Democratic strategist James Carville called for more “biased” media coverage of Donald Trump during his podcast Thursday and criticized the executive editor of the New York Times for saying the newspaper intended to “cover the full range of issues” of the presidential campaign, not only those favorable aside.
“Now you have Joe Kahn, the new editor or publisher, whatever it is, at The New York Times, saying, 'We only have to cover this halfway. Let's cover what it is.' I don't think that's the role of the media at a time when the entire Constitution is in danger,” Carville said during his “Politics War Room” podcast, which was first reported by The Daily Caller.
“I have nothing against biased coverage. Not really, I would have something against it at most other times in American history, but not now. Fuck your objectivity. True objectivity in this country, right “Now it's: either we're going to have a Constitution or we're not going to have one,” Carville said.
Kahn rejected the idea that the media should “abandon its central role as a source of impartial information” because Trump is considered a threat to democracy during an interview with Semafor in May. He said it was not the Times' job to become “an instrument of the Biden campaign.”
Democratic strategist James Carville during a recent appearance on HBO's “Real Time.” (Screenshot/HBO)
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“Everything else, from Hunter Biden's gun request to Judge Merchan's $35 contribution, I don't know, to all the nonsense that the career center feels they have to put out there. I can't tell you these are bad people. They're people. extremely naive people who have no idea what is at stake in this election,” Carville said.
“So I think we need biased coverage, more biased coverage and I think we need to recognize the threat that this guy and MAGA poses, not just him, the entire MAGA movement, from [Justice] Alito and Trump down is a serious, clear, grave and present danger to the existence of the Constitution in the United States. And I mean it,” he continued.
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Carville, who has routinely sounded the alarm about the Democratic Party's chances in 2024 and Biden's re-election campaign, previously told Biden and his team to stop complaining about the New York Times' coverage of him, arguing that it was a “waste of time.” “
Al Hunt, co-host of Carville's podcast and former Wall Street Journal reporter, rejected Carville's use of the term “biased,” arguing that “we need fair coverage and not false equivalence.”
Former US President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd during a campaign rally on September 25, 2023 in Summerville, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
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During Kahn's interview with Semafor, he said that democracy, an issue that Biden's campaign has focused heavily on, was not a priority issue for voters.
“Our job is to cover the whole range of problems that people have. At the moment, democracy is one of them. But it is not the main one: immigration turns out to be the main one. [of polls], and the economy and inflation is the second. “Should we stop covering those things because they are pro-Trump and downplay them,” he said.
“Do we become an instrument of the Biden campaign? Do we become the Xinhua news agency or Pravda and publish a stream of material that is very, very favorable to them and only write negative stories about the other side? And that would achieve… what?
Kahn's comments sparked a debate about the role the media should play in the upcoming November election, as Democrats and some pundits continue to sound the alarm about democracy at stake.
“The NYT has publicly stated over the years that it supports the founding principles of American democracy and opposes authoritarianism. And, over the past few months, its reporters have indicated that Donald Trump, if elected, would govern with a blatant authoritarian-like contempt for democratic norms, which means, if we do the math, the NYT as an institution should by default oppose what Trump's candidacy embodies,” CNN's Oliver Darcy wrote.
“But it's worth asking: If newsrooms are pro-democracy, and if their reporting indicates that a candidate opposes democratic values, how can they feign ignorance about the 2024 race?” he continued.
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Fox News' David Rutz and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
