(The Center Square) – A month after President Joe Biden’s calamitous debate performance against former President Donald Trump, and days after Biden’s decision Sunday not to seek reelection, there are still many questions about how the news media covered – or didn’t cover – Biden’s mental and physical decline in recent months, or even years.
From the onset of the June 27 debate, Biden, 81, struggled, speaking in a weak, raspy voice. He repeatedly tripped over his words and lost his train of thought, often trailing off inaudibly.
Mainstream media outlets were forced to acknowledge Biden’s shockingly bad debate performance.
Right-leaning news organizations were quick to point out that Biden’s frailty and cognitive issues were something they had been covering for months or longer.
The Center Square reached out to a professor of journalism at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., for his perspective on how the media’s coverage of Biden’s decline may or may not impact consumers’ trust in the fourth estate.
Derek Moscato teaches classes in public relations and news media at WWU.
“Unfortunately, depending on what media you subscribe to, you were getting different stories,” Moscato said. “That is until recently, when there has been a broader consensus emerging that there were concerning health issues for the president.”
That could have an impact on reporters and editors.
“It’s going to be tougher to be a journalist and even more with media audiences in general,” Moscato said. “It’s sometimes hard to find out what is actually going on.”
Trust in mainstream media has been under water and declining for years. A March 2024 The Center Square Voters’ Voice poll found that just 43% of Americans say the media is trustworthy, compared with 54% who said it is not trustworthy.
Reflecting on how recent events may impact journalism and the students he teaches – who hope to enter the profession – Moscato said he went back to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics delineating journalists’ rights and responsibilities.
“It’s contingent upon journalists to sometimes get beyond what is presented to [them] through a press office or a politician’s handlers and to get beyond that surface level,” Moscato said.
“For some reporters, they were content to hear he’s in good health and they said that’s good enough for me,” the professor continued. “Until we as a nation saw in that debate that there were some concerns – and that didn’t break down on party lines – it was just acknowledging, yes, there’s an issue.”
Moscato told The Center Square the debate over how the media has handled Biden’s declining health opens up an opportunity to examine corporate newsrooms.
“There’s been gatekeeping in newsrooms, particularly large newsrooms, and that’s a thing in terms of what stories are emphasized or amplified and which stories reporters are put on,” he observed.
Criticism of the media and a close examination of how journalists did and did not cover Biden’s health issues ahead of the debate are worthy of serious consideration, according to Moscato.
“I think more than ever we need those independent reporters who will go against the grain to get the story right or get the story that’s not being told,” he said.
Moscato emphasized that journalists should act independently.
“That’s why I think we’re seeing such a rise of independent journalists and reporters, blogs, podcasts, you name it,” he said. “People are flocking to them.”
Another positive: it’s a good source of debate in the classroom.
“It’s a good, healthy thing to go back and ask. What are my journalistic values, as opposed to what am I feeling pressured to write about on any given day, or what are sources pressuring me to write about?” he asked. “This can be a positive experience from the journalism student’s perspective, because there’s a lot to chew on here.”
Trust in the media?? Surely you jest.
One would have to be a complete fool and/or a Democrat to believe these Democrat Party’s propaganda outlets like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, PBS, NBC.
Ronald Reagan, arguably the greatest MAGA resident of the 20th century often said “Trust but Verify” while Joe and Kamala’s media marching orders were to Trust, then coverup. The beginning of the downfall of Socialism has always begun when the liars, prevaricators, and deluders of the truth begin to believe their own lies. Most end up like Joe and Adolph Hitler,,,,,with drug muddled minds, hiding in their basements and Fuhrur bunkers moving imaginary troops about the map board that no longer exist, having been murdered and eliminated in the dawn and arrival of reality. To Joe and Kamala, the disappearing troops are the disappearing voters, who are so tired of being lied to and treated like fools and useful idiots finally awaken to the pain of the painful realities of national socialism they were subjeceted to, and act to remove that pain from their formerly surrendered lives now about to get regained.
I agree. WHAT TRUST? They lost that with their total and utter butt kissing of the DEM LIES from back in 2016, with the russia collusion lie, the laptop lie, the KISSING UP TO Clinton and her lies and crimes etc..
SO WHAT TRUST does anyone think they still have from we the people!?
Has trust in media tanked over coverage of President Biden’s decline?
Trust in the Media tanked way before they started lying and covering up for Brandon.
Surely you jest, trust in msm has been gone for a very long time. They are part of the problem not the solution, they spread more misinformation daily and do more covering for the dems then one would think possible. The only people believing their propaganda are the left/dem TDS suffering ill-informed lemming voting cult members. IMO
It should be noted that the media only admitted Joe’s cognitive decline after the nationally broadcast of the debate !!!! The cognitive decline didn’t just start that night of the debate !!!! On another note does anyone find it curious that only after the failed assassination attempt did Biden step away from the election????
Did he step away? I think he was “stepped away”.
“You’ll have to pry this Presidency out of my cold, dead…Oh, you have a gun..Hey, like I said, I’m always happy to serve the best interests of The Party and America.”
This exactly!
It is time to require occupational licensing to practice journalism and make it much easier to sue for libel . The staggering degree of malpractice we see in our news media would not be tolerated for 1 second in our health care professions and other licensed professions, so why do we tolerate it in our fake news media?
SINCE they want ethics limits on judges, THE SAME SHOULD Bloody well apply to the so-called media.
” “Unfortunately, depending on what media you subscribe to, you were getting different stories,” Moscato said. “That is until recently, when there has been a broader consensus emerging that there were concerning health issues for the president.”
That could have an impact on reporters and editors.”
Yes. It’s true. If you relied on media to tell you that it was perfectly normal that President Biden couldn’t find the side door to The White House (after being “Vice President” for four years) this senility bit would seem to happen all of a sudden-like. The rest of us have suffered through it knowingly, like a continuous slow-mo of J.F. K.’s motorcade.
“Reporters and editors” (don’t forget anchors and talk-show hosts, the most vulnerable among us?) were the hardest hit by reality.
Trust In the media died when Biden took office. A good example is try putting get a job On MSN They will Delete your comment because it’s against their community standards Just like all lives matter Against community standards. But it’s not just a media I don’t trust the white house or the FBI. The FBI is trying to now say it was a ricochet they hit trump
I lost trust in news media a long time ago. If you’re still getting news from organizations that flat out lies to you then you’re not wanting information you’re wanting affirmation.
AND you need to get an MRI to ensure you still have a brain!
The media lost me completely when Dan Rather said “No Mr. President. Are you?” when Nixon asked if Rather was running for office.
It made Dan Rather a hero for the Left and erased a line of decorum.