The Tale of Two Bill Signings

We often write about liberal media bias. This is because it exists. It is contrary to what leftists, and their allies press, want you to believe. It is also because biases in mainstream media reporting can infect national debates by telling voters what they should think about a topic, rather than objectively informing readers/viewers of all information available and allowing them to draw their own conclusions.

It is evident in every story, especially when it relates to politics or social/cultural issues. Sometimes the bias is subtle, while in other cases it is obvious. It can be explained in certain cases by comparing how media cover stories about Republicans or Democrats, where the surface dynamics of the two parties are very similar.

For example, take Tuesday’s President Biden bill signing ceremony for the “Inflation Reduction Act” bogusly titled. The MSM was in full spin mode when they spiked the ball to Biden. They had previously declared in so many words that they were back in the game following a “string of wins.”

The ABC News story about the bill signing was emblematic of what we’ve seen so far from the media this week. Florida Governor explained the reasons in an amazing thread called “tale of two bill signatures”. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary. Bryan Griffin pointed out that the headline described the bill signing as a “major victory” and that the subheadline stated how the Biden White House would “celebrate their “political triumph”.

Griffin noted that the ABC News article referred to the legislation as its real name and gave credit to “the bill for having other objectives” (health and climate and tax). He also pointed out “happy celebrations” photos taken from the bill signing in media reporting. Griffin also highlighted how the ABC article used quotes from people who supported it, but no criticisms and used talking points directly from the White House.

Contrast that, Griffin suggested, with how the media treated stories about Florida’s parental rights bill, which the media frequently and incorrectly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This time he pulled from another ABC News piece, this one from the end of March when DeSantis signed the bill.

According to the report, it was “controversial” and the headline used critics’ description of it (“Don’t Say Gay”) as though this was its real name.

The photo of DeSantis looking angry and combative in the ABC News article on DeSantis was not like the happy Democrats that were used for the Biden bill sign.

It also allowed for a lot of space to be published by its critics. With only a passing nod towards its defenders.

These types of situations have been repeated so many times, that I can’t keep track of how many times they occurred. This kind of reporting is so common in newsrooms all across the country, they can do it from their beds. They love to make Republicans look bad or evil and will eventually bring down our society. But they also like to portray Democrats as principled heroes who are here for the rescue.

It is not enough to just complain about media bias. Although a Republican may get a lot of coverage, inaccurate reporting could have a negative impact on their credibility as he or she is perceived by voters.

All of this is dependent on the way you frame it. This is something reporters know well. We see double standards not only in the run-up to bill signings but also during the actual signings.

It was a year ago in Georgia, with the election reform bill Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law. It was opposed by the media and opposed by Democrats. This mindset was evident in all their reporting, even after the bill signing when Major League Baseball pulled out the All-Star game from Georgia due to intense pressure from leftists such as Sen. Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams.

Did the media rewrite the story to admit that they were wrong after it was revealed that the new law did not prevent voters from voting in the primaries and that the turnout exceeded all previous records? They didn’t because the mission had been accomplished and the narrative was set. Republicans bad, Democrats positive, end of the story.

But, today, many people, including Republican politicians, are becoming more aware of the MSM’s deliberate machinations and their trust in the institution is at an all-time low. People don’t like being told what they should think and get tired of hearing their intelligence insulted.

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