{"id":28481,"date":"2023-09-14T13:15:36","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T20:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28481"},"modified":"2023-09-14T13:15:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T20:15:37","slug":"corporate-liberal-media-propaganda-and-joe-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/14\/corporate-liberal-media-propaganda-and-joe-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Liberal Media Propaganda and Joe Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"President<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling at the White House on May 09, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden spoke following a meeting with Congressional lawmakers as they continue to debate about raising the debt ceiling to avoid a government default. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a wide-open presidential primary process in 2020, Democrats and progressives came together to defeat Trump. We may need that open process again in 2024 to defeat Trumpism for a second time.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JEFF COHEN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 13, 2023 Common Dreams<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the conceits of MSNBC<\/em>-watching liberals is that\u2014while Fox News<\/em> serves up a steady stream of propaganda\u2014they are getting the straight news from MSNBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the hallmarks of propaganda is selective outrage. Fox News<\/em> generally defends the superwealthy (the \u201cjob-creators\u201d) and their tax cuts, but is outraged by one particular billionaire: Democratic-donor George Soros. At MSNBC<\/em>, there is outrage over rich rightwing donors and Russian oligarchs, but not so much over powerful U.S. oligarchs<\/a>, especially if they lean Democratic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another hallmark of propaganda is selective facts. Fox News<\/em> cherry-picks video clips and factoids to portray President Biden as a weakling who is captive of his party\u2019s left wing or the Chinese Communist Party, or both. He\u2019s not. On MSNBC<\/em>, he\u2019s portrayed as a transformative agent of change, sometimes as the second coming of FDR. He\u2019s not that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To credulous news consumers who reside snugly in the bubble of corporate liberal media (from the New York Times<\/em> and Washington Post<\/em> to MSNBC<\/em> and CNN<\/em> to \u201cpublic\u201d broadcasting), the Biden administration has racked up powerful, even historic, legislative achievements on behalf of the public. Which makes it hard for many of these liberal news consumers to fathom why the public seems unaware of Biden\u2019s great accomplishments, with his approval rating at 39 percent<\/a> in the latest CNN<\/em> poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and Trumpism need to be defeated at the ballot box, and we need to confront the fact that Biden would be a weak candidate next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it possible that those glued to corporate liberal media\u2014a demographic that skews older and richer than those who tune out the news\u2014are being propagandized and oversold on Biden? Today, pro-Biden outlets report almost daily on how the president has confronted the climate crisis through the Inflation Reduction Act, a small step forward<\/a> aimed at spurring investment in renewables. This is where selective facts enter the picture. These same outlets keep marginalizing Biden\u2019s recent reversals that are worsening the crisis\u2014and summer 2023 was \u201cthe hottest season the world has ever seen<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) summarized those reversals in an online <\/a>Washington Post<\/a><\/em> interview<\/a> that received little mainstream media pick-up: \u201cThe Biden administration has reverted to an all-of-the-above strategy. They are green-lighting one fossil project after another, more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a new LNG export facility in Alaska, a massive North Sea drilling operation called the Willow Project<\/a>, the Mountain Valley Gas Pipeline. And they’ve failed to absolutely educate Americans about the immediacy of the challenge and how dramatically we need to operate in order to take it on.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley mentioned that Washington needs to secure agreements with other countries to stop new fossil fuel projects: \u201cBut how can the U.S. ask for that when we\u2019re approving a whole lot more fossil projects here at home.\u201d The senator concluded: \u201cOn this most important issue facing humanity, Team Biden is failing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite massive pressure<\/a> from environmentalists that began in 2021, including from young activists who\u2019ll be needed for Democrats to defeat GOP neo-fascism in 2024, Biden has stubbornly refused to declare a climate emergency. Such a declaration would give him broader powers to act\u2014to move forward instead of in reverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the issue of student loan debt, Biden stubbornly resisted lobbying that began in early 2021 from grassroots groups (and even from Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer<\/a>) to go big and rely on the Higher Education Act of 1965<\/a> to cancel up to $50,000 in debt per person. Even though student debt<\/a> falls hardest on Black women<\/a>, Biden opposed cancellation by disingenuously claiming<\/a> that he didn\u2019t want to help rich Ivy Leaguers<\/a>. After 19 months of pressure from the Democratic base, Biden yielded and his administration canceled some student debt based on COVID emergency legislation<\/a>\u2014a move ultimately blocked by the reactionary Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates for universal healthcare are also fully aware of Biden\u2019s stubbornness; they remember his stunning comment<\/a> during the 2020 campaign that if Congress somehow passed Medicare for All, he might actually veto it as president. Candidate Biden did promise to lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 60, a change that would materially improve the lives of millions. But he took no action<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the quasi-fascist threat represented by Trump and the MAGA movement, it\u2019s understandable that many who care about democracy feel the need to rally around Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of healthcare\u2014which causes most bankruptcies in our country\u2014is one of those inequality crises that smothers millions of Americans, most of whom don\u2019t consume MSNBC<\/em> or corporate liberal media. Major reforms would be noticed even by these low-news consumers. If you\u2019re inside the liberal news media bubble, you\u2019ve been told regularly how Team Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act are lowering the cost of Insulin and ten other widely-used medications. It\u2019s an important step forward. But it\u2019s dwarfed by the enormity of the healthcare crisis and has not yet impacted enough voters. (More federal funds would be available for healthcare and other domestic needs if Biden and Congress didn\u2019t keep enlarging the already-bloated military budget<\/a>\u2014a topic that gets little scrutiny or criticism<\/a> from corporate liberal outlets.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to why many MSNBC<\/em> viewers are bewildered by the lack of public support for a president who they see hailed nightly for his grand achievements. In last week\u2019s national poll<\/a> showing Biden at 39 percent approval, one of the more disturbing numbers is that 58 percent said the president\u2019s policies have worsened economic conditions. Sure, some of those naysayers are getting disinformed daily by right-wing propaganda from Fox News<\/em> and elsewhere. But most aren\u2019t inside the right-wing media bubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As prices rise and working-class and middle-class people struggle to pay bills, Biden has been unable to persuade many of them that he\u2019s \u201con their side.\u201d While progressives like Bernie Sanders<\/a> have spent almost two years spotlighting how corporate greed<\/a> has fueled inflation<\/a> (with proposals<\/a> to address \u201cgreedflation\u201d), that populist message is not one Biden is able or willing to convey. And it\u2019s certainly not a message you\u2019ll hear in liberal outlets owned by giant corporations or billionaires<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the quasi-fascist threat represented by Trump and the MAGA movement, it\u2019s understandable that many who care about democracy feel the need to rally around Biden. But it\u2019s long past time for progressives and Democrats to yank their heads out of the sand and quit being pacified by pro-Biden adulation on MSNBC<\/em> or CNN<\/em> and their 24\/7 all-Trump\/all-indictments coverage. These indictments may not stop Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and Trumpism need to be defeated at the ballot box, and we need to confront the fact that Biden would be a weak candidate next year. Putting aside his age, he\u2019s weak because he appears incapable of addressing the crises people are experiencing. And his reelection team seems clueless about the issues that persuadable voters care about (as shown by their recent Ukraine ad<\/a>). Most of the public doesn\u2019t want Biden to run for reelection. Most Democratic-leaning voters<\/a> don\u2019t want him to run again either\u2014especially those not propagandized nightly by MSNBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a wide-open presidential primary process in 2020, Democrats and progressives came together to defeat Trump. We may need that open process again in 2024 to defeat Trump or Trumpism. For that to happen, Joe Biden would have to step aside<\/a>. The sooner the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JEFF COHEN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Cohen is an activist and author. Cohen was an associate professor of journalism and the director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, founder of the media watch group FAIR, and former board member of Progressive Democrats of America. In 2002, he was a producer and pundit at MSNBC. He is the author of “Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media” – and a co-founder of the online action group, www.RootsAction.org. His website is jeffcohen.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling at the White House on May 09, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden spoke following a meeting with Congressional lawmakers as they continue to debate about raising the debt ceiling to avoid a government default.  (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1068],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28482,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28481\/revisions\/28482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}