MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:I don't think "fixed" is the appropriate term when it came to the last presidential election, but I would hope even the most ardent Trump detractors will admit that the mainstream media was 100% stacked against Trump. They didn't even pretend to be unbiased. Hilary could do absolutely zero wrong with all the spin and lack of coverage of any of her misdeeds yet we heard about any and all things Trump had done wrong no matter how small. That was incredibly irresponsible of the media. In light of that, it seems odd to me that the Dems want to point the finger at Russian interference yet no word about how the MSM clearly heavily influenced the election towards Hilary.
RiverDog wrote:I had this debate with burrton. If the evil MSM is so heavily biased and influenced the 2016 way in which you have described, why is it that the R's were able to hold onto the House, the Senate (despite having to defend way more seats), governorships, and state houses? Why is it that in the 17 Presidential elections since 1952, the Republicans have won 10 of them? Why is it that in the past 26 years that the Republicans controlled the House for 20 years and the Senate for 16?
2016 was a huge win for the R's, and it's inconceivable how any party could f$%k up bad enough as the Dems would have had to in order to lose multiple elections across the country that decisively if the MSM was so influential.
The so-called MSM is not the 500 pound gorilla some make it out to be. Fox has many more cable viewers than any other channel, and talk radio, with tens of millions of listeners, is almost exclusively conservative. Both are far more biased than the "MSM" and now with social media being able to bypass all those institutions, there are plenty of avenues for both conservatives and liberals to get their message across to voters.
MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:If I'm overstating it, then I think you're understating it, and I should say then they tried to influence the election. It obviously didn't work, but you're talking about one major news outlet leaning towards Trump. CNN, USA Today, MSNBC, and The Washington Post consistently blasted Trump and propped up Hilary. It was literally hit piece after hit piece. It was so heavy handed that I truly believe it worked against the Dems during that time; that's why I think the R's were able to hold on.
The difference is that I've posted some factual points to support my contention that a media bias is not as influential as you're indicating. So far, all you've done is venture an opinion.
If you really want to see a true media bias that had tangible effects, you should take a look at the political landscape from 1932-1990. The Democrats controlled the House for all but 4 years and the Senate for all but 10. That was before the advent of talk radio and cable news commentaries like Fox. From the 30's through the 60's, all of the White House press corps hailed from the Northeast. There's no way that JFK would have won in 1960 without favorable treatment from the press. It's what caused Richard Nixon to become so paranoid that he ruined his presidency trying to fight them.
One of my endearing memories of my childhood is how my parents got their news. They had a local evening newspaper and spent 30 minutes watching Huntley-Brinkley. It's quite a contrast to how varied news sources are today. People have scores of choices in how they get their news in today's world. You don't HAVE to watch CNN or any of the others you mentioned if you don't agree with their politics.