American media lost its center of gravity

The fractious and invective speaker selected by the host committee of the White House Correspondents’ dinner is indicative of just how out of touch liberal elite journalists are with conservatives. As progressives — who dominate the mainstream press, evidenced by self-identified surveys and left-leaning political donations — preach their supposed doctrine of tolerance, diversity and inclusion, it’s clear that many of them don’t truly mean to fulfill that creed.

{mosads}However, the WHCA dinner is symptomatic of a much broader problem, as the mainstream media is firmly anti-Trump and thus ignores the will of millions of Americans who voted him in. A study from the Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center (where I worked closely with staff while earning a master’s in public policy there in 2010) illustrated just how off-balance the current media ecosystem is toward Trump.

The study found:

“Six of the seven U.S. outlets in our study — CBS, CNN, NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post — are among those he’s attacked by name. All six portrayed Trump’s first 100 days in highly unfavorable terms.

“CNN and NBC’s coverage was the most unrelenting — negative stories about Trump outpaced positive ones by 13-to-1 on the two networks. Trump’s coverage on CBS also exceeded the 90 percent mark. Trump’s coverage exceeded the 80 percent level in The New York Times (87 percent negative) and The Washington Post (83 percent negative).”

Given this anti-Trump atmosphere, it’s no wonder we see an ongoing problem of conservative distrust for the mainstream media highlighted by survey data in places like Pew Research, which found that 85 percent of those who identify as Republicans (as well as the Republican-leaning) think the news media has a “negative effect on the way things are going in the country,” 

CPAC Chairman: “WHCA dinner will turn Americans tired of the hate to Trump’s side” https://t.co/t99L0nOKvL pic.twitter.com/sTTaASry9m

— The Hill (@thehill) May 1, 2018

This distrust is a problem we tackle at Accuracy In Media (AIM) as today we launch our news rating system where we’ll rate stories on a five-color scale ranging from Accurate (Green Light) to Fake News (Red Light) along with a description for the rating. Through our rating system, we’re striving to serve our readers who deserve a fair shot at sifting through the information and misinformation floating in our journalistic ecosystem.

While there’s been much concern about talk of “alternative facts,” perhaps the bigger problem is that many journalists existing in their liberal, urban bubbles are missing a great number of “additional facts.” That journalists are more liberal and have more formal schooling (though aren’t wealthier, calling into question the ROI of a college degree) than the rest of the country no doubt contributed to how so many mainstream journalists were totally blindsided, in their polling and reporting, by President Trump’s victory.

Fox coverage of Trump rally beats CNN, MSNBC coverage of correspondents’ dinner in ratings https://t.co/rOoL8KaOiF pic.twitter.com/76hh4miPv2

— The Hill (@thehill) May 1, 2018

While we absolutely applaud journalists for holding public officials accountable, and yes that can mean some negative or skeptical coverage, we also simply seek accuracy and balance, which clearly is lacking at this time in American history. As Harvard found:

“Of the past four presidents, only Barack Obama received favorable coverage during his first 100 days, after which the press reverted to form. During his second 100 days, Obama’s coverage was 57 percent negative to 43 percent positive.”

As a member of the National Press Club, I have a deep respect for the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Yet freedom of speech doesn’t meant that our government leaders must pander to a small conclave of liberal elites who occupy the Beltway swamp. We The People, that means all the people, not an exclusionary conclave of self-selected “journalists” who malign Middle America, are the ones who hold our leaders accountable.

It’s up to We The People, citizen journalists on social media, at AIM and across the country, to create our vision for our nation’s trajectory.

Carrie Sheffield is national editor for Accuracy in Media is a citizens’ media watchdog organization whose mission is to promote fairness, balance, and accuracy in news reporting.