Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer to the studio.
During the third hour, Brewer weighed in on whether or not the media would seize the opportunity to redeem themselves of bias within a Biden presidency. He outlined how the mainstream media would have a chance to regain its legitimacy and credibility after an unprecedented standard of practice with President Trump.
Leahy: We are in the studio with our good friend all-star panelist Clint Brewer. Clint, our listeners are breathless with anticipation. (Brewer laughs)
Brewer: I doubt that.
Leahy: (Chuckles) Clint, what is the third thing to watch in 2021?
Brewer: I think the third thing to watch is the mainstream press and will it seize the huge opportunity and I’m not being facetious here. I’m not being sarcastic. Will it seize the huge opportunity it has to regain legitimacy and credibility with the large swath of Americans who don’t find it that way? Don’t find it legitimate or trustworthy? And here’s how it can happen.
The press in this country established a standard and a practice with President Trump and his administration, which was to anything that was mistruth, not a fact, or in some cases what they would outright call a lie was labeled as such in print and on the air. It was something that really had never been done before with a president. It was new and it was a new approach. And sometimes the president was wrong and sometimes the press was wrong.
But it was taking calling out if you will a politician to a new level with the language and the intent. What I would say is the third biggest thing to watch in 2021 is will the mainstream American press apply that same standard to a likely Joe Biden administration? I think that is the key. And are they going to use the same language or are they going to go back to the old ways of allowing presidents and executives and administrations to slip by with things that are less than true and call them differences of opinion?
Or to allow it to be grey? Or are they going to continue to draw that line in the sand and be as righteous with a Democratic administration as they got with a Republican administration? I think it’s a pivotal moment for the American press. And I think they need to show in their actions that they claim they’re not biased. Let’s see it.
Leahy: So I do have a response. And let me say I agree with you that this is the third issue to watch. But I can tell you right now in my view how it’s going to play out. And the mainstream media is gone. I know you hold out hope for them.
Brewer: Gone as in doesn’t exist? Or gone as in…
Leahy: Totally biased and in the pockets of Democrats. Just a case in point, you know, they failed to report all of the very legitimate scandals involving Hunter Biden. They failed to report them. They covered them up.
Brewer: They downplayed them is what they did.
Leahy: They’re going to continue with that pattern. I agree with Glenn Reynolds. They are Democratic operatives with bylines and they are brazen. I don’t see that changing at all. The big story about Joe Biden in the past couple of days isn’t the continuing ties to China that his son has had. They’re not writing about that. They’re writing about his cat. And they’re writing about you know, how he broke his ankle. You know, these are substantive stories. Not!
Brewer: But here’s the thing. This is what we normally get during this period of you know, this quasi honeymoon period with a newly elected president. I know there’s an asterisk there.
Leahy: Asterisk.
Brewer: But this is typical of what you know, they focus on what the new first lady is going to wear on Inauguration night and who her favorite designers are. That’s what we get.
Leahy: It’s interesting that you say that focusing on what the new first lady is going to wear. I’ll put this as an objective fact, and let’s see if you would agree with that. Melania Trump is a very beautiful first lady.
Brewer: Melania Trump was also the best dressed first lady since Jackie Kennedy.
Leahy: And yet and yet you did not see her featured on the cover of any mainstream magazine.
Brewer: I did read a few outrage pieces from the fashion industry. Like this administration or not, this woman is very well dressed. Speaking of brand, that’s probably on-brand for the Trump administration. But she was not romanticized in the way a Democratic first lady will be.
Leahy: So I do think you’re right that the mainstream media will show their bias. You’re going to see all sorts of pictures of Jill Biden on the covers of magazines.
Brewer: Yes you will.
Leahy: I do want to I agree with you about this being a very important thing to watch but I have a different view of how it’s going to play out.
Brewer: Well and I don’t have a view of how it’s going to play out. I mean, I’m not offering a perspective on how it’s gonna play out.
Leahy: You want to watch and see what happens.
Brewer: I’m saying that this has played out perfectly for the American press to embrace this new standard. The ball is on the tee and are they going to hit it? I would guess not.
Leahy: No.
Brewer: But the opportunity you have to admit is there.
Leahy: They are not going to take it.
Brewer: But if in the major newsrooms in America they sit down and say okay. It happens in every administration. They are going to say something that’s not true. They’re going to do something that’s not truthful and it’s going to happen.
Leahy: So all these guys that you’re talking about the mainstream media and I’ll tell you two things. I don’t think they’re that bright. A. And B, they are totally dishonest. This is my view. But here’s what’s going to happen. What I think is going to happen is you’re going to see a rise of media that will challenge that but will serve the 73 million-plus people that voted for Donald Trump.
And the Tennessee Star and the Tennessee Star Report and all of our new sites The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, the Ohio Star, The Michigan Star, and The Minnesota Sun, we’re going to be right in the middle of that. That’s what I see happening. I think is going to be a great year of opportunity for our news business.
Brewer: Well, I think that’s true. I mean, I think that if and when the mainstream press over the course of 2021 fails to call the Biden administration out on its shortcomings in the same language it did with Donald Trump.
Leahy: I’m reminded of this great Tweet from Iowa Hawk. The purpose of the mainstream media is to cover the news with a blanket until it stops moving. (Laughter)Â
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
