The reaction to President Biden’s performance in his debate with former President Trump on June 27, 2024, underscores one of the core weaknesses in our political culture. Namely our popular political media.
The news media is a business. The media does not provide us information that would be objectively useful to us in making the decisions we need to make in our day to day lives. The various media outlets provide us with the information that we are wanting and willing to consume. Our media provides the information to us that we choose to consume.
Certainly, the media in general engages in all the practices that other businesses engage in to trick consumers into consuming products they did not really wish to consume. In particular, media companies of all types frequently misrepresent the nature of the product they are providing. Another frequent tactic is putting forth someone for “expert analysis” when the expert’s only expertise is in getting hired and drawing in viewers. There is a reason talking heads on television are typically attractive, and the reason is not because attractive people are typically more knowledgeable or insightful.
With that said, the media options available to us individually are in large part based upon the decisions we all make in aggregate in the media we consume. To illustrate my point, think of the no longer available McDonald’s salad. McDonald’s is one of the most popular restaurants in the country. There is a reason McDonald’s no longer sells salads and other more healthy alternatives to burgers, fries, and soft drinks. Selling double cheeseburgers is profitable, selling salads was not. The fact that a McDonald’s salad was a healthier alternative to a double cheeseburger did not matter in McDonald’s calculation in the products to offer because not enough people were not going to buy the salad anyway. McDonald’s made the business decision to sell the product that their customers wanted to buy.
And herein lies the problem with our popular political media. This is certainly a generalization, but our popular political media is divided between left and right, conservative and liberal, Democratic and Republican, Pro-Trump and Pro-Biden. Those lines blur from time to time but in general most popular political media stakes out a side and sticks to its side. These companies know from experience that to cross those lines risks a backlash from their own consumers.
As to President Biden’s recent Presidential debate performance on June 27, 2024, when President Biden walked onto that debate stage and began to speak what was reported by the pro-Trump media but denied by the pro-Biden media was no longer deniable. President Biden has markedly declined due to his advanced age. He should not be out vigorously campaigning for one of the most demanding and important jobs in the world but instead looking after his health and enjoying his retirement. Why the President’s family does not agree with this is to me the most inexplicable part of the whole story. Although they or their handlers do not seem to think so, neither Donald John Trump nor Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. are indispensable to the salvation of the world.
But those who were consuming pro-Trump media had heard of Biden’s decline, often ad nauseum, for years. No one knew how he would present on the debate stage that particular night, but his decline had been reported far too frequently for anyone to have been surprised that President Biden’s performance was not pretty.
If President Biden’s decline had been reported so often then why were so many surprised? Partly because the media pro-Biden consumers were consuming did not report it adequately, but equally as important, pro-Trump media has demonstrated it cannot be objective in their reporting on President Biden. Pro-Trump media accurately reported President Biden’s decline but was not believed because the pro-Trump media often inaccurately reported other aspects about President Biden and his administration.
Likewise, there are many unknowns and, on their face, concerning possibilities about another term for a President Trump. For me personally, I am concerned about President Trump’s lack of clarity about Russia’s war on Ukraine in general and in particular his meetings with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the most notable opponent to further assisting Ukraine amongst the NATO leaders.
The reverse about reporting about President Biden’s decline is also true when it comes to former President Trump. Pro-Biden media often accurately reports negative information about President Trump, but the reporting is not believed because the pro-Biden media often inaccurately reports other aspects about President Trump and his administration. This lack of reasonably objective sources of information for voters is damaging to the electoral process.
Perhaps the best solution is for media consumers to seek out media that seeks to be more objective, that reports facts each of us individually may not want to hear or that “hurts” our candidate, but that is important for us to consider when making our decisions on who to vote for. The solution to the problem lies collectively with all of us, and the media we choose to consume.