TV Reports on Manchin and Sinema Leave Out Their Financial Conflicts
OCTOBER 22, 2021
SPENCER SNYDER
As the October 31 deadline to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill approaches, the media have made a project of examining senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema’s opposition to the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, also known as the Build Back Better Act (FAIR.org, 10/6/01). Despite countless hours of coverage and conjecture about what might or might not get Manchin and Sinema to vote for the bill, the financial conflicts of interest that reinforce their reluctance to vote for the bill have been almost completely ignored. In a review of 21 relevant news programs, airing on October 3–4 on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, financial conflicts were discussed for only 45 seconds.
In fact, some in the media have attempted to help insulate Manchin and Sinema against such observations. On ABC‘s Good Morning America (10/3/21), former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said that “impugning motivation is harmful, and I’ve seen way too much of that as it relates to both Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, and I think that needs to ratchet down.”
The television news media have instead chosen to engage in repetitious conjecture about what price between $1.5–$3.5 trillion might be acceptable to which parties. (One should note, as journalists rarely did, that $3.5 trillion is the cost of both spending and tax cuts over 10 years—and represents approximately 1.25% of projected US GDP over that period.)
. . .
In interviews with progressives, anchors have taken to reminding them that their compromise is imminent. “Our correspondent says you’re going to have to settle for about $2 trillion. Is that an acceptable ceiling for you?” asked CBS‘s Margaret Brennan (Face the Nation, 10/3/21) of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.-N.Y.) Even more forcefully, NBC‘s Chuck Todd (Meet the Press, 10/3/21) asked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I.-Vermont) if he has “accepted the fact that it’s not going to be $3.5 trillion.”
More:
https://fair.org/home/tv-reports-on-manchin-and-sinema-leave-out-their-financial-conflicts/
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