With one disaster after another enveloping the Joe Biden and Democrats in 2022, it’s sometimes worth looking back on how it was unraveling exactly one year ago — despite the media’s efforts to protect Biden and his party.
CBS gave a pathetic spin on the crisis at the border, March 18, 2021. This Morning co-host Tony Dokoupil delicately contrasted the Trump administration’s border policies (“clear, if morally debatable”) and the Biden administration’s efforts (“a little bit more nuanced”).
Alejandro Mayorkas from the Department of Homeland Security, when I spoke with him, suggested this kind of charitable contrast.
Prior administration sent a very clear message, even if it was morally questionable, to all families that wanted to bring their children and family members to the border. It was don’t come. It was a bit nuanced.. What can you say to families who are listening?
If you believe it, however, it is still the best way to cover the catastrophe at the border. This is at the very least reporting about the border. As we’ve reported through NewsBusters studies, the networks eventually just dropped the border completely.
There were 0 minutes and 0 second on ABC, CBS and NBC’s evening newscasts in January when the crisis was covered. They did slightly better in December with 297 seconds. CBS and ABC both allowed less than one minute, only 17 seconds on World News Tonight and just 20 seconds on CBS Evening News.
Also one year ago this week: On March 15, 2021, the networks FINALLY bothered to ask Biden about then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment abuse scandal and how it was spiraling out of control.
Here’s the sum total of the President’s comments on March 15: “I think the investigation is underway, and we should see what it brings us.” Rather than call that a slimy non-answer, Good Morning America reporters allowed a scant eight seconds on Biden in their 43 second total story on Cuomo. Reporter Stephanie Ramos sounded like a Democratic operative: “President Biden asked over the weekend whether Cuomo should resign, and he agreed we should wait to see the investigation’s outcome.”
Spoiler alert! Cuomo would be resigning, further damaging the national Democratic Party.
We’ll continue to chart, week by week, how 2021 went badly for Biden and the Democrats — and how the media attempted to cover it up. You can find more examples in our FLASHBACK series (which we call the NewsBusters Time Machine), Go here.
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