The Elitist Media Evening News have been busy framing this midterm election from angles most unfavorable to Republicans and to President Donald Trump, with two consistent mantras: negative polling and gas prices. However, a slew of stories have emerged that draw absolutely no coverage on the broadcast network evening news. Here are some of the latest.
Minnesota Democrat Senate nominee Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is in hot water over what appears to be a grade inflation scandal. Per The Wall Street Journal:
Peggy Flanagan said she “graduated Phi Beta Kappa” while arguing a decade ago for legislation to encourage greater teacher diversity in Minnesota’s public schools.
Now the state’s lieutenant governor and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, Flanagan was a Minnesota House member when she said college teaching diversity transformed her from a high-school graduate with a 1.75 grade-point average to a University of Minnesota honors student.…
The Wall Street Journal asked Flanagan’s campaign on Oct. 12 to provide information proving her membership in what is often called the nation’s oldest and the most exclusive honor society. It also told her campaign Phi Beta Kappa’s headquarters would release any membership records that might exist with her permission.
Eight days later, her campaign acknowledged she never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa.
The article goes on to note that the campaign cited not affording the fee as the reason Flanagan never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, and that this fee is sometimes waived in cases of financial hardship.
This story is particularly relevant today because the media laser-focused on the credentials of former White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia. There was great interest in discovering when and where she passed her Bar exam. The feeding frenzy only ended when Zacharia was no longer employed as Press Secretary. Likewise, there should be great interest in getting to the bottom of Flanagan’s apparent lack of candor when discussing her academic achievements.
Alas, we saw no such similar interest from the Elitist Media Evening News. Not a single network newscast touched the grade inflation scandal.
A similar relevant and impactful story that got no play on the evening news was former Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s visit to Maine to campaign for incumbent Susan Collins. Per CBS News:
Republican Sen. Susan Collins is campaigning on a simple idea: She can sit across the table from anyone. On Wednesday, she did it literally, sharing breakfast sandwiches with Democrat-turned-independent Joe Manchin and a roomful of Maine voters as she makes her case to people of every political stripe.
"She's not a Trump senator. She's not a Republican senator or a Democrat senator," Manchin told reporters after dining with Collins in the morning. "She's an American senator that represents her state of Maine."
It’s a pretty big deal that Manchin would come to Maine to stump for Collins. But this story doesn’t line up with what we’ve seen over the past many weeks which is to run polling doom, “Republicans in Disarray” stories, and whatever else will further The Narrative™. Consider what coverage would look like if a Republican former Senator were to endorse in a Democrat race.
CBS News found the story newsworthy enough for their website but not for the Evening News. In lieu of a midterm roundup, CBS ran a second day of the ad referencing Amy Acton’s mother in the Ohio governor’s race. The other networks shied away from this story, too.
When it comes to certain stories, the coverage is just (D)ifferent. We are reminded yet again that if it weren’t for double standards, there would be none at all.
