Predicting a rigged election has been a common refrain from Donald Trump throughout the campaign. He's been talking not only about potential fraud at the polls but about the way the media cover him. Comments such as these have earned Trump, at best, a dismissive shrug from most media. But the majority of Americans seem to agree.
CNN's firing of Donna Brazile for slipping the Clinton campaign debate questions ahead of time may add some fuel to his fire. The dismissal came after Brazile, a long time Democratic operative and analyst for the cable network, emphatically denied any wrongdoing when Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked about it when the issue first arose a few weeks ago.
Not long ago, the Trump campaign also focused on the high percentage of journalists who made political contributions to the Clinton campaign. So does Donald Trump have a point that the many in the media have been out to torpedo his candidacy? NewBostonPost.com Editor Jennifer Braceras ( @MAHockeyMom) and Former CNN White House Correspondent Dan Lothian ( @DanLothianTV) joined Jim to discuss this media criticism.
On Brazile leaking the questions and journalists making campaign contributions, Lothian said both validate criticisms about the media and are indefensible practices.
Braceras argued that the notion that the media are more pro-Democratic and anti-Republican is true. She said that the media's narrative is that Republican voters are small-minded. Braceras argued that this narrative is no different FROM what we saw during Mitt Romney's campaign four years ago. The media have been singing this song for a long time, she said, and the wolf is at the door, and now nobody believes them.
Braceras said she does donate to political campaigns, for example, Marco Rubio's this year. She said that all reporters have biases, and they should be open about those biases. She explained that she is not hiding her biases. Braceras argued that everyone goes into their job with an opinion, and nothing can be objective. She said to let the voters decide if journalists' reporting is biased.
In contrast, Lothian said he does not donate to campaigns. He said that reporters may have biases, but that doesn't mean they show up in their daily work. He said that his job is to present the story in a fair way.
