Leftist journos condemn ‘both-siderism’, push for harsher treatment of GOP: ‘Democracy is literally at stake’

Leftist journalists applauded an article in the Los Angeles Times that calls for an end to “both-siderism” in media coverage and to come down even harder on Republicans while not covering Democrats so harshly.

Los Angeles Times columnist Jackie Calmes, who was a New York Times reporter before moving over to the Los Angeles Times, wrote an op-ed entitled, “Why journalists are failing the public with ‘both-siderism’ in political coverage.” She whined about “journalistic pressure” to write stories that ostensibly presented both sides of an issue and said it prevented journalists from reporting what she calls “the new truth.”

Specifically, Calmes went after reporters who “focus critically on President Biden and Democrats” as opposed to “Republicans’ obstructions.”

“To the extent, then, that journalists and pundits focus critically on President Biden and Democrats and give short shrift to Republicans’ obstructions — as if the cancer of Trumpism was in remission, if not cured — that indeed distorts reality and disserves readers, listeners and viewers,” Calmes remarked, insinuating that Americans are not capable of discerning what is actually happening in politics or exactly what is the truth.

She attacked Republicans over and over in her piece and warned that “democracy is literally at stake” concerning recent election laws.

“Democracy is literally at stake: As Republicans block federal voting rights legislation, those in red states continue to challenge the 2020 votes for Biden (but not their own), pass laws to suppress future votes in ways disadvantageous to Democrats, gerrymander legislative districts and replace nonpartisan election overseers with partisan ones,” the liberal writer disingenuously posited.

“This is a Republican Party that is not serious about governing or addressing the nation’s actual problems, as opposed to faux ones like Critical Race Theory,” Calmes caustically stated.

She ended her piece by writing, “Democrats can’t be expected to deal with these guys like they’re on the level. Nor should journalists cover them as if they are.”

Once the op-ed went public, liberal journalists started lining up to gush over it.

“Good point from longtime reporter @JackieCalmes: Missing from much political coverage is that only one party is even trying to govern,” New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer tweeted.

New York Times Magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones chimed in, “Every political journalist should read this and the book ‘How Democracies Die.’”

“Great Op Ed — important message for every journalist. (NPR and PBS this includes you). Please don’t ‘balance’ the truth with an outright, calculated lie, and call it objective reporting or interviewing,” former NPR VP Bill Buzenberg commented.

Progressive CNN White House correspondent John Harwood and left-wing commentator Jay Rosen also cooed over the article. They previously praised NBC’s Lester Holt when he proclaimed earlier this year that “fairness is overrated” in journalism.

“I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated … The idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in,” Holt asserted.

Conservatives and others on social media strongly disagree with the leftist journalist’s premise:

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