Bernie Sanders' Campaign Accuses Mainstream Media of Erasure

[Uncle Joe]

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign alleged Monday that corporate media outlets are intentionally ignoring—and attempting to undermine—the Vermont senator’s significant gains in recent polls with “cartoonishly inaccurate” reporting and headlines.

(snip)

The polls, Sirota noted, show Sanders is leading in New Hampshire, in second place and gaining momentum (pdf) in Iowa, in second place and surging in the key battleground state of Michigan, and the only 2020 Democrat leading President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

“Despite all this data, many in the national press corps continued to both inaccurately report the polling results—and also pretend Bernie doesn’t exist,” wrote Sirota, who pointed to several flagrant examples that he said are part of a pattern of media outlets attempting to “ignore and derail” the Sanders campaign’s momentum.

(snip)

Link to tweet

(snip)

Journalist Ken Klippenstein noted the phenomenon on Monday in response to the Times poll that showed Warren and Sanders—given the margin of error—statistically tied. The newspaper’s push notification tellingly left Sanders’ name out entirely.

(snip)

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/bernie-sanders-campaign-accuses-mainstream-media-of-erasure/

There are quite a few examples on there for all this to just be coincidence.

[W_HAMILTON]

1. In that same graphic in the tweet, they dropped Biden to 4th...

...so, I guess CNN is """rigging""" the nomination against Biden even more than they are against Sanders, huh?

[Uncle Joe]

3. Last week, Grim highlighted CNN's decision not to give Sanders the headline for its latest Iowa

state poll even though he came out on top:

Link to tweet

(snip)

As the patchwork of evidence mounts, critical observers of the corporate media’s treatment of Sanders have now made efforts to compile examples of the behavior:

(snip)

The Sanders team has not been shy about calling out unfair corporate media coverage of the Vermont senator’s 2020 presidential campaign. In July, as Common Dreams reported, the campaign fired back at MSNBC after several hosts and contributors to the Comcast-owned network launched a series of fact-free attacks on Sanders.

(snip)

[Me.]

2. This Is Starting To Feel Familiar

[NurseJackie]

8. Stand by.

[Me.]

9. Deja

all over again

[Bev54]

31. Sure is

Bernie whined all the way through the primaries in 2015/2016 and after, he is still whining, I wish he would STFU.

[Me.]

33. I'll Drink To That

[ritapria]

4. The Mainstream Media Hate Bernie's Guts

They don't like Joe Biden too much either ……… Until recently they were a virtual arm of the Warren Campaign ...Not so much lately ……...Their newest Fav is Mayor Pete - 2020's answer to Barack Obama ……….

[NurseJackie]

7. Yes... "hate"... that's got to be it. I'm sure that's what it is.

[George II]

16. Is that a siren I hear in the distance? I guess someone DID call it.

[Uncle Joe]

12. I don't believe they personally hate Bernie (although some of them might) so much as hating

the idea of losing a shitload of money from Big Pharma, for profit "health" insurance and fossil fuel corpse commercial sales

They love Citizens United, the idea of more corporate media conglomeration and their uber wealthy paycheck benefactors.

The poor and middle class are just consumers or customers to be sold a product, candidate or down the river; easily mislead as in the case of waging war but bearing the brunt of blood, sweat and treasure nonetheless.

There is a big difference in allegiance owed between a customer and a client in regards to fiduciary responsibility.

I can't recall any real push by the corporate media conglomerates to hype how much the cost of war and tax cuts primarily benefiting the most wealthy will cost the nation but taking care of the American Peoples' health care or saving the habitability of the only planet we live on always seems to be a major concern with them.

They rarely cover what the cost of the status quo is in regards to deaths and bankruptcies from or current cruel and dysfunctional "health" care system which is geared to making profit, not improving health, nor do they consistently cover the escalating cost both in lives, health and treasure from global warming climate change.

[JudyM]

42. Well said. But the "haters'" awareness is closed to facts.

[Uncle Joe]

44. I agree Judy but the good fight as in any past great struggle requires it nonetheless.

[George II]

15. "Hate Bernie's Guts"? I'm sure you can document that.

[TidalWave46]

5. Sinking into obscurity and blaming everyone along the way. NT

[comradebillyboy]

6. The whole world is conspiring against Bernie Sanders. Psychiatrists

have a name for that condition.

[LongtimeAZDem]

10. This +1

[JudyM]

43. Are you contesting the facts documented in the OP?

[comradebillyboy]

48. Those look more like opinions to me. And I have little faith in either

David Sirota or Truth Dig to give me a straight story.

[tishaLA]

11. He's practically St Sebastian at this point

[beastie boy]

13. Sirota is not much of a reader, is he?

Doesn't seem to know how to use Google either.

I just googled "Sanders leads in poll news". Got 157,000,000 results.
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrC3PHg5MFdT2gA8woPxQt.;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcwMDU1OQRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1kb21haW5kZXYtc3RfZW1lYQRncHJpZANNdlhJN2trZVFGYWkyZ3hTTF9aYXNBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxBG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDMARxc3RybAMyNgRxdWVyeQNzYW5kZXJzJTIwbGVhZHMlMjBpbiUyMHBvbGwlMjBuZXdzBHRfc3RtcAMxNTcyOTg4MTQw?p=sanders+leads+in+poll+news&fr2=sb-top&hspart=domaindev&hsimp=yhs-st_emea&type=dhm_A14MW_set_bfr__alt__ddc_srch_searchpulse_net

Were Sirota to spend as much time checking his statements for factual content as he does complaining, there would be no excuse for him to complain. Then again, that would put him out of business, so...never mind!

[PhoenixDem]

41. It is classic Sirota n/t

[awesomerwb1]

14. Well, at least he didn't call them

fake news or something. Guess that's a job for Nina?

[Uncle Joe]

21. Corporate media or corporate media conglomerate is much more accurate.

(snip)

In 1984, fifty independent media companies owned the majority of media interests within the United States. As of 2019, 90% of the United States's media is controlled by five media conglomerates: Comcast (via NBCUniversal), Disney, Viacom & CBS (both controlled by National Amusements), and AT&T (via WarnerMedia).[6][7]

Between 1941 and 1975, several laws that restricted channel ownership within radio and television were enacted in order to maintain unbiased and diverse media. However under the Reagan administration, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, then led by FCC Chairman Mark S. Fowler, began a concerted deregulation over the years 1981 and 1985. The number of television stations a single entity can own increased from seven to 12 stations.

The industry continued to deregulate with enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, it was considered by the FCC to be the "first major overhaul of telecommunications law in almost 62 years".[8] In the radio industry, the 40-station ownership cap was lifted, leading to an unprecedented amount of consolidation. Since this period, Clear Channel Communications grew from 40 stations to 1200 stations, in all 50 states, while Viacom grew to owning 180 stations across 41 markets.

As media consolidation grew, some in the nation began to speculate how it might negatively impact society at large. In the case of Minot, North Dakota,[9] the concerns regarding media consolidation is realized. On January 18, 2002, a train containing hazardous chemicals derailed in the middle of the night, exposing countless Minot residents to toxic waste. Upon trying to get out an emergency broadcast, the Minot police were unable to reach anyone. They were instead forwarded to the same automated message, as all the broadcast stations in Minot were single-handedly owned by Clear Channel Communications. As the FCC reviews media ownership rules, broadcasters continued to petition it for the elimination of all rules, while those who are against this easing would often cite the incident in Minot as how consolidation could be harmful.

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_conglomerate

Corporate media is mass media production, distribution, ownership, and funding dominated by corporations and their CEOs. Characterizations of mainstream media as "corporate" may be pejorative insinuations that such media systems do not serve the public interest.[1]



Media critics and public figures such as Robert W. McChesney,[2] Ben Bagdikian,[3] Ralph Nader, Jim Hightower,[4] Noam Chomsky, Thom Hartmann, Edward S. Herman, Amy Goodman, Tulsi Gabbard[5] and Bernie Sanders[6] suggest that such a media system, especially when allowed to dominate the mainstream media, inevitably will be manipulated by these same corporations to suit their own interests. These critics point out that the main national networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, as well as most if not all of the smaller cable channels, are owned, funded, and controlled by an interconnected network of large corporate conglomerates and international banking interests, which may manipulate and filter out news that does not fit their corporate agenda. Media companies are slowly understanding how to accelerate the fluidity of media content across delivery channels to "expand revenue opportunities, broaden markets and reinforce consumer loyalties and commitments".[7] Users are then understanding how to master these various media technologies to bring the flow of media more fully under their control and to interact/co-create with other users. Sometimes, these two forces reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding, relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes the two forces conflict, resulting in constant renegotiations of power between these competing pressures on the new media ecology.

(snip)

The point of view and statements made by governments, officials, military, police, national security organizations (such as the FBI and CIA), as well as various other political offices are regularly reported as facts and are published without any (or very little) fact checking by the corporate media. Perhaps the most infamous current example of the impact of the propaganda model on world events and societies was during the two-year period following the 2001 US attacks. During this time, according to a five year in-depth research project conducted by the Centre for Public Integrity; the President of the United States George W. Bush and seven high-ranking officials in his administration made at least 935 false statements about the threat posed to the world and to US national security by Saddam Hussein. These false statements were virtually uncontested by the corporate media and presented as a sound rationale for both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the "War on Terror". [1]

In Buying the War on PBS, Bill Moyers noted 27 Washington Post editorials supporting George W. Bush's ambitions to invade Iraq. National security correspondent Walter Pincus reported that he had been ordered to cease his reports that were critical of Bush administration.[10] According to author and journalist Greg Mitchell, "By the Post's own admission, in the months before the war, it ran more than 140 stories on its front page promoting the war, while contrary information 'got lost', as one Post staffer told Kurtz."[11]

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_media

There is much more information regarding corporate media on on the links if you don't like the names of their critics which I posted.

[awesomerwb1]

27. Nah, I'm good.

Flew over your head etc.

[Uncle Joe]

28. Millions of people aren't good, they're dead, displaced and/or their lives have been ruined

as a result.

I guess that flew over your head?

[awesomerwb1]

32. Hoo boy

You sort of offered more information about the strange tangent you went on and I replied I'm good as in no thanks.

It's hilarious you went where you went with the "millions aren't good" soap box. Way over your head.

[TidalWave46]

17. Not sure how I missed that the bolder quote...

Is from one of the least ethical people you will find on a campaign. Sirota loves fear tactics and has a racist history.

It just keeps getting worse for Sanders. Amazing that these are the people he surrounds himself with.

[George II]

19. Sirota, who was involved a race-baiting website scandal in Philadelphia in 1999.....

....(and only apologized THIS year as he was being hired by the Sanders campaign, twenty years later!), also felt the need to delete all of his 20,000 tweets the day he was hired at the beginning of the year.

He has also performed wholesale block on countless people on twitter.

[Uncle Joe]

23. If you want to read about "least ethical," check out post#21.

How many people have died because of their ethics or better yet lack thereof?

[TidalWave46]

24. Is this a strawman competition?

I’m calling uncle now.

[Uncle Joe]

25. No, it's the theory of relativity. n/t

[TidalWave46]

29. Upping your game in an attempt to entice your opponent into playing.

Just kidding and a for your reply.

[Uncle Joe]

30. ...

Peace to you TidalWave.

[Nitram]

18. NPR and the Washington Post, my two of main sources of news, never fail to mention

the fact that Bernie and Warren are leading the pack.

[myohmy2]

20. corporate America...

...does not want to see Bernie dog-catcher yet alone President...I seem to remember

...the more the 1% and corporations vilify and minimize Bernie the more we love him...for only Presidents like FDR and Bernie have the fortitude and dedication to kick the ever-lovin' shit out of the fascist 1% and return our country to it's people...

...we're at a crossroads that will either vector our nation into a new enlightened Progressive era or return it to the grip of greed, corruption and fascist power...

...no less is on the line in 2020...

...we can do it...

[Uncle Joe]

22. I agree myohmy, with them it's just business.

[Kurt V.]

26. It's been pretty obvious bc ppl are tracking this. Unfortunately it won't stop.

[Uncle Joe]

34. I agree Kurt they won't stop but I'm feeling optimistic, there are growing numbers of the American

People tracking them.

This is a nice read.

(snip)

Fact-Checking as a Weapon

Media have also been more subtle in their attacks on Sanders. One method has been to attempt to fact-check him into oblivion, constantly challenging his every pronouncement. However, they have been unable to catch him out on much, often resulting in bizarre, self-contradicting nitpicking. The Washington Post insinuated that he was misrepresenting a booming economy claiming his comment that “millions of Americans are forced to work two or three jobs” was “misleading” because, despite agreeing that 8 million Americans do work multiple jobs, some were only “part time” – as if Sanders were claiming that millions of people have 120-hour workweeks – and that 8 million only amounts to 5% of the workforce. To be a remotely accurate factcheck, one has to believe that 8 million does not count as “millions,” and part-time jobs are not real jobs.

(snip)

Visual Tricks

Meanwhile, the Democrat-aligned network MSNBC has developed a bad habit of forgetting how numbers work – when it comes to Sanders, that is. In July, its graphics team decided Sanders’ 49% support was lower than Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren’s 48%, placing him fourth in a list of Presidential hopefuls. This is far from an isolated incident: one week later it did almost exactly the same thing. It also reported that Sanders’ support had dropped 5 points when, in fact, it had risen the same amount. And when polls show Sanders to be in the lead, media has simply awarded extra support to others to overtake him, or switch Sanders’ numbers with another candidate, ensuring the same outcome on screen. CNN was only slightly less deceitful when it accurately showed Bernie leading Warren by 3 points, but their headline read that there was “no clear leader” and Sanders and Warren were “neck and neck.”

(snip)

From Bernie Baiting to Bernie Blackout

In recent weeks, corporate media seem to have moved from anger to denial, appearing to collectively decide Sanders does not exist. The Hill, for example, published the results of an Emerson College survey with the headline “Trump beats Warren, Biden in Iowa Matchups.” But, as many pointed out, the most important news from the poll (buried in the report) was that Sanders was leading Trump in that state. There was no mention of Bernie in a recent New York Times article on the frontrunners. Likewise, the coverage of his enormous New York rally, where he was formally endorsed by rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of “The Squad” was sparse, to say the least.

(snip)

A new University of North Florida (UNF) poll took the Bernie Blackout to new levels, however. In a poll of Democratic candidates vs. Donald Trump and/or Mike Pence, the UNF did not even include Sanders, despite featuring candidates with far less support, such as Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg. When asked why this was, its Faculty Director, Michael Binder, claimed that it was for reasons of “diversity.” Why the Jewish socialist is any less “diverse” than, for instance, Buttigieg, was not explained.

(snip)

https://www.mintpressnews.com/bernieblackout-media-bernie-sanders-bias/262661/

[Kurt V.]

38. thanks for link

[redqueen]

35. #YangGang feels your pain

Link to tweet

[Uncle Joe]

36. Thanks for the addition redqueen.

Good luck to you and your candidate.

[redqueen]

37. I'm glad Scott called it out and added the #BernieBlackout hashtag.

Fair-minded supporters of other candidates are noticing this. There's no defense or excuse for it. It's just messed up full stop.

[comradebillyboy]

51. Isn't that bottom graphic from the lgbtq forum in Iowa that Bernie skipped?

It doesn't show Bernie because Bernie declined to participate.

[PhoenixDem]

39. ...

Déjà vu ...

Which year am I in?

[Uncle Joe]

40. I'm guessing somewhere in the 1990s?

[LanternWaste]

45. Very surprising he's blaming the media for his abject performance. Again.

"There are quite a few examples on there for all this to just be coincidence"

Part II

[Uncle Joe]

47. "abject performance?"

If that's the case I can't wait til Bernie starts kicking it into high gear.

The Democratic primary has no clear leader, a new national poll conducted by Monmouth University shows, with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders locked in a tight race.

In the poll, a full two-thirds of voters back one of the top three candidates. Biden and Warren are each at 23 percent support, while Sanders is at 20 percent. No other candidate is in double-digits, a clear dividing line between the top three candidates and the rest of the field.

(snip)

The results represent a 5-point increase for Sanders and a 4-point bump Buttigieg over their results in a September Monmouth national poll. Warren dipped 5 points, while Biden and Harris remained largely stable. All of the candidates' movements are within the poll's margin of error.

However, Warren and Sanders were both able to close an "electability" gap in the mind of voters between themselves and Biden.

(snip)

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/06/national-poll-warren-sanders-biden-lead-066646

[Amimnoch]

46. Who?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Uncle Joe]

49. Horton hears the who.

[corbettkroehler]

50. Here's The Latest From MSNBC

[comradebillyboy]

52. Isn't that graphic from the lgbtq forum in Iowa that Bernie skipped?

It doesn't show Bernie because he wasn't there.