Pour one out for one of the great newsmen of the era, Marvin Kalb, who is watching his magnificent American media complex fall apart before his very eyes:
The American press corps struggles every day to prove to readers and viewers that it is "fair and balanced," the slogan cleverly adopted by Fox News. If it strongly criticized Donald Trump during his presidency (and since), then it follows that it must also strongly criticize Joe Biden, which is exactly what it's done.
Fair, isn't it? Balanced, too, right?
Wrong.
Oh man, the American news media isn't being "fair and balanced?" This is unprecedented. Let's do a close read of what Mr. Kalb is trying to tell us.
Not only does criticism not come in equal shapes and sizes, appropriate for all presidents and both political parties (a journalistic curse called "bothsideism"), but, when unfairly applied, as it has been in covering Biden, it runs the serious risk of further damaging our still free press and weakening our already shaky democracy.
The press image of Biden, president of the United States of America, has been whittled down to that of a doddering old man, wobbly on his feet and barely able to articulate a single thought without slurring.
Is that a fair and balanced image of Biden? Hardly. But can the press do better?
It's a fair question: Can the press do better than present President Joe Biden as a "doddering old man?" Could it possibly, for instance, have covered this incident differently?
And I mean... maybe they should've covered this particularly embarrassing exchange from a different angle. Right?
And look, surely there was some other, kinder, gentler, less doddering old man-ish way to present this, right?
American media: If you can't find some way to spin this absolutely-falling-apart old man into a capable and competent and youthful leader... what good are you?!
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