From Salon...
During Thursday night's somber warning about the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and his rising fascist movement, President Joe Biden repeatedly emphasized the importance of being "honest with each other and with ourselves" about the current situation. "But as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise."
The president reiterated that point later, noting that it is "my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful."
Presumably, it is also the duty of the mainstream media to level with the American people, to tell these truths, no matter how painful and regardless of how much whining they get in response from Republicans. So too, it is the media's duty to set aside the cynical "horse race" coverage that can reduce existential issues to little more than political game-playing. And to admit that the typical "both sides" and "partisanship" frameworks don't apply in a situation where one party has embraced a fascist assault on democracy, while the other party is trying to stop them. It is on the media to prioritize the truth over some ill-fitting "balance" between two parties in an era when one of those parties rejects democracy itself.
The Republican Party is a threat to democracy — and the media needs to get out of the "both sides" trap to say so
www.salon.com