Monday, October 17, 2016

The hypocrisy of the US media - Boaz Bismuth




by Boaz Bismuth

There is an ongoing concerted effort among American media outlets today to take down Trump

Judging by American media reports, in 22 days, there will be a referendum in the United States regarding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's talents, character, statements, and especially his past and his (poor) treatment of women. However, on Nov. 8, there will actually be a U.S. election featuring two candidates, one of them Trump, and the other, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who, according to reports, also has skeletons in her closet (perhaps even an entire cemetery, according to WikiLeaks.) But her problems, it seems, should be hidden. There is an ongoing concerted effort among American media outlets today to take down Trump.

Since The Washington Post revealed the 2005 tape in which Trump is heard speaking very disrespectfully about women, many other women have spoken up. Each one with her own scandalous story. They are accusing Trump of harassing them. The timing, of course, is not coincidental. Trump is denying the claims. It is up to the voter to determine whom to believe.

It seems like the media has already decided Trump's fate. A reminder: At the beginning of the week, just before the second presidential debate in Missouri, Trump held a press conference with four women who claimed to have been hurt by the Clintons many years ago. (Three said they had been sexually harassed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and one said she had felt very hurt when the current Democratic nominee served as the attorney defending the man who had raped her when she was 12 years old.) This story obviously did not cause much of a stir. Trump ended up taking the heat for it. People said it was an old story, that Bill Clinton is not the one running for the White House. In short, the story had almost no impact. It seems that in the current election, the story is not only about what you did, but about which political camp you belong to. Trump's major problem is, of course, the fact that the claims from women are surfacing now, immediately following the release of the tape from 11 years ago. The timing is perfect, even if Clinton's supporters claim that it is entirely coincidental. 

The problem with the story before us is not simply the reports about Trump (which are completely legitimate). The problem with this story is the lack of balance in the American media. "The press buries Hillary Clinton's sins," read the headline of an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, which has not done Trump any favors in the race -- but in this article, it is doing its part to preserve the honor of the American media. 

"If average voters turned on the TV for five minutes this week, chances are they know that Donald Trump made lewd remarks a decade ago and now stands accused of groping women," the article states. "But even if average voters had the TV on 24/7, they still probably haven't heard the news about Hillary Clinton: that the nation now has proof of pretty much everything she has been accused of."

It seems that the fact that half the private individuals that she met while serving as secretary of state later donated to her husband's foundation was not scandalous enough.

It seems that the fact that Qatar, which funds terrorism around the world, also funded the Clinton Foundation -- in complete contradiction of Clinton's statement that she would not accept donations from foreign governments to the foundation while she was serving as secretary of state -- was not a big enough story for the press, either. 

The fact that Clinton tells opposing tales to the banks and to the nation -- on one hand reassuring corporations that she won't pressure them to change their conduct, and on the other hand addressing the members of the middle class as if she were their representative who would fight in their corner, proving just how inauthentic she is -- also did not manage to produce headlines. 

The fact that she hid her emails on a private server and provided different versions and that someone took care to delete all the evidence also wasn't important enough for the media, despite the difficult statements from the head of the FBI, refuting her claims that she had never sent classified materials. 

Twenty-two days before the election and only Trump's problems interest the press. The WikiLeaks reports about Clinton are not making the headlines. So what if Clinton has two positions, one public and one private, regarding the banks, wealth, borders and energy? So what? The people may vote, but the press always comes first. 

The WikiLeaks reports also revealed how the media cooperates with Clinton's campaign: Donna Brazile, for example, who in the past was active among Clinton's staff, sent the Clinton campaign questions in advance for a CNN town hall debate. Other media outlets allowed the Clinton campaign to veto some questions that the Democratic candidate did not like. And woe to the journalist who dares to break away from the herd.


Boaz Bismuth

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17421

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