Corporate Mainstream Media Is Doing a Woeful Job So Far in Covering the Presidential Elections

Donald Trump needs to lose the presidential election because he is a threat to democracy. Americans must not elect a candidate facing criminal proceedings, and on and on – it’s been all about Trump the horrible, dangerous candidate. This is the Democratic Party strategy employed that they believe will win the election.

And it’s not just Democrat leadership and Joe Biden’s handlers making this an almost exclusively anti-Trump campaign, but the mainstream media is also framing this election as a battle of “personalities” with only two issues – abortion and immigration – given proper coverage.

It’s expected historically that Republicans avoid running on policies that really matter except their one-note “secure the border” stance that would matter. But they’re not sincere about passing legislation on this issue, evidently. It’s been decades and counting since the last comprehensive immigration reform. This year Senate Democrats basically handed in a bill all what Republicans have been asking for on border security, but that bill died in the House for political reasons, not policy reasons.

So, what do we have? Democrats, Biden, Republicans, Trump and the mainstream media essentially ignoring issues and policies that Americans are concerned about, and want answers to, but no one is listening.

Why then should it come as a surprise that most Americans are not passionate over either candidate or this election at all?

Mainstream Media’s poor coverge
Who’s to blame for this voter apathy? In part, voters themselves are to blame.

But ultimately, corporate mainstream media have not been doing their job in pressing both Biden and Trump on issues Americans are interested in, pocketbook matters that make Americans lives’ challenging, and increasingly more difficult by the year.

For example, inflation is said to have come down. But to Americans, we don’t see that when we go to the grocery store as the price of basic essentials keep rising.  Rice, meats, poultry all leaving average Americans sticker shocked.

Americans would like the media to press politicians on the problem of inflation – that the food chain from producers to processing and grocery stores themselves lacks competition and is excessively consolidated. Therefore, Americans are at the mercy of a few corporations determining how much profit they want for any given quarter, any given year. And Americans lack choices or substitutions to affect prices.

Is this kind of unbridled capitalism Americans want? Why are anti-trust laws grossly neglected or lawsuits by the government not being pursued? Why are food imports costing so much? Would supporting American farmers, processing plants help to stabilize prices? What can be done to spur fair competition in the food chain?

Why wouldn’t corporate media not press politicians on this lack of competition? Because the media themselves are consolidated chains wherein a few corner the media landscape.

And this problem of runaway prices – largely due to a lack of competition — is not just on food, but the same for energy which inflation here is also hurting Americans at the pump or to power our homes with utilities and water. Again, we’re looking at the “basic” means for Americans to survive.

Politicians are not interested to make changes that break these big corporations’ influence and to spur fair competition that could give consumers respite from rising prices because these monopolies of industry are financing politicians’ campaigns and lobbying Congress to keep the status quo.

Corporate media are simply not asking the politicians the right questions or writing the stories Americans want answers to. They are not interested in exerting pressure because their bosses also want to keep the status quo.

Instead, what the American voting public has been fed by the media is endless “they’re too old” polling articles and candidates’ shortcomings and rhetorical gaffes.

Americans want answers to policies that matter.

Is the fourth estate, the American media just as dysfunctional as Congress?  Have the historic defenders of the people, the American media, lost their way and become too corporate friendly, status quo friendly, political-establishment friendly? Who among the power structure of big government, big corporation and big media is looking out for we the people?

Each election there is a mantra for change. The pendulum of power from Democrats to Republican keeps swinging. But Americans are still waiting for changes.

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong direction and shouldn’t only be looking at the political sphere. We need to be looking at the gatekeepers of information who control the parameters of debate. We need to be demanding that media be stronger advocates for the people and not distract us with superficiality that will not better Americans’ daily lives.

We need a media unafraid to challenge politicians, not cozy up to them because these politicians granted select media an exclusive interview. Write the stories without them in a critical fashion that will have politicians coming back to you for an explanation. That’s how it used to be done.

The bottom line is just as we need better politicians, we also need a better media.