J. Nelson – Writer

As I wrote on Tuesday, President Joe Biden pardoning his son Hunter is such a scandal because Biden’s presidency was supposed to be — and largely was — a return to the days when the president was an ideal role model of decorum and diplomacy.

And that’s part of the reason the pardon turned into a media circus, with hours of coverage and punditry running on mainstream cable news networks (and even more on right-wing media) and dozens of stories and commentaries in legacy print media.

I think the other part of the reason is that much of legacy media, both print and cable, still ascribes to the idea of fairness.

For five years, coverage of Trump, his allies, his administration, and all their missteps, scandals, and follies dominated the news. We couldn’t go a single day without hearing about something Trump or his cronies did. The coverage was nonstop.

However, the coverage was always changing.

And that is where the idea of fairness has led to the media’s coverage of Joe Biden to be, in practice, unfair.

On the few occasions Biden has made a blunder, whatever it was got played on repeat on every news channel or publication for days on end. I used to struggle to fill the opinion pages because national commentators were all talking about a singular incident for weeks and all saying roughly the same thing. Or the punditry would spend weeks speculating about decisions Biden and his administration might make or analyzing a million maybe consequences of actions not yet taken.

I get it — the president is the leader of the United States of America, and the U.S. is considered a global leader. That’s why the president is often saddled with the epithet “leader of the free world.” Every decision a president makes or doesn’t make has far-reaching ramifications, and that warrants coverage.

Back when Trump was running for president the first time and throughout his presidency, there was a new scandal every 30 seconds it seemed. (At the very least, it was something new every week.)

Because of Trump’s position, every decision, every mistake — and yes, every tweet and social media post — was newsworthy. Which meant he and his administration were constantly making headlines and driving coverage. It was only in the last year of Trump’s term that legacy media realized it didn’t have to give air time or print space to every single thing Trump said or did — especially when most of what he said was a lie.

Then Biden got into office. And legacy media felt obligated to cover Biden and his administration the same way they had covered Trump. After all, it would only be fair to do so.

But Biden isn’t Trump. He and his administration don’t produce a new scandal or life-altering policy position every day.

So when Biden did slip up — a misspoken word, a questionable quote, an exaggerated story, or a controversial policy — or when someone in his circle caused eyebrows to raise, it had to receive the same amount of attention as Trump’s antics. All of a sudden, something that wouldn’t have even been a blip on the radar eight years ago becomes the subject of dozens of stories and even more think pieces.

I understand legacy media’s impulse to be fair. It’s similar to the Democrats’ desire to hold the ethical and moral high ground in the political arena.

Media wants to treat its coverage of Biden the same way it treated its coverage of Trump in the same way that Democrats want to prove they still play by established norms and rules.

But at some point, we all need to accept that Trump, right-wing politicians, and right-wing media are no longer playing by the rules. Their idea of “fair” is whatever benefits them. The only rules that apply are the ones that let them win, and they aren’t above changing the rules to skew the results: like Mitch McConnell refusing to allow the Senate to consider Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court because it was “too close” to the election, then ramming through Amy Coney Barrett in even less time four years later.

When I worked at the paper, it was a challenge to keep the opinion pages “balanced,” because right-leaning commentaries were usually filled with misleading statements or straight-up lies; I wanted to represent “both sides,” but that was hard to do when one side no longer cared about the truth.

In other words, Biden and Trump, or Democrats and Republicans, can’t be treated the same because they aren’t the same. Trying to treat them the same ends up being more unfair, particularly to the side that is trying to play by the rules.

I try to end my commentaries with a “what we can do” — a call to action, if you will. I don’t have a solution or a clear path forward, but I like what Heather Cox Richardson said near the end of her Dec. 3 live chat.

I’m paraphrasing, but she basically said this: We need legacy media, even when we don’t always like it. Because legacy media like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press or NBC, ABC, and CBS news are institutions, and it’s much harder to silence an institution than it is a single individual. And we are looking at an incoming administration that has repeatedly called the media the enemy of the people and has already threatened retaliation against journalists and news outlets. Legacy media also has the resources, manpower, and access to investigate or research topics that individuals and small outlets don’t.

We need legacy media, even when we don’t agree with it or when we feel like its covering the wrong things. (Or not covering the right things.) Especially since social media is easily inundated with misleading or false information. But, as Richardson pointed out, we can let legacy media, especially cable news, know what we — its customers — want it to cover.

I would add that nice requests are more likely to get traction that mean ones or complaints. If you decide you would like to reach out to a legacy media company to ask for specific coverage, don’t be rude or disparaging about its current practices or insult its anchors or reporters.

Richardson also pointed out there are lots of smaller outlets doing fantastic work, like ProPublica. In West Virginia, I would highlight West Virginia Watch and Mountain State Spotlight.

Support local, state, and national news companies that are doing the kind of work you like to see. That’s how you can ensure their work continues.