from Erick Erickson, Fear, Loathing, and the GOP:

In the process, the media is further alienating themselves from the truth and the public from the media. The reality is that the American public is less and less inclined to believe the media’s version of events. When the media willfully distorts stories like the election laws or the critical theory pushback in states, more people turn away.

The media is, in fact, a direct accomplice in sending people down the rabbit holes of conspiracy theories by its new boldness in openly taking sides, telling narratives over facts, and pushing a concerted and highly coordinated campaign against Republicans. They can’t help themselves. They have embraced the idea the GOP itself is bad, its voters are racists, and if only they speak even louder and with a more united voice those black and Hispanic voters drifting to the GOP will see it too.

In substituting politics for religion, the media, like much of America, finds itself seeing fulfillment by excising sin from their lives. They view any loyalty to the GOP as just that. This is a religious exercise for them as they seek a comprehensive worldview that explains how Republicans can be a racist, fascist cult and still be making gains with non-white voters. Before the election, the New York Times rationalized it as black men have a thing for toxic masculinity and Hispanic voters like bold, brash leaders like those from whom their families fled. After the election, now that the data shows otherwise, they’ve got to find something else and, in absence of a theory, they’ll just scream ever more loudly about Trump — a man who lost the presidency by just 43,000 votes in the Electoral College.

HKO

The more the media forces a narrative that does match the experience of the readers, the more it sacrifices its own credibility to political ends.

The media is the most important institution to hold the government in check and it is critical that it be objective.

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