Trump and Biden Scandals Show a Double Standard in Media Coverage

Written by Hudson Crozier

What’s happening: Establishment media outlets are aggressively downplaying or ignoring scandals in President Joe Biden’s family related to his son’s foreign business ventures, which have inspired a House impeachment inquiry.

Why it matters: Journalists sang a very different tune when former President Donald Trump was baselessly accused of colluding with Russia to become president. Though multiple Justice Department reports found no evidence, and Hillary Clinton’s opposition campaign had inspired the investigation, the corporate media continued to treat the collusion claims as serious and concerning.

When it’s Trump: The Trump-Russia hoax was America’s top news story for years, covered in meticulous detail, and the topic of hundreds of thousands of articles. New information was described as “stunning,” “bombshell,” or “damning,” even when reports relied on now-debunked claims from anonymous sources.

When it’s Biden: Reporters have described credible evidence of Biden’s corruption as “thin,” “unverified,” or even “testimony [that] … appears to exonerate” him. Outlets also claim that Republicans have turned up “no evidence of wrongdoing.” At the very least, the investigations have corroborated the complaint that Biden misled the public about his involvement with Hunter’s business partners.

• Not even newsworthy? The largest television news companies have refused to cover new information from the investigations in their broadcasts.

The state of journalism: The New York Times and Washington Post — two of the most influential newspapers in America — each won a Pulitzer Prize for their Trump-Russia coverage. Some journalists still claim that the collusion hoax is true.