The biggest media story at the moment is …
President Donald Trump speaking on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
I ran into a friend from the journalism world on Thursday whom I had not seen since before the coronavirus shut down everything. After our hellos and how-are-yous, we said what all of us say these days.
“Strange times, eh?” my friend said.
I answered, “Yeah. And the past couple of days have been just heartbreaking, right?”
And he said, “Yes.” Then there was a pause. Then he said, “Wait, which story are you talking about?”
His question was apropos.
I could have been talking about the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision, and the subsequent protests. I could have been referring to the United States passing 200,000 coronavirus deaths. I could have been talking about the death of icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I could have been referring to President Trump’s disconcerting refusal to say he would peacefully accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
I was actually talking about the Taylor case, but all of these stories were heartbreaking and all dominated the news cycle at one point or another this week.
And the news keeps coming at us at a dizzying pace. Trump could name a Supreme Court nominee this weekend, the first presidential debate is next Tuesday and who knows what else could happen at any moment?
Even for those who stay on top of the news, when we ask, “Did you see the big news today?,” we have no idea what that might be.
Zooming around the media world
Also on Thursday, I gave a Zoom presentation to the donors of the Poynter Institute. I talked about things such as media coverage of Trump, media bias, and attempted to address a simple, yet complicated question: What is “media?”
When asking if there is media bias, I said I wasn’t trying to be a wise guy, but before answering the question of “Is the media biased?,” I have to know the definition of two words: “media” and “bias.”
Seriously, what is “media?” It’s a hard word to wrap your arms around. On one hand, yes, cable news pundits such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid are “media.” But they are a far cry from “the media” that covers city council for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch or schools for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or consumer affairs for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. That’s why it’s so frustrating to hear people criticize the media as “biased” when practically every reporter at a local level will never type the names “Donald Trump” or “Joe Biden.”
For example, I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. The local newspaper (The Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times) does remarkable work every day, but especially has turned in amazing projects on big stories. Some examples: their work covering Scientology, a bombshell that uncovered gross malpractice at a local children’s hospital and a Pulitzer Prize-winning project on local schools.
These are critical pieces of journalism that serve the community and, again, have nothing to do with who the president is or who the next Supreme Court justice will be.
If people’s opinions of “the media” are based on what the primetime cable news pundits — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow, Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon — say and do, then viewers are off track. They should realize that those pundits don’t represent all media. Heck, they don’t even represent their networks, when you consider the objective work turned in by the likes of, say, Fox News’ Chris Wallace and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, just to name a couple.
Meanwhile, that word: “bias.” As a former sports columnist, I used to get angry emails from readers whenever I criticized their favorite college football team. To them, it wasn’t that the criticism might be valid. They were convinced that it was because I was secretly a fan of their rivals.
I find political followers to be the same.
Just because the president is called out for something that he might have done wrong doesn’t necessarily mean the media is biased. It’s not biased to point out when the president lies. It’s not biased to look into how Trump has handled the coronavirus or really delve into his comments on race. Terms like bias and even fake news are often simply news items that someone doesn’t like. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Is there bias in the media? Of course there is. But I truly don’t believe it’s widespread as people would like to believe. And if a reporter ever does show bias, one hopes that the checks and balances of editing can tap that down, if not erase it.
What else are readers asking?
As part of that Zoom call, audience members could ask questions.
They represent the questions I most often get: Which news outlets can I trust? Why is the media so biased against Donald Trump? How can I keep from being overwhelmed by the news?
Just something to keep in mind for journalists who read this column. This is what readers are thinking about.
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