Back in the dark ages of 2012, two think-tank scholars, Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, wrote a book titled “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks” about the rise of Republican Party extremism and its dire effect on American democracy.
In a related op-ed piece, these writers made a damning statement about Washington press coverage, which treats the two parties as roughly equal and everything they do as deserving of similar coverage.
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enigma58
While Margaret Sullivan is absolutely on target with her critique of "impartial" reporting in an increasingly partisan political environment, her commentary falls prey to the increasingly commonplace belief that "extremism and its dire effect on American democracy" is the other guy's problem. Comments like "the former President's lies" about election fraud and description of the Jan. 6 riot as an "insurrection", by definition a coordinated violent attempt to overthrow the government, simply highlight for news readers and viewers that Democratic Party, as well as Republican Party, extremism is eroding civil and reasoned political discourse and governance. To emphasize Sullivan's point, although without her subjective acceptance of liberal virtue, simply repeating party handouts without challenging their validity is an abdication of journalistic responsibility to fairly and thoroughly inform the electorate.
Thursday, July 29, 2021 Report this