In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, major newspapers are giving former President Donald Trump’s federal criminal indictment for alleged crimes related to the January 6 insurrection a fraction of the coverage they gave former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in 2016, according to a new Media Matters study. Media Matters reviewed print coverage in five newspapers — Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post — for stories mentioning Trump’s indictment in the week following U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s October 2 unsealing of special counsel Jack Smith’s latest filing, which reveals damning new evidence of the former president’s alleged crimes.  We found the papers ran 26 combined articles mentioning Trump’s indictment in the week after the unsealing of Smith’s filing. But those same papers published 100 combined articles — nearly 4 times as many — that mentioned Clinton’s server in the week after then-FBI Director James Comey’s notorious October 28, 2016, letter on new developments in that probe, as we documented in a 2016 study. The papers ran more than 6 times as many combined front-page stories that mentioned Clinton’s server (46) as they did front-page stories that mentioned Trump’s indictment (7) over those periods. Obsessive news media focus on Clinton’s server in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign helped Trump to victory, even as Comey ultimately reconfirmed that no charges were appropriate in the case. But eight years later, with one presidential candidate facing active prosecution for federal charges related to his attempt to subvert an election, outlets are making different choices.
    • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      1 month ago

      Whatever the reason might be, the fact is that Trump is getting much gentler treatment in 2024 than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. That’s especially concerning given that Trump’s alleged crimes are many orders of magnitude worse than Clinton’s alleged crimes.

        • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
          0·
          1 month ago

          The difference is stark and utterly bonkers. Look at every single headline coming out of CNN, CBS, NYT, NBC, ABC, FOX – literally all of them… the fact they’re all reporting on Harris and trump as though it’s a normal candidate dichotomy and not the insane disparity between a politician and a raving lunatic who should be sectioned by his loved ones for his own protection, is simply madness.

          This should not be a contest. Nobody should be taking seriously a man who is a demonstrable racist, fascist, unhinged lunatic who rants about toilets and windmills, who has been found liable for rape, who can barely string sentences together, who has felony convictions, and who has demonstrably committed treason twice – and he’s treated the same by the media as a career prosecutor with none of that and who has actually sane (if centrist) policies….

          Do you see how crazy that is?

            • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
              0·
              1 month ago

              It’s not a trap, Jesus.

              FPTP voting means 3rd parties can only be spoilers for the party they’re most aligned with. That’s a mathematical fact, whether we like it or not.

              I hate that as much as you do, but edgy protest voting only gives the fascists more control.

              If you really care about that, stop propping up fascists, and instead put that effort into an actual grassroots effort to make the US electoral system more fair:

              Support FairVote Action.

              • Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.worldEnglish
                01·
                1 month ago

                So you telling me one of the two most unpopular candidates is gonna win on their merits? Cause sounds like nepotism with extra steps.

                • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
                  0·
                  1 month ago

                  1: Who are you saying is one of the most unpopular candidates? You seem pretty misinformed.

                  2: Do you know what nepotism means? Which candidate inherited their position because of family ties?

                  Your comment makes no logical sense.

  • cmoney@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 month ago

    Does anyone else remember when the president’s age was a big topic? Suddenly Trump is the oldest candidate and just like that the media doesn’t talk about it anymore.