Left-leaning media organizations in the United States tend to overlook or de-emphasize economic issues and overplay cultural issues. This is because they are capitalist corporations and have economic interests of their own. Their leaders also tend to be formally educated, and individualistic on moral and cultural issues. As such, they contribute to the rise of fascism, because voters who are culturally left and economically conservative are vanishingly small.

These resources explore ethical and moral problems related to left-wing or left-leaning media organizations. See also ethical and moral problems related to Right-Leaning Media if you are interested.

Ashley Lutz, These 6 Corporations Control 90% of the Media in America. Business Insider, Jun 14, 2012.

Mark Guarino, Misleading Reports of Lawlessness After Katrina Worsened Crisis, Officials Say. The Guardian, Aug 16, 2015.  “National guard coordinator and ex-governor say tales of violence and looting – which hampered rescue work and led to quasi-militia groups – were exaggerated.” See also Jacob Remes, Finding Solidarity in Disaster. The Atlantic, Sep 1, 2015.  “In banner headlines on September 2, 2005, both The New York Times and The Washington Post paired New Orleanians’ “despair and lawlessness,” suggesting that one of these states necessarily led to the other. The very next week, though, it emerged that the stories broadcast from New Orleans were, at best, exaggerations. Nobody could find the helicopter pilot who had supposedly been shot at. Violence on the ground, too, turned out to be much less common than imagined. “I kept hearing the word animal, and I didn’t see animals,” a woman named Denise Moore told the public-radio program This American Life about her time at the Superdome. Instead, she saw self-organized activities by “gangster guys” who broke into abandoned stores. Although they might have looked like looters, they were salvaging fresh clothes for those who needed them, “juice for the babies, water, beer for the older people, food, raincoats so that they could all be seen by each other.””

Vic Bishop, The Illusion of Choice: Ninety Percent of American Media Controlled by Six Corporations. Global Research, Aug 28, 2015.  GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, CBS

Susan Smarsh, Dangerous Idiots: How the Liberal Media Elites Failed Working-Class Voters. The Guardian UK, Oct 13, 2016.

Sean Illing, Why Social Media Is Terrible for Multiethnic Democracies: Jonathan Haidt Interview. Vox, Nov 15, 2016.

William Kaufman, Climate Change Denial, Democratic-style. CounterPunch, Mar 9, 2017.  On media coverage of climate change

Ken Stern, Former NPR CEO Opens Up About Liberal Media Bias. New York Post, Oct 21, 2017.

Dylan Matthews, The Internet Was Supposed to Save Democracy. I Asked 4 Tech Optimists What Went Wrong. Vox, Jun 8, 2018.

Yuval Noah Harari, Why Technology Favors Tyranny. The Atlantic, Oct 2018.

Freedom from Facebook (website) about the antitrust implications

Rod Dreher, The New York Times' Anti-Christian Crusade. The American Conservative, Jan 24, 2019.  

Cenk Uygur Destroys Mainstream Media News And So Called Liberal Democrats At The National Press Club. MOX News, Oct 26, 2018.  speaking on digital media and the progressive movement

Joshua Cho, NYT Presents Social Security Cuts as ‘Solution’ to Problem of Social Security Cuts. FAIR, Jun 25, 2019.

Krystal Ball, Washington Post Fact Check Proves Bernie Right. The Hill, Sep 3, 2019.  On WaPo’s bias against Bernie Sanders.

John Hirschauer, No, Betsy DeVos’s Trip to a Catholic Elementary School Is Not a Scandal. National Review, Sep 23, 2019.  about labeling Catholic schools “anti-trans”

Asma Khalid, How White Liberals Became Woke, Radically Changing Their Outlook On Race. NPR, Oct 1, 2019.  re: internet media

The Young Turks, Corrupt Democrats Desperate For Centrist Nominee. The Young Turks, Oct 16, 2019.  starts with Politico’s spin on the Democratic debates, and how liberal mainstream media is neo-liberal, corporate media often attacking progressives like Sanders and Warren

Krystal Ball, Yang's Trucker Friendship Shocks the NYT. The Hill, Oct 23, 2019.  explores the Democratic debate moderators’ skepticism about Andrey Yang’s claim that he has friends who are truckers, and what that says about media bias

The Young Turks, Hillary Clinton Pressuring Media To "Correct" Tulsi Gabbard Stories. The Young Turks, Oct 24, 2019.  very disturbing about the NY Times and Associated Press doctoring history

David Doel, Anand Reminds Chait Of His 'Predictions' | Tweets Of The Week. The Rational National, Feb 11, 2020.  examples of political bias and hypocrisy by left-leaning journalists and media, against Sanders’ progressivism

The Young Turks, MSNBC: We NEED Mike Bloomberg To Beat Bernie Sanders. The Young Turks, Feb 12, 2020.  MSNBC newscaster Joy Reid promoting Bloomberg as an anti-Bernie candidate, despite Bloomberg’s mayoral support coming from his philanthropic organization giving millions to cities. corrupt self-dealing.  See also Krystal Ball, MSNBC Stages of Bernie Grief. Rising | The Hill, Feb 24, 2020.  and Jim Naureckas, Bernie Sanders Plunges to First Place. FAIR, Feb 24, 2020.

Saagar Enjeti, ABC News Reveals Corporate Control by Silencing Socialist Journalist. Rising | The Hill, Feb 27, 2020.  ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Corp.

Arthur Bloom, China’s Long Tentacles Extend Deep Into American Media. The American Conservative, Mar 31, 2020.  left-leaning media are more invested in Chinese business.

Second Thought, Capitalism And Monopolies: How Five Companies Control All US Media. Second Thought, Aug 28, 2020.  a helpful examination of the problem and its consequences for democracy, information, fairness

Kyle Kulinsky, MSNBC Suddenly Realizes Bernie Was Right. Secular Talk, Jan 12, 2021.  Joe Scarborough suddenly praises Nordic social welfare programs as the best way to do capitalism - health care, education, labor, etc.

Alec Karakatsanis, How the Media Enables Violent Bureaucracy. Alec’s Copaganda Newsletter, Jan 27, 2023. “One of the core truths about the punishment bureaucracy is that police, prosecutors, prisons, probation, parole, courts, and the constellation of multi-billion dollar industries that evolve in symbiosis with them use their own violence, waste, and ineffectiveness to justify getting more resources in an endless cycle of “reform.” Each failure becomes a reason to spend more trying the same things harder.  This cycle is not accidental.  Luminaries from Michel Foucault to David Graeber to my one-eyed cat housemate have pointed out the connection between perpetual growth of bureaucracy and narratives around “reform.””

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, David Sirota: WAPO Fact Check CLAIMS Bernie Wrong, Trump Tax Cuts Didn’t Benefit Rich. Rising | The Hill, Feb 5, 2021.  a sign that Jeff Bezos being the owner of WAPO shapes its culture; even though WAPO is often thought of as left-leaning, their corporate outlook is right-leaning.

Ed Morrissey, Variety: The Post-Trump Cable-News Apocalypse Has Arrived — CNN Hardest Hit. Hot Air, Mar 13, 2021.  Expect left-wing corporate media to gin up controversies and stories to try to recover ratings; CNN took a 45% plunge.

Ashley Rindsberg, The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times’s Misreporting, Distortions, and Fabrications Radically Alter History. Amazon book, May 2021. Starts with the NYT declaring that Poland had invaded Germany, and pro-Hitler coverage. See interview with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Author: How Financial Interests Influence News Making Decisions. Rising | The Hill, May 14, 2021.  Arguably, although the NYT today represents more of a corporate Democratic establishment view, the corporate structure of our media environment is an issue defended most vociferously by the libertarian and pro-corporate right.

Emily Jashinsky, NYT Botches Dispatch on Local Culture War Blow-Up. Rising | The Hill, Jun 1, 2021.  gives a fascinating criticism of NYT reporting on “parachute journalism” of Wassau, Wisconsin about a county resolution with charged jargon (equity, etc.). NYT read the situation as charged with racial tension because of Trump’s administration. However, Jashinsky points out the economic effects of jobs leaving, like the closing of the last paper mill, and the involvement of a New York hedge fund. Jashinsky argues that Trump is a symptom, not a cause.

Krystal Ball, Groundbreaking Study Proves Culture Wars Kill Class Politics. Breaking Points, Jun 7, 2021.  highlights a very important study by Thomas Picketty et al. about Portugal and Ireland taking an economically leftist, working-class oriented, progressive turn from the 2008-09 crisis, and thereby avoiding the rightward, antidemocratic fascist currents of other countries. This has major implications for the corporate Democrats abandoning the working class.

Ryan Arey, The Mandarin Was Right (And was Responsible for Tony's Snap!) | Iron Man 3 + Shang-Chi Explained. Screen Crush, Sep 7, 2021.  on how war and media propaganda are related, from the American Revolution onwards. There is a media-military-industrial complex.

Ryan Grim, Media Losing Its Mind Over Progressives Actually Flexing Power. Rising | The Hill, Oct 4, 2021.  examines the New York Times about Biden’s Build Back Better infrastructure bill and progressives’ power

Editors, Commonsense Solidarity: How a Working-Class Coalition Can Be Built, and Maintained. Jacobin Magazine, Nov 9, 2021.  performs a very important study on people who are politically independent or leaning Democrat. Universal language of economic populism and anti-elitist rhetoric polls better, whereas centering race, disability, etc. does not in the general population, though raising and contextualizing those issues is important. See commentary by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Study: AOC's 'Woke' Language Will Never Win Working Class. Breaking Points, Nov 11, 2021.  Argues that the Civil Rights issues have largely persuaded the population philosophically. Bernie (populism, name the elite as an enemy) also is more popular over Biden (moderate, unity). Krystal points out college educated urban voters are swayed by race, disability, etc. This means that “woke” messaging on race is a media phenomenon more than a voter phenomenon.

Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, Found in Translation: New York Times Says Democrats Shouldn't Challenge Oligarchy. Common Dreams, Nov 10, 2021.  “The powerful newspaper's editorial board makes clear it likes to editorialize about social justice, but certainly doesn't want any structural changes or substantial new government policies that could bring it much closer.”

Thom Hartmann, The Secret Hedge Fund Gutting Newsrooms Exposed? (w/ Mickey Huff). Thom Hartmann Program, Nov 26, 2021.  Huff directs Project Censored, a media watchdog and media literacy organization.

Amber Ruffin, Copaganda: How Fictional TV Police Make Real Cops More Dangerous. The Amber Ruffin Show, Dec 10, 2021.  highlights how media portrayals of police started with Dragnet, which the LAPD required influence over, to hide their racially discriminatory practices. Media also suggests that crime is rising constantly, that policing is one of America’s most dangerous jobs, and that black people are criminal.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Alabama Miners Slam Corporate Media Blackout Of Struggle. Breaking Points, Dec 21, 2021.

Jen Pan, How Much Does “Economic Anxiety” Really Explain?  Jacobin Magazine, Mar 17, 2022.  Examines the strong data that economic anxiety and racial resentment are linked, and excoriates left-leaning media for ignoring the concerns of the working class, which Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump addressed.

Vivek Chibber, The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn.  Harvard University Press | Amazon page, Feb 2022.  Chibber argues that the broadest social change is achieved by organizing labor, and providing jobs through trade policy, etc.  He refers to consciousness-raising as specific to people’s feelings about their jobs and bosses.  See interview by Jen Pan, Rescuing the Left From Its Obsession With Culture — Vivek Chibber.  Jacobin Magazine, Feb 13, 2022.  Condemns the Left’s decision (under the Clintons) to leave behind Labor and prefer neoliberalism.

Emily Bender, Look Behind the Curtain: Don’t Be Dazzled by Claims of ‘Artificial Intelligence’.  Seattle Times, May 11, 2022.  Bender makes an excellent point:  “We should demand instead journalism that refuses to be dazzled by claims of “artificial intelligence” and looks behind the curtain. We need journalism that asks such key questions as: What patterns in the training data will lead the systems to replicate and perpetuate past harms against marginalized groups? What will happen to people subjected to the system’s decisions, if the system operators believe them to be accurate? Who benefits from pushing these decisions off to a supposedly objective computer? How would this system further concentrate power and what systems of governance should we demand to oppose that? It behooves us all to remember that computers are simply tools. They can be beneficial if we set them to right-sized tasks that match their capabilities well and maintain human judgment about what to do with the output. But if we mistake our ability to make sense of language and images generated by computers for the computers being “thinking” entities, we risk ceding power — not to computers, but to those who would hide behind the curtain.”

Matt Taibbi, Meet the Censored: Katie Halper.  TK News by Matt Taibbi | Substack, Oct 5, 2022.  “The "Useful Idiots" co-host is dismissed from The Hill, which is a little too frank about the reason.”  Calling Israel “an apartheid state” over the occupation of Palestine.

John Oliver, Crime Reporting. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Oct 10, 2022. Brilliant critique of the police as an interest group and journalists as lazy when they report, “Police say…”

Richard Wike et.al., Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier.  Pew Research Center, Dec 6, 2022.  “Most think social media has made it easier to manipulate and divide people, but also say it informs and raises awareness.”

Saagar Enjeti and Ryan Grim, Crowd Erupts As Trump Mocks Rape Accusation. Breaking Points, May 11, 2023.  Saagar and Ryan mention milestone events when Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin attacked the press/media, and their audiences enthusiastically applauded.  At the NH Town Hall, Trump simply attacked journalist Kaitlin Collins at CNN -- who is a self-proclaimed conservative and Republican -- as a “nasty person” and the crowd enthusiastically applauded.  This shows a weakness in the current media ecosystem, and especially the left-leaning media, although CNN is not necessarily left-leaning.

Thom Hartmann, Why the Rich Want You Fighting Over These Social Issues. Thom Hartmann Program, Aug 16, 2023. Focusing on trans issues are a distraction from economic issues.

Fredrik DeBoer, How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement. Simon & Schuster | Amazon page, Sep 2023. See interview by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, How Elites Destroyed Black Lives Matter. Breaking Points, Sep 5, 2023.

Noah Smith, Liberalism Is Losing the Information War.  Noahpinion | Substack, Nov 8, 2023.  Fascist governments pumped propaganda out to control their own populations.  Now with social media, they seek to influence the US population.  

Emma Vigeland, New York Times Busted Making Up Oct 7th “Mass R*pes” Reporting. The Majority Report, Mar 1, 2024.

Jared Yates Sexton, Profiles in Cowardice: Morning Joe and Capitulation Among Liberals in the Trump Era. Dispatches from a Collapsing State | Substack, Nov 19, 2024. Morning Joe was just the first chapter in what is sure to be a long, destructive, and frustrating collapse during the Trump Era.