Why is the press rooting for a Democratic loss in Virginia?

[Just_Vote_Dem]

https://pressrun.media/p/why-is-the-press-rooting-for-a-democratic

Sticking close to the media’s preferred script, Axios this week reported that the walls were caving in on Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who’s caught in a surprisingly close race in Virginia’s governor’s race. “It was clear the McAuliffe campaign has taken on an air of tension — bordering on panic,” Axios announced.

Proof of the “panic” attack? “McAuliffe cut off one television interview last week,” the outlet claimed. That seems like thin confirmation, considering candidates juggle media interviews all the time. Plus, the Democratic did no such thing — he agreed to a 10-minute interview with a local Sinclair TV station and actually gave them 11 minutes.

Is McAuliffe’s campaign in a state of “panic”? Axios provided no tangible evidence that it is. But the press seems to be rooting for a Democratic loss in Virginia, so the “panic” claim gets widely aired. Eager to portray Joe Biden’s presidency as on the verge of collapse, the press is excitedly pushing the governor’s race across the Potomac as a potentially cataclysmic event for the entire Democratic Party.

“Virginia's gubernatorial election is more important than ever as a national barometer” a CNN headline announced this month. What CNN and everyone else covering the race means is that if Democrats lose, the Virginia race will function as a national barometer. If Republicans lose, it won’t mean a thing. Note there’s a governor’s race in New Jersey this year as well, and a Democrat is expected to win with ease. For some reason, that’s not a “barometer” of anything.

More at link

[DURHAM D]

1. "Press" is just another business.

Stupid group think says Dems in disarray and destruction is good for business.

[onenote]

2. I don't regard "Axios" as representing the entirety of "the press."

And as for those analysts on CNN and elsewhere who are suggesting that a McAuliffe defeat would send a bad signal...well, I see that same sentiment reflected by posters on DU. Does that mean that they are "rooting" for McAuliffe to lose? I'm hoping he wins and am prepared for the possibility that he will lose and, as a lifelong Virginia Democrat, I can assure you that a McAulliffe loss won't be a good sign for 2022.

[Elessar Zappa]

10. I don't think it reflects what will happen in '22.

It’s still a year away. McAuliffe could destroy the other guy and we could lose the midterms or McAuliffe could get destroyed and we could win the midterms. The news cycle changes quickly, it’s impossible to predict who will have momentum next November.

[ShazamIam]

3. It has been obvious since Carter, the Media hates Democratic and loves the authortarian Republicans.

[Hoyt]

4. Don't think most are rooting for Dem loss. Besides, saying it's close, etc., might just GOTV.

I think it is close and hope voters turn out and that early voting is heavily skewed Dem.

[tenderfoot]

5. another question... why does the press prefer right wingers in power?

eom

[CrispyQ]

9. The media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it. bumper sticker. -nt

[tenderfoot]

14. They have been all along - especially during the late 1930s/early 1940s

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016305205

[ret5hd]

6. Simple answer:

https://steemitimages.com/640x0/

[CrispyQ]

13. Wow! Amazing infographic.

Thanks for posting!

[onenote]

16. Amazingly inaccurate, you mean.

Who knew that movie studios like Universal, Marvel, Miramax, Pixar, Paramount, and Warner Bros were "news media"? Or that ESPN, MTV, Nick Jr(!!), CMT, HBO, Showtime, Jeopardy(!) were news media.

And talk about out of date -- Jeopardy has been produced by Sony (which isn't on this list even though it is one of the Big Five movie studio conglomerates) since 2002. And Time Warner has been broken into several pieces: the cable systems have primarily been owned by Charter since 2016, the various Warner media programming entities (HBO, CNN, Cartoon, TNT, Warner Studios etc etc) have been owned by ATT since 2018 (and ATT is in the process of spinning those assets off to Discovery.) Time Warner sold Time Magazine to Meredith Corp in 2018. Disney sold Miramax more than 10 years ago. Smithsonian Channel is "notable" mostly for the fact that its available in less than 30 percent of US tv households and isn't watched by most of those.

Most significantly, here are some actual "news media" that aren't on this list that supposedly represents 90 percent of all news media: USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Sinclair Broadcasting, Charter Communications, DISH TV/Echostar, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Tribune Broadcasting (which also owns the Chicago Tribune among other papers), Nexstar Media Group (largest owner of TV stations in US), Gannett (largest owner of newspapers in US by circulation), Bloomberg, TEGNA, Scripps, Hearst, Advance Publications. and on and on and on. I haven't even bothered to mention radio stations. And then there is new media: Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL...all of which are news sources. Or Spanish language sources, such as Univision.

The notion that 90 percent of the "news media" is owned by six corporations is utter nonsense, but it persists.

[CrispyQ]

18. The graphic title reads Media Consolidation, not News Media Consolidation.

Whatever.

[onenote]

19. "Six media giants now control a staggering 90 percent of what we read, watch or listen to'

That's the claim. And its staggeringly untrue and silly.

It ignores some of the most heavily subscribed to and read newspapers and magazines. It ignores radio stations (what we "listen to" ). It ignores social media companies. It lists entities that have been de-consolidated, like Time Magazine from the other Warner entities, like Miraxmax from Disney, etc.)

It claims that the "Big Six" control 70% of "your cable" -- even though only one company that offers multichannel video programming distribution service (Comcast) is on that list -- and it represents less than 20 million of the 78 million MVPD customers (and its share is dropping as people cut the cord and rely on streaming services). And if the reference to "your cable" is supposed to be a reference to cable programming networks (like CNN, HBO, ESPN, etc), the list includes Time Warner, which doesn't own cable networks any more, and doesn't include the owners of some of the most widely distributed cable networks: ATT, Discovery, Weather Channel to name a few. It also doesn't include the 4000+ non-commercial educational FM radio stations or the 380 noncommercial educational television stations.

Other graphics are equally absurd. USA Today, not the Wall Street Journal, is the largest US paper by circulation (and leaves WSJ in the dust if you add online to print). I don't know whether Clear Channel ever owned 1200 stations, but its successor, iHeartRadio, owns 858 stations -- a fraction of the nation's 6680 FM commercial stations and 4500 commercial AM stations (to say nothing of the aforementioned 4000 noncommercial stations) and online "radio" services. And I guarantee that Clear never owned all of the radio stations in Minot ND.

Even if nothing had changed since this goofy meme was first published 11 years ago, it would be nonsensical and lacking in any reference to substantive data to back up its claims. Yet folks here have been citing it for years as if it was gospel.

[CrispyQ]

7. Because they think when the fascists win it will be business as usual.

And maybe it will be?

[LenaBaby61]

8. Why is the press rooting for a Democratic loss in Virginia?

For the same reason they wanted tRump twin Elder to take down Newsom here in California. Boy were they wrong. Newsom beat that woman-beater worse than anyone had expected. But, I read a column from one out of state newspaper which said "Newsom survives (Survives?) the recall, but why is California more polarized than ever under Newsom's Governorship?" The GQP US Taliban Party SAID that they were going to try to recall Newsom even before he'd won the governorship. You mean, that kind of polarization?

I'm sick of these right-winged, mostly corporate news media hacks who don't give a fuck about democracy, only the ad dollars they bring in from GQP US Taliban chaos and un-American, hateful, lying, racist, evil ways.

By the way, WHY doesn't tRump twin Elder run for Governor of Alabama?

We know why

[BannonsLiver]

11. It's pretty simple, they want Trump back

Good for revenue.

[karynnj]

12. All of their analysis has been that the Republicans will pull off an upset

As someone with a background in statistics, I have always hated the "patterns" they speak of continuously. In VA, they speak of how the party in office usually loses the VA governorship. They note that Mcauliffe in 2013 was an exception. Only by ignoring that exception, does the pattern even hold much weight.

No one mentions the other pattern, which is that the state has near steadily moved from red to purple to blue. The Democrat won the governorship every election from 2001, when Mark Warner won thru now, except for 2009 when Mcdonell won. Democrats winning happened 4 out of 5 times in the most recent elections.Virginians may know why 2009 was the exception and whether it was based on Virgina issues.

[brooklynite]

15. How is reporting on the closeness and the risks of the VA Gov race "rooting"?

[LymphocyteLover]

23. for one, the exaggerated claims about the McAuliffe campaign in a panic

and the general framing of the story as described in the excerpt

[Lawrence454]

17. Because they love rewarding themselves with lazy punditry

And click bait articles

[RFCalifornia]

20. Horserace. They want a horserace nt

[Wounded Bear]

21. This close race means higher ratings...

[RFCalifornia]

22. And we get to be permanently stressed out

Turn off the TV or watch horror movies

May I suggest the Final Destination series

Best "dead teenager movie" franchise ever