At the height of the media hounding Biden for not doing enough, Biden made 18 appearances in 9 cities in 8 days. Crickets for Donald. The double standard is obvious.

This ‘sanewashing’ of Trump’s statements isn’t just poor journalism; it’s a form of misinformation that poses a threat to democracy. trib.al/ppYwm6a

Every single U.S. outlet has the same exact headline. Another Russian intel operation by a KGB war criminal successful via Western media. The point of Putin was to have this headline knowing many don’t read beyond the headline 🤦🏼‍♀️

The word “lie” has 3 letters. The phrase “seize on false theories” has 20 letters and 3 spaces. The New York Times chose the longer version for its headline because that waters down the facts and keeps the Times in its cowardly safe space.

Mark Jacob News organizations that fail to stop the spread of disinformation are every bit as much to blame as the extremists who cultivate it. They aid in perpetuating a spectacle to profit off of it. This continues to take a toll on society.

By continually reframing Trump’s incoherent and often dangerous rhetoric as conventional political discourse, major news outlets are failing in their duty to inform the public and are instead providing cover for increasingly erratic behavior from a former—and potentially

Jen "We aren't going back " Rubin 🥥🌴 It cannot be inadvertent any more. (Only about five million people warning about the abyss of their ongoing both-sides-ism and "sane"-washing.) It is really, really hard to understand.

🧵Honestly, this Sulzberger guy is just plain weird. His paper said Trump is unfit to lead...

And dude, people are asking you to STOP casting aside neutrality. You are not neutral. You privilege Trump when you sane-wash his ramblings. It’s weird you pretend this isn’t what your paper does, A.G. Sulzberger.

The thing is, if every single person there knew this, then every single reporter there also knew it. So why aren't they telling readers and viewers what they themselves know? Do they not regard it as newsworthy that the GOP candidate for president is spewing complete nonsense?

1/2 A simple, clear way to illustrate "sane-washing." Start with the thread below, from Fix Media Now (by the Media and Democracy Project) . Its point is that the leading media present Trump's startlingly incoherent NY Econ Club presentation yesterday as if it were a normal policy speech. Toe-touch mentions that

"The press is still pursuing the appearance of fairness by treating the true and the false, normal and outrageous, as equally valid" A smart critique of today's failed political coverage by Rebecca Solnit/joy is a strategy. Be sure to read to the end when she focuses on folks getting it right.

Yes, everyone should read this - one of the most low key disgraceful moments in the history of American journalism. A purely false frame of the situation, the classic fake strawman. What NYT readers are demanding is the truth - the paper simply refuses to provide it.

3/3 Update: Long segment on Joe Scarborough today on double-standard being applied to Trump (vs either Biden or Harris), and using coverage of this speech as example. mediaite.com/tv/word-salad-…