First published 2013
David Freddoso argues that journalists abandoned their duty during the 2012 presidential campaign. While reporters obsessed over Big Bird and manufactured controversies about a war on women, they ignored the real economic devastation under Obama. Part time jobs replaced full time positions. Low wage work displaced higher paying careers. Americans aged twenty five to fifty four faced fewer employment opportunities than when the recession officially ended in 2009. The media also overlooked foreign policy failures and deadly scandals like Fast and Furious and the Benghazi terrorist attack that killed the American ambassador. Instead of investigating these stories, reporters focused on distorting Romney's forty seven percent remarks and labeling Republican statements as racial code. Freddoso, editorial page editor of the Washington Examiner and former National Review congressional reporter, documents how this media malpractice helped reelect Obama during the worst economic conditions since the 1970s. He provides the substantive coverage that was missing from 2012.
Genres: american, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, journalism, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, political-commentary
Setting: Benghazi, Washington
Period: 2012, 1970s
Audio CD · Blackstone Publishing