Biden, Editorial Boards and Crystal Balls

The biggest paper in a swing state calls for Biden to stay in the race and Trump to drop out.

It took only hours for the biggest political story to become a media story too. News agencies have been rushing to talk about the New York Times’ calls for Biden to leave the race. The breathless coverage makes the Times’ editorial board sound like “the great and powerful Oz.”

In fact, it’s a group of 14 people with opinions. They don’t know more than you or I do about how anything will ultimately affect the race. (And they sometimes get big things wrong, as this piece in The Economist pointed out a couple of years ago.)

In this episode, I look at what the media has been ignoring in this coverage, including the many “unknown unknowns” and the Philadelphia Inquirer taking on both Trump and the New York Times with its editorial board’s position. You probably didn’t hear about that in the news. (Shout-out to Mika Brzezinski, who did address it in a strong segment on MSNBC, which you’ll hear.)

I share the story of an experience I had inside the CNN newsroom, when the head of the network was convinced that he could predict the future of a pivotal election. He was proven wrong. It’s a mental trap some journalists fall into, thinking they know more than they do. It’s about hubris vs. humility.

If you see a news agency fail to address the many questions surrounding replacing Biden on the ticket, reach out to top executives and ask them why. Also, if they reported on the Times’ editorial board but not the Inquirer’s, ask them why. You can send a note like this:

As the podcast They Stand Corrected points out, replacing Biden on the ticket would be a historic undertaking filled with unknowns. Please explain what would need to happen, how it would work, and what we don’t know about the other potential candidates. Also, since you reported on the New York Times’ editorial board’s position, why not also cover the opposite take from the Philadelphia Inquirer?

Also in this episode…

We welcome a new sponsor to They Stand Corrected! Thanks to MIT45. You’ll hear from CEO Ryan Niddel, who is pushing for people to get educated about kratom, and pushing for the federal government to regulate his industry. Here’s his Newsweek piece I mention. And here’s the website he talks about: kratomresearchinstitute.org.

I’m working on an episode about polls, especially political polls. Send me your questions! Paid subscribers can post in the comments below; other folks can find a form via my website.

Thanks all,

JL