Agenda-driven Media Writes Wildly Different Stories About GA Senate Candidates And Others

Skeptics often sarcastically ask me if I really think that the mainstream media is biased. And my answer is always the same: I’d say it’s less about being biased and more about being agenda-driven. When you have an agenda to push, you shape your stories in a particular way. You exclude or downplay things that are detrimental to your agenda while highlighting things that support your agenda.

And that’s really OK as long as your readers and viewers understand that you have an agenda. For example, Chicks On The Right is a conservative commentary site, meaning our agenda is to discuss things from a decidedly conservative perspective. Readers know this.

But mainstream media touts themselves as being nonpartisan and not having an agenda of any kind. So people believe them and assume that they are watching or reading news that is neutral, while there is actually an underlying agenda that drives their reporting. For example, people may call One America News Network a “conservative news network,” which it is. But they call CNN simply “a news network,” as though it doesn’t push any particular agenda and is simply neutral news. And this misunderstanding is incredibly dangerous to people who assume they are being well informed by the mainstream media.

Here are a couple of great example of the mainstream media agenda showing through in the stories they write.

On January 1, 2020, The New York Times ran a story on Georgia Republican Senate Candidate David Perdue titled, “Before embracing America-first agenda, David Perdue was an outsourcing expert.” In the highly critical article, the NYT goes into great detail about the candidate’s business history, painting him as a scheming, conniving, and racist corporate white man.

The next day, on January 2, 2021, The New York Times ran a story on Georgia Democratic Senate Candidate Raphael Warnock titled, “Raphael Warnock, From the Pulpit to Politics, Doesn’t Shy From ‘Uncomfortable’ Truths.” In this article, the NYT went into incredible detail about Reverend Warnock’s religious past, painting him as a shepherd and spiritual leader of Georgia citizens. The article glossed over some serious trouble spots in the Reverend’s past, making sure to use language that lessened the severity and excluding the most horrifying details.

And people are starting to see it.

I wasn’t going to say anything about the total puff piece the Tribune ran on Warnock (an AP story, of course), but the *very next day* we get this, so here are the heads. What bias? pic.twitter.com/6euPuyDd8H

— Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) December 23, 2020

In fact, Drew Holden did an entire thread doing side-by-side comparisons of the how the media portrayed two governors– Cuomo and DeSantis.

As of today, NY’s deaths per 100k from coronavirus (188) is about double Florida’s (96). Florida and Gov. DeSantis seem to be doing something right in that regard.

But you would have no idea that was the case if you spend your days listening/watching/reading @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/IZlUQ31y6R

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

The worst offender had to be @CNN, which is no surprise given Cuomo’s brother works there.

But I mean. Cmon guys. This is egregious. pic.twitter.com/LZU7oJaVgl

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Also very interesting the ways that @CNN chooses to humanize (or not) each governor’s response. pic.twitter.com/csO9Nxuxvh

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Truth be told, this entire thread could’ve focused just on @CNN.

Honestly I think this side by side sums it all up. pic.twitter.com/kETWgumhfc

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Both of these stories from @nytimes bill themselves as straight reporting.

Okay. pic.twitter.com/PVVcejWa8D

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I just. I’m not sure what we’re doing here @washingtonpost. pic.twitter.com/eC7iy8xFsb

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

These two from @NPR also capture the situation perfectly.

DeSantis gets fact-checked. Cuomo gets an Emmy. pic.twitter.com/xEVQrZgK9e

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I don’t even know what universe I’m living in anymore. @politico pic.twitter.com/nOqypFUJ69

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Here’s @Slate – God bless them – who compared the governors they thought did the best and worst.

I think the headlines say it all. pic.twitter.com/iQPsa6MQYe

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@CNBC found a way to shoehorn in criticism of DeSantis in their reporting of a separate issue.

For Cuomo, they’ve got a nonstop feed for his pressers (this was just a small sample of all of the tweets). pic.twitter.com/r3mDhVYrtc

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

About two-thirds of these comments started out as just “oh ffs” and this one from @DEADLINE sums up why. pic.twitter.com/jv2nxuKCe3

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I wonder if @Salon will revisit this first piece, because that Florida model was revised shortly thereafter and eventually proved entirely inaccurate.

Cuomo, on the other hand, gets elevated to some sort of religious icon. pic.twitter.com/aGh91vc8re

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@RollingStone has gone from a reputable national outlet to a low-budget political operation in record time. More on this first line of attack later. pic.twitter.com/NjCdTUyjHj

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I can always count on @VanityFair to act in bad faith. pic.twitter.com/1Vjg31Mzer

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Speaking of bad faith, the podcast bros over at @crookedmedia are doing more of the same. pic.twitter.com/khwOuLNzOD

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@HuffPost really working overtime here huh.

For context, of the 300,000 people who have died from coronavirus, fewer than 600 of them are under 25. pic.twitter.com/1XdqmixuG4

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And overseas media got involved too. Here’s @guardian with a side by side that brings home the difference in perception among our moral betters in the media.

Again, Cuomo has presided over a deaths per capita rate that’s almost double! pic.twitter.com/mCR9KL3gRN

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And speaking of double, we’ll double up, because @guardian had a lot of material to work with.

I mean. Cmon. pic.twitter.com/pROXY613Ia

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

A little bit of a different focus here wouldn’t you say, @BBCNews? Especially considering that, by any objective measure, New York was hit far worse? pic.twitter.com/okl2ISXeC1

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

You may’ve thought that surely this is mostly a US phenomenon, but along with BBC and the Guardian, @Independent is here to remind you that that simply isn’t the case. pic.twitter.com/ROhsllU01r

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And here’s the kicker, as Drew includes in his thread. By the most serious metric, deaths per capita, New York has been far more devastated by COVID that Florida.

I’ll pause here to drive the point home: by the most critical metric, deaths per capita, DeSantis has outperformed Cuomo enormously. Cuomo’s led one of the most disastrous crisis responses in US history.

If NY were a country it’d have the highest death per capita IN THE WORLD.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And these are literally just the examples from Cuomo vs DeSantis. Imagine what else could be found.