The 2022 midterm elections are just weeks away and corporate media have started to take a hard line against Republican Herschel Walker. They have identified him as a vulnerable candidate in a tight Senate race. But those same journalists have resisted criticisms of John Fetterman, Democratic Senate candidate, even from their own colleagues.
An October surprise occurred earlier this month when Walker was accused of paying his ex-girlfriend to have an abortion in 2009. Since then, the media has been obsessed with covering the scandal, reporting every detail as it unfolds.
Scandals are, of necessity, allowed to be used in elections. They are a way to vet candidates. While the media flooded the airwaves in eager pursuit of Walker’s scandal, they were incredibly protective over John Fetterman who is running for the Senate as a Democrat from Pennsylvania.
On September 30, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes moaned:
The Oz campaign and its right-wing media allies are becoming more desperate. Fox News is a monomaniacally obsessed media outlet that has intensified the attacks against Fetterman to an almost absurd level.
Hayes’s outrage at a conservative news outlet daring to pursue a vulnerable Democratic candidate seems laughable, especially when you consider how much Hayes has spent attacking Walker. Hayes spent the majority of his October 14 show attacking his least favorite Republican candidates. He even complained about Walker’s “pattern of lying about, well, almost everything.”
Hayes and other establishment journalists defend Fetterman as they correctly view Fetterman’s candidacy as under threat. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May. His few public appearances have raised questions about his cognitive ability. Until last week, the media tried to dismiss such questions as being mean-spirited or outlandish for months. NBC’s Dasha burns did the impossible. Burns revealed that he may be cognitively impaired after an exclusive interview with Fetterman.
It was no surprise that her comments caused a lot of panic among establishment journalists who were concerned she might hurt Fetterman’s chances of winning the election. On social media, blue checkmarks vented venom at Burns for days. The New York Times even published this absurdly partisan attempt to damage control: “John Fetterman is a disabled American who needs technology to do his job.” So what?
If one considers the diligence of the establishment media in defending John Fetterman it becomes a lot more like activism rather than journalism.
