During the 2020 election, the NY Post’s exposure of Hunter Biden’s laptop saw a total media blackout and social media censorship.
Based on explanations from CNN and MSNBC following the Iowa Caucuses, the new Biden laptop story to be suppressed in 2024 is former President Donald Trump.
Not long into his victory speech, Trump began to talk about the border crisis as an invasion.
“We have an invasion of millions and millions of people that are coming into our country. I can't imagine why they think that's a good thing,” Trump said.
CNN’s Jake Tapper felt free to talk over Trump’s speech at that point, admitting at first the victory was “the biggest victory for a non-incumbent president in the modern era for this contest.”
But then coverage shifted away from the speech to Tapper, who remarked “Although, here he is, right now, under my voice. You can hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
MSNBC didn’t even get that far, instituting a blackout of the coverage of the speech entirely.
The network’s main anchor, Rachel Maddow, then went on to explain to audiences that MSNBC will decide what’s important for them to hear.
Here are the remarks she made on air, admitting they regularly censor coverage of Trump with some emphasis added:
At this point in the evening the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech. We will keep an eye on that as it happens. We will let you know if there is any news made in that speech, if there is anything noteworthy, something substantive and important.
The reason I’m saying this is, of course, there is a reason that we and other news organizations have generally stopped giving an unfiltered, live platform to remarks by former President Trump. It is not out of spite, it is not a decision that we relish, it is a decision that we regularly revisit. And, honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us, as a news organization, of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. That is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are.
And so, his remarks, tonight, will not air here live. We will monitor them and let you know about any news that he makes.
Knowingly broadcasting untrue things? Hasn’t Maddow been at the head of the pack perpetuating the false Russian Collusion story?
Ross Barkan asked in a 2019 opinion article in The Guardian if Maddow would ever face a reckoning. Well, it’s 2024 and she hasn’t yet.
Maddow also was among those calling the Hunter Biden laptop “disinformation.” And that was even after the NY Times deleted its story characterizing the laptop as “unsubstantiated.”
The staff at Sky News Australia often offer commentary on U.S. politics. Yes, it has a right-leaning bent to it and sometimes is downright brutal in its coverage of President Biden. At times, their commentators can be over the top but, more often than not, they hit the mark.
The transcripts for both of these videos are available if you click through and watch them on YouTube. Expand the video description, the transcripts are at the bottom.
More To The Story
It’s not the first time CNN and MSNBC have refused to air a Trump speech.
Just last June, both networks blacked out coverage when Trump gave an address to his supporters after a court hearing related to allegations he inappropriately retained classified documents.
"We’re not carrying his remarks live because, frankly, he says a lot of things that are not true and sometimes potentially dangerous," said Jake Tapper.
I’m dating myself a bit here, but I’m old enough to remember when CNN and Jake Tapper were considered “go-to” news sources, known for full and broad coverage. Now it’s small and narrow coverage; curated by clear biases.
Maddow’s explanation was nearly the same as her quoted statement above.
"As we have said before in these circumstances, there is a cost to us as a news organization to knowingly broadcast untrue things. We are here to bring you the news. It hurts our ability to do that if we live broadcast what we fully expect in advance to be a litany of lies and false accusations, no matter who says them."
Past presidents, including Biden, were found to have done essentially the same thing, but only Trump has ever been charged.
CNN and MSNBC have outright said they will not cover certain remarks by Trump; These networks are deciding what the public can and cannot see.
Luckily for the public, the information is available elsewhere.
With a proliferation of social media platforms, video hosting sites, blogs, and places like Substack, folks can pick their news provider.
But the public needs to pick carefully: