What Media Bias?

CNN’s Jake Tapper was interviewed at SXSW by Ann Marie Cox. Tapper told the audience that his son now uses “Fake News” against him when the younger Tapper has had enough of his father. The Hollywood Reporter covered the story. While the anecdote by the CNN host was cute, it wasn’t the line that caught my eye.

The real headline for me was this admission:

“In response, Tapper noted that he was also hard on President Barack Obama’s administration. “To be completely candid, I did fact checks about Barack Obama, too, not at the same rate, nor was there a need for them at the same rate,” he said. “I know people that hated me back then but now like the fact checks I’m doing about Donald Trump. I feel like I’ve stayed consistent.”

Notice how the bias is baked in? Obama didn’t require the amount of fact checking that Donald Trump does. Why is that? He was the President for two terms. He forced through Obamacare in the middle of the night. Yet, Tapper who many consider to be a fair minded journalist, feels that Obama just didn’t need the scrutiny that Trump’s administration does.

Hmmmmm.

“It’s very frustrating,” he answered. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. … I’ve never encountered anything like this. I think it has a lot to do with this fact-free world where things can mean whatever you want them to mean.”

Tapper acknowledged that he didn’t expect his reporting to have an impact on the election. “I never think this is going to have an effect,” he said, explaining that he’s always thinking about the questions he needs to ask, regardless of how it impacts his relationship with the guest. “I’ve got two kids. They’re going to some day read back about this period in our history and I want them to be proud of me,” he added

It is frustrating to be lied to…. ask anyone who watches cable news. It didn’t stop CNN from interviewing Susan Rice or Donna Brazile. But of course, they obviously didn’t require as much “fact checking” by Tapper or anyone else for that matter. If only journalists had done their jobs during the Obama years, perhaps we wouldn’t be in this situation now. Not that I expect any of them to recognize it.

Oh what a difference having a Republican in the White House makes.