NBC News Political Director and host of Meet The Press Chuck Todd confessed that the mainstream media had been manipulated by Republican howls of liberal media bias.

Chuck Todd Admitted What Media Observers Have Known For A Long Time

In an interview with The Verge, where he was talking about Republican claims of liberal media bias, Chuck Todd said:

But now the Republicans have subsumed all of this and it’s turned into this. We should have fought back better in the mainstream media. We shouldn’t [have] accepted the premise that there was liberal bias. We should have defended. I hear the attacks on fact checkers where they “fact-check Republicans six times more than they fact-check Democrats.” Yeah. Perhaps the Republicans are being factually incorrect more often than the Democrats.

We ended up in this both-sides trope. We bought into the idea that, oh my God, we’re perceived as having a liberal bias. And I think for particularly the first decade of the century, I’d say mainstream media overcorrected. And we bought into the Fox motto of “balance.” And it’s like, Jesus, there’s no balance, they need the truth. There’s fairness, that’s different than balance. And so in that sense, this is why we’re in this defensive posture today.

The Mainstream Media Remains Manipulated By Republican Claims Of Liberal Media Bias

It isn’t like much has changed in the mainstream media. The Sunday shows remain dominated by Republican guests whose false information goes largely unchallenged.  Fox News is still treated by far too many in the mainstream media as a legitimate news organization. The mainstream media gives facts and Republican talking points equal weight, and much of the mainstream media is still infected with both sides do itism.

Chuck Todd has done this sort of thing in the past. He points out the problems in mainstream media, but he doesn’t promise to work toward any change.

Here is an idea. The mainstream media could reject the Republican bulls*it and substitute facts for fairness.

Until the mainstream media rejects Republican manipulations and lies, it will be business as usual for the corporate press, and the American people will pay the price for their lack of courage.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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