The US election and the death of journalism

The US presidential election is imminent, and polls suggest Joe Biden will win in a landslide. A Biden win would mean the end of Donald Trump, but it would also mark something fundamentally more important – the death of a genuinely impartial free press. Journalism has sold its soul to cover for Biden and destroy Trump, and that has repercussions far beyond this election.

After Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, the Supreme Court has become a major issue in this election. There will likely be a conservative majority of 6-3 after Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination, and the Democrats have now floated the idea of court-packing – essentially, just adding more judges so their side will take over. The American public is not in favour, and so the Biden and Harris have refused to take a clear line on the issue.

In the VP debate, Mike Pence asked Harris whether she and Biden would pack the court. She went on a long tangent, making up history about Abraham Lincoln, and didn’t answer the question. Joe Biden has been consistently pushed on the issue, and refuses to answer: he said that “you’ll know my position on court-packing the day after the election” and, unbelievably, that he won’t answer because “that’ll become the issue”. Surely a presidential candidate’s major policy views should be analysed and discussed – and yet, journalists have essentially rolled over, letting the Democrat ticket get away with this.

A media that covers every stupid thing Trump says literally and seriously just isn’t interested in his rival

The package has been clear since Joe Biden announced his presidential run – any potentially negative stories about him are kicked into the long grass. I’ve already touched on the total lack of interest in sexual assault claims against Biden – indeed, the only media outlet even willing to interview his accuser is 60 Minutes Australia. Yes, Australia – the US media won’t touch this, despite happily running a more tenuous story about Trump last month.

A media obsessed with Russia, and with Trump supposedly using his office to enrich himself and his family, has completely ignored the Hunter Biden story, mentioning it only to dismiss it. Hunter was paid $3.5 million by Russia’s richest woman, and Putin has come out in favour of the Democrats, but we just hear crickets. Trump has been accused of using his office to go after his opponents (indeed, he was impeached for it), but when details of a potential Obama-Biden scandal designed to delegitimise the Trump administration come to light, again, it’s dismissed out of hand.

All of this comes even before we get to the almost-daily gaffes – it’s no wonder that his staff have frequently pulled the plug on events and campaigning in the early morning (and, of course, no one is curious about that). I don’t nearly have enough space to go through them all, so here are some picks from just the last week. He called for a “$15 million minimum, $15,000, $15 minimum wage” after struggling with the teleprompter, and then he pulled his mask off to cough. He told a group of young girls that he wanted “to see them dancing when they’re four years older”. A media that covers every stupid thing Trump says literally and seriously just isn’t interested in his rival.

We need journalists to actually act like journalists, not partisan activists

These random comments have contributed to speculation that Biden is not mentally well, and is possibly suffering early on-set dementia. We don’t know, because the candidate has claimed both that he’s “been tested and I’m constantly tested”, and that “I haven’t taken a test”. In the latter case, he called the journalist a “junkie” for even asking the question. A media obsessing over Trump’s health has paid no attention to the possibility Biden may not be up to the job, even though more than half of all voters don’t think he’ll make it through his first term.

I want to be clear – I’m not saying that there’s anything in these stories. Biden and his son may not be corrupt, he may not want to pack the Supreme Court, his mental health may be perfectly fine. But for journalists to not even ask the questions is truly unforgivable. Joe Biden is running for the highest office in the land, and yet he’s received minimal scrutiny, in large part because the media is insistent on defeating Donald Trump and don’t want to throw up any roadblocks. So they gloss over events and personalities that deserve coverage. Do you know that Kamala Harris hasn’t faced a single press junket since receiving the VP nomination? If Biden wins, she’ll be president within the year, but the media are just happy to wave her through, literally no questions asked.

Trust in the media has essentially vanished

In the age of the internet, these stories still find the light of day, and it contributes to a general feeling of unease about the media. Trust in the media has essentially vanished. Trump has repeatedly called the media biased and corrupt, and they take great umbrage at this – but the best way to avoid these allegations is to not be biased and corrupt. Although I frame this against the backdrop of the US election, this is about a wider issue. We need journalists to actually act like journalists, not partisan activists.

Journalism is a noble profession, informing society, sharing truth and shedding light on what the powerful want to keep in the dark – good journalists follow stories wherever the facts may lead. After Trump’s election, the Washington Post adopted a new slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” – journalists should be lighting the light, but instead they’re becoming part of the problem, burying news that they’d rather not cover. That should really worry us all.