'Anticipatory obedience': Major media outlets accused of withholding fire on Trump

In his column for NPR, media analyst David Folkenflik raised concerns that major media outlets are holding their fire on Donald Trump's trials and tribulations before the election out of fears of retaliation should he win re-election.

According to the journalist, recent actions by the LA Times, MSNBC and the Washington Post are worthy of scrutiny in light of a close election where a bombshell story and major endorsement could tip the scales towards one candidate or the other.

Using a decision by LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong overruling his editorial board and disallowing an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, which has led to a wave of resignations, as a starting point, Folkenflik made the case American voters may be witnessing what he described as "anticipatory obedience."

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Beginning with "Recent episodes involving major U.S. news organizations have stoked fears that outlets are preemptively self-censoring coverage," he added that Times owner Soon-Shiong, "like many media owners, has other business interests that can be directly affected by government actions" and the billionaire may have an eye on not offending a re-elected Trump.

To bolster his argument, he also cited a decision by NBC to sit on a completed documentary by reporter Jacob Soboroff about Trump's treatment of immigrant children until after the election.

That led Ian Bassin of advocacy group Protect Democracy, to point out, “For the past decade, Donald Trump has been running a campaign against the media straight out of the playbook that authoritarians have used around the world, which is to threaten retaliation against news organizations if they don’t provide him with favorable enough coverage. We are seeing now the seeds of that campaign bearing fruit.”

Film director Errol Morris agreed and suggested, "Why is my movie not being shown on NBC prior to the election? It is not a partisan movie. It's about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences.”

Folkenflik also noted that the Washington Post has yet to make an endorsement on the presidential race and wondered if owner Jeff Bezos might be putting his thumb on the scale for Trump to protect his Amazon website cash cow.

He went on to note, "Bezos's new chief executive and publisher at the Post is Will Lewis, who has conservative bonafides. Lewis held the same role at Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal; served as the editor of the London-based Telegraph, which is closely allied with the Tory party; and was a consultant to Conservative Boris Johnson when Johnson was prime minister. Colleagues have told NPR that Bezos selected Lewis in part for his ability to get along with powerful conservative political figures, including Murdoch."

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