Trump

Leo

Leo

Well-known member
I agree on some aspects of that, drioid, but also seems like there are two sides to many of those examples.

through a variety of systemic processes, liberal corporate media ultimately serves the interests of power.
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is/was there any more recognized symbol of establishment power than the Clintons? shouldn't that concerted liberal media effort have gotten behind her instead of letting trump/russia slip by?

obviously the pursuit of short term profit through narrativisation
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this is absolutely true. the reality TV/professional wrestling mindset, get people hooked on the drama and drag out the story lines. then you also have sites like politico, which basically emulate how ESPN covers sports: who won the day, who's up/down in daily polls, who said what on the campaign trail that day, the feedback loop discussion of minute details that have little actual importance outside of perpetuating the narrative.

Sanders recieved far more negative coverage throughout the campaign, his (effective) win in Iowa was carefully stage managed by the DNC in collusion with the media to strip him of momentum,
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is coverage "negative" because it questions a candidate's positions? sanders coverage seemed split between telling a remarkable story of how he stuck with his beliefs and values, energized huge crowds, pushed progressive positions to the forefront and shaped the democratic discourse...along with questions about the feasibility of some of those policies. isn't that a fair balance, and a fair role for the press to play?

and not sure how Bernie deserved to be credited with any great momentum when he didn't win the Iowa primary. it was extremely close, razor-thin margin, but even if the totals changed and he edged out buttigieg, it wouldn't have been a resounding victory, hence the lack of a momentum narrative.

Biden had about a 20 point polling advantage. He exceeded this by about 8 points
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if any candidate is able to exceed a 20 point polling advantage by around 40%, that seems like a pretty decent story. why wouldn't the media jump on that much of an outperformance? and maybe Bernie's sizable Nevada win was minimized by the fact that Biden won so many other Super Tuesday states.

I agree, it's clear the DNC and Democratic establishment preferred Bernie not be the nominee. But one reason why is Bernie isn't a Democrat, and the party wants to be represented by one of their own. We're now stuck with a pretty shitty candidate in Biden, no question about it. I wish we could have Bernie on the debate stage versus Trump, who will cream Sleepy Joe.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
Leo said:
is/was there any more recognized symbol of establishment power than the Clintons? shouldn't that concerted liberal media effort have gotten behind her instead of letting trump/russia slip by?
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Hubris. They wanted to cash in on the election and didn't think Trump could win. They also didn't really see him as a danger to the status quo.

"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS," Moonves said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco, according to The Hollywood Reporter — perfectly distilling what media critics have long suspected was motivating the round-the-clock coverage of Trump's presidential bid.

"Most of the ads are not about issues. They're sort of like the debates," Moonves said, noting, "[t]here's a lot of money in the marketplace."

The 2016 campaign is a "circus," he remarked, but "Donald's place in this election is a good thing."

"Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now? ... The money's rolling in and this is fun," Moonves went on. "I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”
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The same arrogance that led the Clinton campaign to favour Trump over other opponents.

is coverage "negative" because it questions a candidate's positions? sanders coverage seemed split between telling a remarkable story of how he stuck with his beliefs and values, energized huge crowds, pushed progressive positions to the forefront and shaped the democratic discourse...along with questions about the feasibility of some of those policies. isn't that a fair balance, and a fair role for the press to play?

and not sure how Bernie deserved to be credited with any great momentum when he didn't win the Iowa primary. it was extremely close, razor-thin margin, but even if the totals changed and he edged out buttigieg, it wouldn't have been a resounding victory, hence the lack of a momentum narrative.

if any candidate is able to exceed a 20 point polling advantage by around 40%, that seems like a pretty decent story. why wouldn't the media jump on that much of an outperformance? and maybe Bernie's sizable Nevada win was minimized by the fact that Biden won so many other Super Tuesday states.
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We had news anchors comparing Sanders to Hitler. On MSNBC, Sanders received the least frequent and most negative coverage of the top three candidates, Biden also recieved twice as much coverage of Sanders across major networks during crucial moments in the campaign. The same thing happened in 2016, and Im sure a more detailed analysis will emerge, but I dont think its radical to suggest that corporate media might be inclined to tilt the scales away from a major threat to their business.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
seriously, droid, how many times was sanders compared to hitler? if you're mentioning it then I'm sure it happened but can't imagine it was more than once or twice and it certainly didn't sway the country.

and again, what's the definition of "negative coverage"? anything that's not fawning? if reporters question a candidate's position because they don't understand how a policy would work or be paid for, I don't consider that to be negative reporting. that's reporting.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
Chuck Todd & Chris Matthews.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...sanders-cements-status-democratic-frontrunner
https://www.thewrap.com/nbc-news-ch...aring-sanders-supporters-to-nazi-brownshirts/

Im not saying it swayed anybody, but it is indicative of the level of vitriol spewed at Bernie and his supporters and attitudes towards them in the liberal media.

I think the tenor of reporting is plain as day, but to flip it - perhaps you can explain why Biden's obvious cognitive difficulties and the credible accusations of sexual assault have barely been covered by major news organisations? If it was Sanders who had these issues I think they would have been headline news for days, if not weeks.
 
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Leo

Leo

Well-known member
Biden's mental fitness should be examined further, but the issue has been raised in publications like the Washington post and Chicago tribune and New York post and politico.

likewise on the sexual assault allegations, more reporting needs to be done but a quick search reveals recent coverage in the Atlantic, Guardian, NPR, NBC news, salon, Huff po, Newsweek and others.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
Ha! Yes, just as predicted. The threat to the system is eliminated so now they can go back to the wrestling match.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
April 19, 2019, Trump approval rating: 46% approve, 51% disapprove

an impeachment trial and a botched pandemic reaction later...

April 19, 2020, Trump approval rating: 46% approve, 51% disapprove.

incredible.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I find it amazing that cos Trump pulled a number of deaths out of his arse and said it would be a success if fewer people than that died - and people have swallowed it hook line and sink - conveniently forget what he had said before about it going down to zero - and now repeat it mindlessly everywhere. I've heard people claiming he's saved two million lives with his prompt action. Completely incredible.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Apparently he's stopped attending the daily pandemic briefings because "they're not worth the time and effort".

I'm reminded of Joffrey not being arsed to attend the Small Council meetings.

 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
The Bank of China is a bit confused (like everything) - seems they loaned him some money to buy a building and they claim that they then sold the debt on, they've produced some evidence to support this but some official records still seem to suggest that they hold a substantial amount of it. That was my understanding of the story and how I remember it anyhow. I guess this muddying the waters tactic is a good one cos even if it doesn't totally debunk the story it does at least allow room for some kind of plausible deniability.
Given that Trump is attaching Biden for his closeness to China and his own record for consistently accusing people of things which he is in fact guilty of himself, I gotta say that I suspect that he's still swimming in Chinese loans to some extent.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
it was previously thought the trump organization was indebted to Russian oligarchs as well.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I gotta admit that (even though I probably should) I don't know much about these loans and what they mean for control. I mean, if people think it's dodgy that Bank of China can lend to Trump to buy something, but they can then say "the relationship has ended we've sold the loan on" what's to stop any dodgy thing buying a loan and then being linked to the debtor? The debtor has no control over who buys the loan and who they are linked to do they?
With the Deutsche Bank thing, my understanding is that they were giving Trump very preferential terms on a number of loans (probably underwritten by dodgy Russian money) - is it that they can't sell that loan cos no-one else is prepared to offer the same terms? And cos only DB will offer those terms there is an issue with Trump being controlled by them (and the Russian guarantors) cos they are doing him a huge favour? Also DB don't want to sell the loan and lose the influence they bought with the generous terms?
Is that the difference between the DB loan and the BOC one? Or in general, some loans can give control whereas some are just standard commercial transactions, and those can be sold on piecemeal with the result that hundreds of people might own parts of a given debt, sometimes without even knowing it?
 
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