Tipsheet

What Obama Just Said About the Media Will Make You Laugh Your Head Off

Former President Barack Obama thinks the legacy media does just fine, thank you very much. 

During an interview at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, Obama discussed media bias. The host asked which legacy media outlet is best at reporting straight facts rather than biased opinions.

“I actually think — I actually think that the mainstream news still does a very good job of just presenting facts,” Obama stammered. “I think cable, regardless of the cable station, has fallen prey to the same economic imperatives that we’re seeing in every other type of news, which is, you are deliberately controversial, deliberately aggressive, deliberately trying to make people feel angry and aggrieved, because that attracts attention.”

Obama is right about legacy media outlets making people “angry and aggrieved,” but if you watch him speak, you can tell he doesn’t really believe what he says about the media “presenting facts.”

He should know. During his tenure in office, the legacy media did little to hold his administration accountable. Even after he was in office, they peddled the lie that he had a “scandal-free administration.”

It’s also worth pointing out that the data support the idea that the legacy media is clearly biased in favor of the Democratic Party. The Media Research Center (MRC) conducted an extensive analysis of media coverage. It found that during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term, legacy media delivered 92 percent negative coverage of his administration.

This was an increase from Trump’s first term, when the same outlets gave 89 percent negative coverage within the first 100 days.

But when it came to former President Joe Biden, the media gave him 59 percent positive coverage during his first 100 days. During the 2024 presidential election, former Vice President Kamala Harris received 78 percent positive coverage while Trump received 85 percent negative.

But that’s not all.

Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy produced similar findings. Their study found that news coverage was 80 percent negative during Trump’s first 100 days. 

Legacy media outlets have gone to great lengths to smear Republicans. They pushed the Russia collusion hoax. They created the “fine people” hoax. They even went after a bunch of high school kids from Covington Catholic school because they wore MAGA hats.

Claiming the media isn’t biased is like telling people sharks can live on land. It’s obvious for anyone who pays attention. There is a reason why trust in media has been at all-time lows for years — and not even Barack Obama can clean this up.