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From Media Matters:

Conservative media are defending Stephen Bannon, who was recently appointed as President-elect Donald Trump’s chief strategist, amid growing backlash over his ties to anti-Semitism and white nationalists. While Bannon’s appointment has been hailed as a victory by white nationalists, the push to normalize Bannon was aided by major newspapers that downplayed and ignored his extreme ties.

Mainstream media:

Major Newspapers Downplayed Bannon’s Ties To White Nationalism And Anti-Semitism. Major newspapers ignored or downplayed Bannon’s ties to white nationalism and anti-Semitism in their initial reports on his appointment. Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today made no mention of these connections in their articles. The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post noted Bannon’s ties to white nationalism and the “alt-right,” but not for several paragraphs. None of the headlines for the aforementioned pieces included any indication of the extremism Bannon has championed. [Media Matters, 11/14/16]

Let's see how miserable the Associated Press is doing:

Stephen Bannon, a leading force of the far-right, a flame-throwing media mogul and professional provocateur, a man who made a career out of roiling the establishment from the outside, just landed squarely on the inside.

Donald Trump's pick for chief strategist and senior counselor signals the president-elect has no intention of abandoning his brash, outsider instincts as he puts together his new government. Trump didn't give Bannon the top White House job — that went to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Still, Trump made clear Sunday that a man many credit with righting the businessman's campaign — and one others accuse of amplifying a bigoted fringe — would have a plum position in the West Wing.

Bannon joined Trump's election team as chief executive late in the campaign, following the departure of Trump's second campaign team in August. He quickly became a member of Trump's inner circle, frequently traveling with the candidate and working to re-shape his message to emphasize Trump's populist and outsider appeal.

Bannon came from Breitbart News, an unabashedly pro-Trump outlet that had declared war on GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, with whom Trump will have to work to pass his agenda if Ryan retains his role. [The Associated Press, 11/14/16]

And here's "conservative" (not racist, but #1 with racists) - brace for impact:

Fox News' Megan Kelly

“I Don’t Know That You Could Tar” Bannon As A White Supremacist, Even Though His Website “Definitely Appeals” To White Supremacists. During an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said, “I don’t know that there’s evidence” that Bannon is a white supremacist. Kelly admitted that Breitbart News “definitely appeals to a segment of the so-called ‘alt-right,’ which includes some white supremacists,” but added, “I don’t know that you could tar … Bannon with that brush.” From the November 15 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America:

CNN:

ANDERSON COOPER (HOST): A lot of people point to headlines on Breitbart, you know, it could just be click bait. Controversial headlines on all these websites get more clicks than other things. Newt Gingrich I think made the point saying, look, you can't say Steve Bannon is responsible for every article that's published on Breitbart. Is that true or do you have concerns about Bannon?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY: I think what Newt Gingrich said is absolutely right. Steve Bannon wrote none of those articles whose headlines we showed. To some of them, there's actually a deeper story. For instance, the renegade Jew headline, the guy came out today who wrote it, his name is David Horowitz, and he said I, myself, am a Jew, and I, myself, have sat by Steve Bannon, and I've never heard any anti-Semitic views at all, whatsoever. So I have no concerns about Steve Bannon because he was appointed by Donald Trump, who is a leader who I believe in, who is someone who has called for unity time and time again. I think that you will see the left, those in the Clinton campaign or those on the left, try to demonize Steve Bannon. They've tried to do the same thing to Ronald Reagan, tried to do it to Donald Trump. So now the new attack dog is Steve Bannon is going to be the subject of attacks. [CNN, Anderson Cooper 360,

Fox’s Mercedes Schlapp: Bannon Is “A Brilliant Strategist,” And “Not A Racist In Any Way.”

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: No, it’s absolutely appalling for Sen. [Harry] Reid [(D-NV)] to make these comments about Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon’s a very private person. He’s someone that those who know him know that he is, first of all, pro-Israel. He’s not a racist in any way. And the fact is that he understands clearly the importance of America, of America as a nation state, the sense of this populist movement, of the sense of really being the voice of the working class.And anyone who’s worked with him knows that he’s a brilliant strategist. And so, I find it very disappointing. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 11/15/16]

Fox’s Laura Ingraham:

Bannon “Is A Patriot” Who Is The Subject Of A “Smear Campaign.” Fox News contributor and conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham called attacks on Bannon a “smear,” asserting that Bannon is “a wonderful person” and a “patriot” who is “dedicated to improving this country.” From the November 15 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

Fox's Hannity:

Fox’s Sean Hannity: Media Is Attacking Bannon “As Something I Know That He’s Not.” Fox host Sean Hannity defended Bannon from what he described as “smears” and “slander,” claiming that the “corrupt” “alt-left radical media” is “attacking Steve Bannon as something that I know he’s not.” From the November 14 edition of Fox News’ Hannity:

CNN’s Jeffrey Lord:

Bannon Has “Been Smeared.” CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord alleged that Bannon has “been smeared,” claiming that while Breitbart is “conservative,” it’s not much different “from Rush Limbaugh.” From the November 14 edition of CNN’s New Day:

Fox’s Charles Hurt:

It’s “Absurd” To Link Breitbart And Bannon To Anti-Semitism And Racism. Fox News contributor Charles Hurt dismissed claims that Bannon and Breitbart News are “anti-Semitic or racist,” calling the claims “absurd” and “ridiculous.” Hurt added that calling Bannon racist or anti-Semitic amounts to “cheapening racism, cheapening anti-Semitism.” From the November 14 edition of Fox News’ Special Report:

http://mediamatters.org/research/20...es-white-nationalism-and-anti-semitism/214468

 

[BruceCLea]

Megyn Kelly is full of shit. She's no white knight. BeeN saying it for years.

 

[wesleyshark]

With how badly the media butchered the actual election cycle, nothing surprises me anymore, nor do I really put much stock into what they are saying either way.

 

[MogCakes]

Good god the apologists and misinformation. Dear lord. "Yeah the headlines are bad but hey they're just clickbait, nobody -actually- means that!". Holy shit.

 

[Wanda/Wander]

He's white, so we have to "give him a chance" instead of you know calling him what he actually is, a white supremacist.

 

[Jonnax]

White supremacists calling a fellow member totally not not one.

 

[PsychoSoldier]

We truly live in a fact-free age, where equivocation is the norm.

 

[Morts]

If he isn't racist then he cultivated a community of racists and sexists for profit. At that point what's the difference?

 

[captive]

this is going to be one of those things where people say "yea be HE didn't write those things, so that doesnt mean he's racist"

Also i love how they managed to find a guy with a name of horowitz to vouch for him. He's my friend so he can't be an anti-Semite!

 

[Blader]

This is the same media that was complicit in electing a white nationalist. Is anyone really expecting them to take Trump, et al. to task for appointing Bannon?

 

[GitarooMan]

To be fair, I saw that Kayleigh Macenany exchange, and the guy beside her and other people on the panel immediately lit into that response, talking extensively about Bannon's white nationalist ties. I think it was Van Jones who was like we've lowered the bar so much for Trump that now as long as he is just the publisher of the shit and not the writer that's supposed to be OK.

 

[thecouncil]

Is anyone ever racist?

 

[OniBarubary]

Man, can we work on the govt after burning down all the news stations and salting the earth afterwards?

Seriously, they need to be held accountable and I don't know any ways without illegality or physically busting into studios or finding their street teams and confronting or fucking with them.

Cause posting on Facebook or Twitter won't change things. No one's gonna protest the news. So what options are we left with to change this shitty news culture?

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Is anyone ever racist?

hey now watch it with the r-word, there pal. That's divisive talk at a time when we should be unifying the nation.

 

[studyguy]

Saw that Anderson Cooper bit live when it aired myself, Kayleigh, Scottie and Jeff Lord need to be thrown into the fucking bushes as far as I'm concerned. The RNC can LITERALLY do no wrong in their eyes. It's obnoxious to fucking hear these assholes do their best to spin out of their fucking chairs and into space with this kind of shit.

 

[SL128]

And as is always relevant:

 

[RMI]

If he isn't racist then he cultivated a community of racists and sexists for profit. At that point what's the difference?

You're right, but every non shamelessly racist trump supporter has already made the rationalizations needed to sleep easily at night, so from this point on it's just a formality to disambiguate the person from the platform.

 

[theignoramus]

Remember when Obama was dragged over the fucking coals for Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers & Van Jones?

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Yup, it's pathetic how cowardly they are.

Let's praise the outlets that called it like it is:

Slate: White Nationalism in the White House

Huffington Post: A White Nationalist Is The New White House Chief Strategist

La Presse (mainstream Québec newspaper): Un suprémaciste blanc à la Maison-Blanche? (Translation: "A White Supremacist in the White House?", and while there's a question mark in the headline, the rest of the article answers that with a resounding "yes")

Salon: Steve Bannon runs an anti-Semitic website, is a misogynist and will be one of Donald Trump’s senior advisers

 

[Metroidvania]

And as is always relevant:

Not necessarily a 1-1 comparison, but that doesn't stop it from scaring the absolute bejeezus out of me.

 

[theignoramus]

this is going to be one of those things where people say "yea be HE didn't write those things, so that doesnt mean he's racist"

Also i love how they managed to find a guy with a name of horowitz to vouch for him. He's my friend so he can't be an anti-Semite!

David Horowitz is actually on the SPLC hate watch list for fanatic anti Muslim bigotry.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

Of course they do.

Our media being so weak on this should be unacceptable, but it's not.

Bannon being involved in a major presidential campaign and getting a White House gig should be unacceptable, but it isn't.

Trump's entire campaign should have been unacceptable, but it wasn't.

Minorities should be in a better place than they are, but they're not, and if this election is any indication, they never will be.

Welcome to America. This isn't new.

 

[Astaleview]

The people will prevail we know the truth I'm done watching cable news. The are not trying to inform me. They just try to entertain me while dancing around the truth. Not giving them any more attention.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Absolutely cowardly and disgusting behavior.

 

[LegendofJoe]

The mass media gave us Trump. I hope the people in charge that are most responsible for propping him up burn in hell.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

If he isn't racist then he cultivated a community of racists and sexists for profit. At that point what's the difference?

This.

Same can be said about Fox News, except in a slightly More veiled way.

 

[xxracerxx]

Normalizing Trump and his cabinet is so, so dangerous.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Honestly, the media not pointing out Steve Bannon's white nationalist ideology the very moment he was named as campaign CEO is a complete fucking failure of theirs.

They should have rang the alarm on this way more. Instead it got buried under a million articles about emails and more sensationalist but overall less alarming Trumpisms.

Then again I dunno, maybe doing that would just have given Trump even more votes... ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[FStop7]

Selling themselves out for their precious access.

John Oliver's appeal for people to subscribe to the NYT and WaPo was a mistake in an otherwise decent rant.

 

[Kinyou]

Honestly I'm a bit surprised. Isn't the media always out for a good scandal? "Trump hires white supremacist anti-semite" makes for quite a headline. And it's not like those accusations are dubious.

 

[Astaleview]

I subscribed to a couple new news sites for info that is not tainted.

https://mic.com/

 

[LegendofLex]

Honestly, the media not pointing out Steve Bannon's white nationalist ideology the very moment he was named as campaign CEO is a complete fucking failure of theirs.

As we saw from the response to Trump, it's super unlikely that this would have made any difference.

In fact, with his anti-PC rhetoric, it's likely to have further emboldened his supporters.

 

[HerbertBirdsfoot]

And as is always relevant:

I love how "reliable, well-informed sources" sounds exactly like a phrase from a modern news story. How little some things change in nearly 100 years.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

The people will prevail we know the truth I'm done watching cable news. The are not trying to inform me. They just try to entertain me while dancing around the truth. Not giving them any more attention.

We absolutely need a return to mundane, fact based reporting for the regular news, with a large dose of legit non partisan investigative journalism for specialty news programming. Media does matter. High visibility echo chambers posing as news outlets have nearly destroyed our democracy at this point. OG Dan Rather had much to say about this the other day on CNN.

This is one of the most serious issues today and is literally tearing this country apart in the name of profits and infotainment.

Editorializing and punditry shilling for special and bat-shit-insane interests will be the death of us.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Honestly I'm a bit surprised. Isn't the media always out for a good scandal? "Trump hires white supremacist anti-semite" makes for quite a headline. And it's not like those accusations are dubious.

It's not a scandal anymore.

Our next President admitted to sexual assault on camera and it didnt matter. We would have had to see a tape of him raping a woman for it to matter.

So unless there's video evidence out there of bannon overseeing a lynching or something, it just doesn't fucking matter. Our standards are through the floor at this point.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Honestly I'm a bit surprised. Isn't the media always out for a good scandal? "Trump hires white supremacist anti-semite" makes for quite a headline. And it's not like those accusations are dubious.

We're in an era where calling anyone a white supremacist or anti-semite, or acknowledging the existence of bigotry, makes you a leftist.

 

[Gutek]

Is anyone ever racist?

Perfect.

 

[Totakeke]

Selling themselves out for their precious access.

John Oliver's appeal for people to subscribe to the NYT and WaPo was a mistake in an otherwise decent rant.

Yeah, debating canceling my subscription if this continues.

 

[theignoramus]

We absolutely need a return to mundane, fact based reporting for the regular news, with a large dose of legit non partisan investigative journalism for specialty news programming. Media does matter. High visibility echo chambers posing as news outlets have nearly destroyed our democracy at this point. OG Dan Rather had much to say about this the other day on CNN.

This is one of the most serious issues today and is literally tearing this country apart in the name of profits and infotainment.

Umm, Democracy Now has been there for over a decade doing exactly that. Like most of the progressive left , they were scorned and laughed at by liberal moderates for most of the Obama years, but now that that group looks foolish & clueless, people are coming back to them.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Normalizing Trump and his cabinet is so, so dangerous.

And almost certainly exactly what the media will do sadly.

 

[Akuun]

Normalizing Trump and his cabinet is so, so dangerous.

It's why people in the Philippines think Duterte can do no wrong.

 

[MogCakes]

CNN made a point of giving Trump surrogates as much air time as humanly possible during the election. I feel most of the major news outlets are clinging to the ideal of the status quo. It is the same kind of mentality that ruralites have with wanting the return of manufacturing jobs and the 'good old days' of the 50s-60s.

EDIT: also I wouldn't be surprised if our political parties haven't been trying to wiggle their fingers into these networks via moles.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Racists supporting racists, who knew? Its pretty disgusting it doesn't get push back from anchors. They just move on to next topic.

 

[Nafai1123]

Well they've noormalized Trumps racism for over a year.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

When right wing white people say 'I don't know', it means I know, but I want to keep it a secret, and when it is exposed, I will be able to pretend I was not aware.

 

[OceanBlue]

Selling themselves out for their precious access.

John Oliver's appeal for people to subscribe to the NYT and WaPo was a mistake in an otherwise decent rant.

What do you mean? NYT is calling out his ties to Breitbart and white nationalism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/opinion/turn-on-the-hate-steve-bannon-at-the-white-house.html

 

[Totakeke]

What do you mean? NYT is calling out his ties to Breitbart and white nationalism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/opinion/turn-on-the-hate-steve-bannon-at-the-white-house.html

That's better but also an opinion piece.

I posted this yesterday.

As pointed out on twitter... this is some weak shit from the NYT.

"Critics see". Fuck. Even Breitbart readers would acknowledge him as the voice of racism.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

We truly live in a fact-free age, where equivocation is the norm.

The loudest "fact" wins.

 

[Peltz]

And as is always relevant:

Thank you. I need stuff like this. I'm trying to write a piece that allows us to compare Trump's rise to that of other dictators and authoritarian leaders. These comparisons need to be made and publicized.

If anyone knows any other news sources from back then please PM me.

 

[Chris R]

I can't remember who I heard say it but "Bannon can't be an Anti-Semite because Ivanka is a (((Jew)))"