The corporate media experienced a collective meltdown this week after realizing that the Republicans they love to denigrate and smear are no longer giving members of the press the benefit of the doubt. Much to their dismay, some GOPers refuse to even engage or recognize journalists desperate to write hit stories.
In a New York magazine intelligence articleTitled “Why Republicans Stopped Talking to the Press,” David Freedlander complains that former President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of media disdain in GOP politics that encourages “actively courting media scorn while avoiding anything that may be considered consorting with the enemy.”
An unnamed GOP adviser bluntly explained, “We know that reporters have always been at odds with the Republican Party,” and the media is now “just chasing the clicks of resistance rage.”
Freedlander, however, dismisses these valid concerns and suggests that “there’s really not much Republicans can say” after backing Donald Trump. (Perhaps Freedlander and Bret Stephens of the New York Times, who recently wrote a spurious article further exposing his contempt for Trump supporters, are friends?)
According to Freedlander and his friend New York Times writer Jeremy Peters, Republicans “don’t want to have to defend Donald Trump and his lies about the election.”
Freedlander notes that “most top 24 contenders are media makers in their own right, hosting their own podcasts or, at a minimum, building robust social media feeds.” Instead of acknowledging it’s because conservatives have faced endless political censorship from Big Tech and gross dishonesty from the press, Freedlander says it’s because Republicans want “find places where they don’t have to face questions” about Trump’s election integrity issues.
Vanity Fair published a similar item On Tuesday, complaining about the Florida Republican Party’s decision to limit the media allowed to cover their Sunshine Summit, a conference led by one of the media’s most skilled rejecters, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“GOP politicians are increasingly avoiding sit-down interviews, banning reporters from events in 2022 and skipping debates — an aversion to media scrutiny that could upend the way the next presidential election cycle is covered,” the caption warns.
Vanity Fair, which had no shame in attacking DeSantis and other Republicans before, clearly published the article with the intention of instilling fear about the growing distance between the party and the press. That’s why the headline asks, “Are Republicans going to shut down the press in 2024?”
Of course, I hope Republicans have shut out the press, especially if it means Red lawmakers will refuse to cede ground to corrupt actors who have no problem meddling in elections to achieve their political goals.
After all, history proves that the mainstream media is hostile to the GOP and red voters. When reporters bother to try to speak to Republicans, they are more likely to act in bad faith. Why should Republicans, who know that corporate media clearly has a left-leaning bent, buy into the Democratic-informed narratives peddled by media activists?
Even normal people know not to trust the media. A recent poll suggests that Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low. Only 16% of Americans said they have “a lot/somewhat confidence in newspapers.” This confidence drops even lower to 11% for TV news.
As GOP strategist Dave Carney bluntly put it for Freedlander: “Nobody cares what the New York Times writes.”
And neither do Republican politicians.
Jordan Boyd is an editor at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. His work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
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