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Instead of focusing on legal debates and potential concerns, major media coverage of the school voucher bill under the headline ‘Here’s How To Get Vouchers For Your Child’ Imagine. Alternatively, cover Republican tax cut proposals by providing a number of estimates from potential beneficiaries about how much tax cuts are needed, rather than examining exactly who will benefit. doing.
It’s hard to imagine because it’s different from how traditional media usually do it. And that’s okay. Being a publicist is not a journalist’s job. But this kind of incredible enthusiasm is precisely how the mainstream press covered President Joe Biden’s unprecedented attempt to shift $400 billion in federal student loans from borrowers to taxpayers.
As the Supreme Court prepares to take up the legality of this case, it’s worth assessing how badly the mainstream media has failed the country with its coverage of Biden’s dubious operations.
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Last August, Biden announced that he intended to use enforcement action to cancel up to $20,000 per borrower in federal student loan debt. Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden argued that he wrote her HEROES Act of 2003 (originally to ease the burden on military families and those affected by his post-9/11 war on terrorism). He argued that he could act unilaterally through a novel interpretation of
On August 25, 2022, in Washington, DC, student loan borrowers will rally in front of the White House to celebrate President Biden’s cancellation of student debt and begin the battle to cancel the remaining debt. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We the 45m)
Well, let’s take a look at how five major newspapers recently covered this story: The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. We looked at a random sample of 100 news stories from these outlets drawn over the period from May (when the White House said it would act on student loans) through the November midterm elections. I would like to emphasize that we only look at news reports, not opinion pieces or editorials.
The results were disturbing. The coverage leaned heavily in favor of the White House and largely ignored the serious concerns raised by critics.
With a total of 459 citations across the 100 articles surveyed, supportive citations significantly outnumbered skeptical citations by 62% to 24%, a pattern far removed from public opinion.
More than two-thirds of all estimates were provided by Democratic officials, progressive advocates, or borrowers, but less than one-fifth were provided by policy or legal professionals (Only 12% were provided by Republican officials or taxpayer advocates).
When civil servants were cited in Biden’s proposal, Democrats accounted for 81% of the citations. Only 19% are Republicans. In other words, in a high-profile and polarized debate in a deeply divided country, news accounts cited Democratic officials more than four times as often as he did Republican officials. In fact, Biden administration sources accounted for more than half of all citations from public officials.
Even putting this massive pro-White House bias aside, the non-administrative Democrats still accounted for 57% of citations from public officials. For example, Virginia Fox, the Republican leader on the House Education and Labor Committee and perhaps the most outspoken critic of the White House proposal, was cited only four times. The Senate Education Committee has cited 7.
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In terms of content, the press paid little attention to the legality, fairness, or potential inflationary impact of the White House proposal. After Biden’s announcement, he was only a fifth of the news stories that referred to his HEROES Act of 2003, which the White House used to justify its unprecedented actions.
Only 34% of news accounts hinted at concerns about its regressive nature, 24% hinted at its impact on inflation, and said those who borrowed to pursue a graduate or professional degree are also eligible. Only 6% were
“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg praised Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, but television wasn’t the subject of the investigation. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
There has been much lamentation about the declining trust in the media, especially the right. But news reports about the most costly executive action in history, which forced President Biden to shun his $5 trillion from Congress on a whim, are calculated to exacerbate polarization and fuel skepticism. Brought out a kind of talkative coverage that seems to have been done.
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This or that news article has a point of view. It’s not a big shake. What’s really troubling about this case is the widespread bias among the five most influential traditional newspapers in the country.
Responsible reporting quotes the White House and its allies less often than critics, and is careful to at least acknowledge major objections. If you’re wondering if Biden’s loan forgiveness scheme coverage is a good example.
Click here to read more about Rick Hess
Caitlyn Aversman is a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute.she is one of the authors of “Media biased coverage of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.”
