him for lying. What the MSM should be doing is calling for Trump to quit because of his criminal indictments.

Expand full comment

Polls for this, polls for that, where have polls gotten us and realistically in the last 2 election cycles where have they been accurate or even close? Number 2, let Trump think he is in the lead, who cares!! maybe that will motivate people to get up off their butts and vote, but I refuse to try to predict anything, I never thought Trump would be elected in the first place and that fact Biden already beat Trump once, gives me hope he can beat him again, but the press has not helped Joe Biden.

Expand full comment

There is a scene in, I believe, Season 2 of "The Handmaid's Tale" in which June Osborne is dropped off by a member of the underground at a safe house that was formerly the offices of the Boston Globe. As she awaits pickup for the next leg of her escape, she strolls quietly among the abandoned desks of reporter and editors, perusing the family photos, silenced keyboards and coffee cups caked with dried residue that are the remains of a busy newsroom. Later, she makes her way to the darkened, empty loading dock, where she breaks down in sobs after discovering the chains and bloodstained walls.

Do the MSM really fail to understand that this is the fantasy in the minds of every subhuman fascist MAGA and their mad god king? And do they truly believe that those of us forced to exist in that same dystopian horror will risk our own necks standing up for those who, through sloth, ignorance or a blind allegiance to "both-sides," helped bring it down on us. Why, when they had the chance to tell the truth when at least some truth still mattered?

Expand full comment

Ahhh dontcha think the results are so skewed to Repubs? I mean… really! I know I’ve never been polled. I don’t really look too closely at them or take them for full value at this point. I do remember the pills for the red wave!!

Expand full comment

Dependable media is no longer something we can take for granted. The polls are nothing at this point. President Biden joined striking American workers on the picket line. What was EVERY “news” story yesterday? How the x president sedition leader was handling his multiple indictments. Last week he was on national television multiple occasions to freely threaten jurors, witnesses and anything to do with democracy with impunity. He has “rallies” otherwise known as klan meetings that are covered by every main source of information. Then “polls”show him ahead. No sources made available. What kind if ANY analysis is done? Are we living with the ghost of Goebbels? Is this what the American people want? Or is this what the 1% is paying for?

Expand full comment

Maybe Americans should just stop putting so much emphasis on polls. They’re skewed and they’re wrong often enough that they can’t be trusted.

So why does the media go on using them? (Hint: it’s an easy way to make a story.)

Expand full comment