Tag: media

How America Receives News Changes

Today in History, January 17, 1998:

It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

Matt Drudge, of the “Drudge Report” breaks the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal, in which President Bill Clinton was discovered having an affair with a young White House intern.

Amidst a series of lies and cover-ups, Clinton would eventually be found to be in contempt of court, see charges of perjury, the suspension of his law license by the state of Arkansas and by the United States Supreme Court, and impeachment.

The incident also cemented internet news sources as legitimate, much to the chagrin of the mainstream media, which had tried to kill the story to protect the Democrat in the White House.

Many incidents since have demonstrated for Americans just how few individuals had controlled the information they received, and the bias those sources allowed to drive them.

“Dewey Defeats Truman”

Today in History, November 2, 1948:

“Dewey Defeats Truman”.

The Chicago Tribune is so confident that New York Governor Thomas Dewey will win the Presidential election that the paper publishes it’s desired results in an early edition…but Truman won by 2M votes.

Most sources will describe this as a solitary example of media bias, however in 2000 the media almost in it’s entirety called the election for Al Gore as Florida polls closed…several hours before the polls closed in the majority of the nation. Many voters, hearing the news as they drove home, decided there was no point in going to the polls. As it turned out, not even Florida could be declared for Gore at that point.

The media’s actions would send the nation into a legal limbo for weeks as the victor was determined in the courts. In the attached photo a victorious President Truman holds up the erroneous headline.

In 2016, the polls….and the media…reported it was nearly a forgone conclusion that Secretary Clinton would win.