The corporate media had a collective meltdown this week after realizing that the Republicans they love to bash and smear are no longer giving members of the press the benefit of the doubt. Much to their dismay, some GOPers are even refusing to engage with or acknowledge journos desperate to write hit pieces.
In one New York Magazine Intelligencer article, headlined “Why Republicans Stopped Talking to the Press,” David Freedlander complains that former President Donald Trump ushered in a new era of media disdain in GOP politics that encourages “actively courting the media’s scorn while avoiding anything that may be viewed as consorting with the enemy.”
One anonymous GOP adviser explained bluntly, “We know reporters always disagreed with the Republican Party,” and outlets now are “just chasing resistance rage-clicks.”
Freedlander, however, rejects those valid concerns and suggests that “there is really not much Republicans can say” after supporting Donald Trump. (Maybe Freedlander and the New York Times’s Bret Stephens, who recently penned a disingenuous article further exposing his contempt for Trump supporters, are friends?)
According to Freedlander and his pal New York Times writer Jeremy Peters, Republicans “don’t want to have to defend Donald Trump and his falsehoods about the election.”
Freedlander notes that “most top ’24 contenders are media-makers in their own right, hosting their own podcasts or, at minimum, building out robust social-media feeds.” Instead of acknowledging that’s because conservatives have faced endless political censorship from Big Tech and grave dishonesty from the press, Freedlander says that’s because Republicans want to “find places where they don’t have to face any questions” about Trump’s election integrity concerns.
Vanity Fair published a similar article on Tuesday whining about the Republican Party of Florida’s decision to limit which media outlets were allowed to cover their Sunshine Summit, a conference headlined by one of the most skilled media rejectionists, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“GOP politicians are increasingly shirking sit-down interviews, barring journalists from 2022 events, and skipping debates—an aversion to media scrutiny that could upend how the next presidential election cycle is covered,” the subheadline warns.
Vanity Fair, which has had no shame in attacking DeSantis and other Republicans before, clearly published the article with the intent to spark fear about the growing distance between the party and the press. That’s why the headline asks, “Will Republicans Shut Out The Press in 2024?”
I sure hope Republicans shut out the press, especially if that means red legislators will refuse to cede ground to corrupt actors who have no problems meddling in elections to fulfill their political aims.
After all, history proves that the corporate media is hostile toward the GOP and red voters. When journalists bother to try to talk to Republicans, they are more likely than not acting in bad faith. Why should Republicans, who know the corporate media have a clear left-wing bent, buy into the Democrat-informed narratives peddled by media activists?
Even normal people know the media are not to be trusted. Recent polling suggests Americans’ confidence in media is at an all-time low. Only 16 percent of Americans claimed to have a “great deal/quite a lot of confidence in newspapers.” That confidence falls even lower to 11 percent for TV news.
As GOP strategist Dave Carney bluntly put it for Freedlander: “No one gives a f-ck what the New York Times writes.”
And neither should Republican politicians.
