The American media is challenged about how to balance the coverage between Democrats and Republicans

[kentuck]

Until now, they have succeeded to some degree. However, both sides have accused the other of getting the most favorable press treatment. Conservatives created a descriptive phrase they called "liberal media" to prove that the media favored the liberals. The liberals countered that the media reported what their corporate masters wanted them to report. Otherwise, they would not have a job.

Still, the political system endured with the manufactured "balance" that the media used to persuade Americans they were attempting to be as fair as possible.

But now, a Third Party has come into the picture - the MAGA Republicans. They are not Republicans and they are certainly not Democrats. They are independent extremists that have attached themselves to the Republican Party. Republicans have mostly accepted them because they would be a weak semblance of themselves without them.

So the media is now challenged to strike some sort of balance between three Parties - the Dems, the Repubs, and the MAGAs.

If they were doing their job more fairly, they would not report on the MAGA as Republicans but as an extremist group that has successfully taken over the Republican political machine. They would report on the Democrats and Republicans as they have done in the past, with all their perceived inequalities.

They cannot give the "Big Lie" equal time because it is part of the Republican Party. They cannot excuse the attack upon our Capitol because it was done by "Republicans". They cannot accept the threat of stealing our national secrets because it was done by a former Republican President. He was never a Republican. He has always been an extremist and a MAGA Party Leader, who used the Republican Party as a means to gain control.

In my opinion, the media should report on the two major Parties as they did in the past but they should report on MAGA as a Third Party extremist group, bent on insurrection and destroying democracy. The media needs to divorce the MAGAs from the Republican Party, in my opinion.

[Mr. Ected]

1. All true, had the Republicans not openly embraced MAGA

And circled the wagons around them.

If the Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger faction of the GOP would clearly enunciate their break from the MAGA crowd, stand up and be counted, I think the media would differentiate between the two because they'd have to.

[kentuck]

5. Interesting.

Kinzinger and Cheney could more clearly enunciate their break from the MAGA Party and their loyalty to the conservative Republican Party. That would help if Republicans would do that, I am sure.

The media would have to report the difference in the two factions.

[Mr. Ected]

8. I think Kinzinger and Cheney have been clear enough

I was referring to the dozens of Republicans who report "off the record" that they despise Trump and all he stands for, then get on Face the Nation to trash Democrats and support the fascist element of their party. They are the cowards who keep this nightmare alive and allow the media to lop them all together under the heading of Republican and thereby protect them from the scrutiny they deserve.

There sure are a lot of cowards in Washington these days.

[kentuck]

10. Their political Party has demanded their soul.

and they have surrendered to whatever the Party decides.

[TDale313]

2. If you're a reporter

And one side tells you it’s raining and the other says no, it’s sunny- your job isn’t to report both opinions as equally valid. It’s to look out the window and see if it’s raining or not.

[kentuck]

6. But another side is saying that they are seeding the clouds with acid rain...

..just to kill off Republicans so Democrats can maintain control, then that conspiracy should not be reported as "the other side".

[walkingman]

3. 100% of the GOP politicians support MAGA with less than a handful speaking out against it.

Regardless of what their constituents want they vote along Party lines on issue after issue - good examples are gun control, access to abortion, voting rights, etc. The only thing that career politicians are about is getting elected.

Bottom line - until GOP voters stop electing these charlatans then media has no choice but to report the news as it does now. GOP is a MAGA party. The Dems are not immune to this either but we have much more diversity in our elected Democratic Party politicians. We are a BIG TENT PARTY.

It is hard to take math out of physics - it is also hard to take MAGA out of the GOP.

[spanone]

4. They are looking for 'balance' where there is none.

Republicans are maga, there is no separation between the two.

[kacekwl]

7. Since 98% of elected Republicans still support trump MAGA party

(at least they don't denounce it) they should be reported as the threats to democracy and terrorists they are. Imagine if the Taliban became a political party in America. Would they report on them as just another party ?

[pressbox69]

9. Reporting on the Dems

should be honest and factual. Reporting on the Republican/MAGA party should be done with great caution. They have a habit of targeting anyone who dares to expose the treason in their party with violence. Perhaps shunning their party would be the best way to go for all real Americans. Hard to believe but it looks like even President Biden has reached his limit with their crimes against humanity.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

11. Unfortunately the MAGA Republicans are not a third party as they have largely

taken over that party.

There are some GOP hold outs--and Biden is wise to separate these people out from MAGA fascism, but this is not a small third party fringe. They dominate the Republican Party today.

[jobendorfer]

12. My Take

The vast majority of news media companies are running close to the edge of bankruptcy and failure.
They cannot afford to alienate even 5% of their subscriber base or readership (which drives ad revenue).
(Us old folks can remember when it took an afternoon to read a Sunday paper, today you can read one in five minutes ... if your town even produces one, or has a newspaper to start with. Newspapers today are 80% ads.)

The business solution to this threat: both-siderism! That is, walk along the top of the fence, carefully balancing yourself with the skill of the late King of Jordan, so as not to overly offend either liberal or consevative readers.

The problem for them now is that there isn't any middle ground between democracy and fascism. Either you're for one person/one vote, or you're not. That's where we are.

The solution to this is non-profit news media, that relies, somewhat like PBS used to, on a very large set of low-dollar donors, and is not beholden to Congress or big corporations for its funding. That will at least have a *chance* at a reasonable level of objectivity.

J.

[WarGamer]

13. There is no 3rd Party

Something like 90% of Republicans say they'll vote for Trump again.

Trump IS THE GOP.

The remnants you speak of are just disgruntled neocons.