Coverage of the Shutdown Reminds Us That Spin Rules the Day

No matter how one spins it though the shutdown wasn39t exactly great for the president39s approval ratingsamp160 In fairness Gallup has suggested that the shutdown did little to affect his support among Republicans or Democrats only among the mystical segment of Americans who identify truthfully or otherwise as quotindependentsquotamp160 But according to FiveThirtyEight perhaps the most reliable polling aggregator the president started the week after the shutdown with an approval rating of 394 the lowest any president has faced this early on since reliable polling beganEchoing this point the next morning The Hill ran a story with the headline quotNearly half of Americans say they have no confidence 39at all39 in Trump pollquotamp160 Citing an ABC NewsWashington Post poll The Hill explained that only 35 of Americans trust the president quotto make the right decisions for the country39s futurequotamp160 Conspicuously absent from The Hill39s reporting however was the next line of the actual text of the ABC NewsWashington Post pollamp160 There was a nearidentical lack of trust for Democrats in Congress 34 Speaker Pelosi 30 and Republicans in Congress 30This is similar to the more anecdotal segment run by CNN in the midst of the shutdown where furloughed government workers blamed both the president and Congress for the standoffamp160 So there might be a fairly widespread sense of dissatisfaction with the political system but if you watch Fox News the Democrats get the blameamp160 And if you turn on MSNBC the story is nearly the oppositeAs David Greenberg might have put it it was just another week in the quotRepublic of Spinquotamp160 In Greenberg39s book the story however is that of the presidents the staffers and pollsters and how they have spent decades perfecting the art of getting a more objective media and a more impartial electorate to see things as their bosses doamp160 Nowadays they barely have to do the legworkamp160 In a polarized media environment there39s hardly a need for the middlemanamp160 The network hosts do the job for themamp160 And if that fails they just bring in the backroom strategists themselvesamp160 Instead of Karl Rove working behind the scenes to get the media to see things the conservative way now he39s sitting clear as day behind the news desk himselfWhen it comes to the end of the shutdown Sean Hannity told us that quotA deal has been reached to reopen the government temporarily The president has given Congress three weeks now to agree on legislation to build the wall and secure our bordersquotamp160 Jake Tapper on CNN putamp160it a bit differentlyamp160 quotThe government has been shut down for absolutely no reasonquotamp160 MSNBC39s coverage was peppered with the words quotcapitulatedquot and quotsurrenderedquot a far cry from what Fox News would have you believeHuffPost in solidarity with MSNBC released a compilation video of the president39s collective interviews with Fox News in which reporters can be heard taking a break from discussing policy to provide the softballsamp160 quotIt was your birthday get any good presentsquotamp160amp160quotHow are you going to celebrate Father39s Dayquotamp160amp160quotChuck Schumer the president of CNN and Alec Baldwinamp160 If you had to fire one person right now who would you firequotThere39s always something cringeworthy about an overly obsequious reporter whether it39s ESPN39s Jeff Darlington39s recent starstruck sitdown with Tom Brady or a nominally objective political reporter cow tailing to the most powerful person in the roomBut the leftleaning outlets do the sameamp160 As former New York Times editoramp160Jill Abramsonamp160suggested last month much of the media is markedly antiTrumpamp160 Whyamp160 For the same reason that Fox News does what it doesamp160 It helps their bottom linesamp160 New York Times readers and MSNBC viewers want to see the president bashed just as Fox News viewers want to see him exaltedamp160 Perhaps it39s no coincidence that the two most popular cableamp160 channelsamp160in number of prime time viewersamp160are the two most polarized Fox News and MSNBCThis is a point articulately made by economistsamp160Antony Davies and James R Harriganamp160in their August 2018 Philadelphia Inquirer oped quotFox News MSNBC make the world seem scarier than it isquotamp160 The authors who noted thatamp160quotFox News and MSNBC agree on one thing The United States is going to hell in a handcartquot go on to suggest that quotmajor news media have become machines that convert bad news into profitsquotamp160 When push comes to shove perhaps we don39t actually like objectivity as much as we might say we do at dinner partiesAmericans might claim not to like the direction the country is heading Congress or the mediaamp160 Yet despite the griping about the press they39re Johnnyonthespot to consume the spinamp160 Turning on the networks these days is almost like asking an establishment politician what he believes ought to be done about education reform you can predict 80 of the words of his answer before he even opens his mouthPhoto credit Andy Feliciotti UnsplashClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers amp160

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Coverage of the Shutdown Reminds Us That Spin Rules the Day

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Erich J. Prince

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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Coverage of the Shutdown Reminds Us That Spin Rules the Day

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Erich J. Prince

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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