The single most significant victory for democracy in the United States in 2022 has been the Dobbs decision striking down Roe v. Wade. Roe had taken abortion away from the democratic process, and Dobbs returned the issue to legislatures and voters.
Yet there was no glowing celebration of Dobbs by the New York Times’s “democracy” reporter, by the Associated Press’s “Democracy News” desk, the Washington Post’s “Democracy Team,” nor the resurgent Journal of Democracy. In fact, three members of the Post’s Democracy Team wrote a negative story about the ruling, arguing that “the sudden striking down of what was long considered settled law is the latest evidence of a broken democratic system.”
How is a “Democracy Team” against a ruling that increases democracy? It’s enough to make you wonder whether this push in major left-leaning media outlets isn’t just a burgeoning love for democracy — especially when you consider that this widespread adoption of the “democracy beat” is part of a push for journalists to drop their usual “both-sides” coverage of politics.
Check out this feature in the L.A. Times about the media’s fight, supposedly, to “save democracy.” The writer, Matt Pearce, shows some skepticism and quotes me showing tons of skepticism. He also rightly points to liberal columnist Margaret Sullivan as a pioneer in this effort to use the “pro-democracy” rallying cry as a reason to treat all Republicans and conservatives as not merely wrong but dangerous and illegitimate.
“Democracy is at stake in the midterms,” Sullivan writes. “The media must convey that.” Specifically, she writes that “if Republicans take one or both houses of Congress,” democracy is doomed. If (A) electing Democrats is the only way to save democracy, and if (B) the media has to be partial to democracy, then (C) the media now has an excuse to be 100% partial to the Democratic Party.
That’s exactly what is going on with these newsrooms’ “fight to save democracy,” and not much more.
The “democracy teams” don’t fret about Biden promising executive action when Congress rejects his proposals. They don’t defend participatory democracy against the politicians who call angry parents “terrorists.” They don’t critique Stacey Abrams for continuing to reject her election losses.
The media are 90% liberal on social issues, and 90% of reporters and editors favor the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. Claiming to fight a fight to save democracy while attacking democracy in certain circumstances where it has a conservative flavor is a cynical effort to excuse your own partisan partiality.
