An inexcusable lapse in all journalism ethics and principles

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On June 27, 2024, the two presumptive presidential candidates engaged in a debate televised on CNN. Moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper asked questions and the candidates answered. Moderators provided no pushback on lies made by either candidate. 

It was painfully obvious that Joe Biden was having a very bad night. For me, having watched his high-energy SOTU address, seeing his extemporaneous reactions to the GOP heckling, it was shocking to see Biden's performance at the debate. He had one big task with the debate - to prove he was not "too old" for the job of four more years, and his halting performance and slow response to questions unleashed a tsunami of articles about his age and fitness for the office. 

And nearly a month after the debate, the focus of national news media remained on Biden's fitness for the job and who should replace him and also to replace Kamala Harris – apparently because being VP for four years isn't considered the right prep for the job, it would seem from all the discussion of "next steps." The Washington Post ran a story claiming "donors dreamed of a sort of reality TV competition at the convention in August – a bake-off for the history books." 

The media feeding frenzy about Biden's fitness to serve has been shocking to witness. The New York Times ran a story suggesting Biden has Parkinson's disease because a Parkinson's expert was spotted visiting the White House numerous times. The story failed to include the information that during that time, Congress was debating new Parkinson's legislation. The speculative story in the NY Times created a robust news cycle devoted to speculation about whether or not Biden had Parkinson's. 

There have been few, if any, articles on Trump's age and fitness for office, though he is also old and exhibiting signs of cognitive decline. Though Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt last week, there have been no reports from the doctors who actually treated Trump for the injury to his ear. The one medical report issued from the Trump camp came from the disgraced and unlicensed former White House physician Ronny Jackson, whose lack of a medical license has not prevented him from treating the GOP presidential candidate after he was wounded in an assassination attempt. National news media has framed Jackson's letter as factual and appropriate - perhaps Jackson is not lying about the medical details, but news media should be a little skeptical of a man who turned the White House physician's office into a large pill dispensary for pretty much anyone who asked. 

The predictions about who should replace the Biden/Harris ticket were increasingly absurd. Over the summer, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing" TV show, that promotes the idea that Democrats should put forward Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate. 



That would be a truly remarkable contest - Republicans putting forward the man (and felon) who lost to Biden in 2020 and Democrats putting forward the Republican who lost to Obama in 2012. It would be one way for Republicans to win the popular vote, a feat not achieved by any GOP candidate since 2004. 

Also in July, the Washington Post ran a story claiming "donors dreamed of a sort of reality TV competition at the convention in August – a bake-off for the history books." It's astonishing that we have ended the primary season with a clear winner an donors who want the winner picked in some kind of "Survivor" contest to see who can outlast anyone else who did not have the courage to oppose the elderly Joe Biden - who is today just six months older than what he was when the primaries started – he was old then and he's obviously only getting older. 



During the debate, Trump lied throughout. The AP News fact check of the debate said this about Biden's falsehoods: 
"Biden, who tends to lean more on exaggerations and embellishments rather than outright lies, misrepresented the cost of insulin and overstated what Trump said about using disinfectant to address COVID."

With regard to January 6, 2021 insurrection, Trump claimed: 
"They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and in many cases were ushered in by the police.” 
AP News fact check: 
"That’s false. The attack on the U.S. Capitol was the deadliest assault on the seat of American power in over 200 years. As thoroughly documented by video, photographs and people who were there, thousands of people descended on Capitol Hill in what became a brutal scene of hand-to-hand combat with police."

It has been remarkable to see national news media continually pretend that the contest for president is in any way normal; that the health and well-being of a candidate only matters if the candidate is a Democrat; that the fascist musings of the Republican candidate must be normalized because - well there is no reason to normalize the fascist tendencies of Trump but here we are. 

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