A small but determined pack of pundits savage the press on a weekly basis. Reporters, sadly, give them fodder ’round the clock.
Newsbusters regularly exposes the bias infecting most news outlets [note: this reporter contributes to the web site]. Andrew Klavan’s essential podcast showcases media bias with a dash of wit and exasperation.
On the Left, Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald increasingly do the same, pushing aside how journalists stack the deck in their own party’s favor. That takes courage, but not the Dan Rather variation.
“The Adam and Dr. Drew Show” is joining this small but growing band of media bias critics.
The free-wheeling podcast, re-teaming the “Loveline” due from their syndicated radio past, covers a crush of meaty topics.
- Dating
- COVID-19
- Addiction
- Recovery
- “Love Boat” reruns
Lately, the conversation keeps steering back to the media. They’re broadcasters, and they have a front row seat to journalism’s decline. Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla lack the filters their fellow critics possess. Their shoot from the hip style is exactly what reporters need to hear today, assuming any are open to constructive, and much needed, criticism.
They’ve got narratives to promote, and facts too often get in the way.
RELATED: Carolla — Media Bias, Big Tech Rigged Election for Biden
The duo’s latest media broadside tracked the news’ sudden realization that COVID-19 may, indeed, have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. Both august outlets and Big Tech alike mocked, discredited or outright banned that theory … without the kind of evidence that would support such actions.
Now, the same outlets are suggesting that very well could have happened.
Why did they embrace a false narrative? For starters, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton from Arkansas and President Donald Trump both suggested it might be the case. Knee-jerk media insisted they couldn’t be telling the truth. Reporter Jon Karl all but admitted just that.
“Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them.”
ABC News’ @JonKarl said “a lot of people have egg on their face” for dismissing the Covid-19 lab leak theory because it was coming from people like former President Donald Trump. https://t.co/0alhi3GQcP
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 31, 2021
Dr. Pinsky and Carolla brought up the media’s sudden change of heart.
“Their posture [on the Wuhan lab origin theory] was … debunked, false information, Tom Cotton’s nuts for bringing it up,” Carolla said. “They want it to be so, so they run with it … it’s not really how a news organization is supposed to work.”
“You keep calling them ‘news.’ I think that’s now an outdated term,” Dr. Pinsky countered. “I think they’re editorial entertainment programming. It’s not news.”
RELATED: Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Punches Fake News in the Nose
Carolla compared how mainstream outlets covered COVID-19 to Fox News’ reportage on the pandemic. That includes the potential emergence of hydroxychloroquine, a drug widely available for more than a century. Outlets like CNN questioned its potential side effects, while other reporters suggested it was dangerous to even consider.
Fox News, by comparison, took a more accurate approach given the drug’s extensive history without extreme consequences, Carolla noted.
“They didn’t attack hydroxychloroquine. They supported, in general, the Wuhan lab theory. They were basically against schools shutting down,” Carolla said, adding the right-leaning network didn’t agree with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer blocking residents from boating during the pandemic.
“[Fox News] has their agenda, and CNN has their agenda. The question is, ‘who ended up being right?”” Carolla said. “When it comes to COVID [Fox News’] agenda was more accurate than CNN’s.”
