[See NewsBusters on Saturday for the full blog.] As conservatives gear up for another contentious midterm election, Republicans such as Ron DeSantis have been battling the bias and dishonesty of the press. As we all know, it’s not a new complaint. But it predates 2022, as well as Trump, both Bushes and Ronald Reagan. Way back on election night in 1962, after Richard Nixon lost his bid to be governor of California, he called out the liberal slant of the press.
In the so-called “last press conference,” Nixon blasted the assembled reporters for hating his anti-communist crusade: “For 16 years, ever since the Hiss case, you've had a lot of- a lot of fun- that you've had an opportunity to attack me and I think I've given as good as I've taken.” He lectured the press: “If they're against a candidate, give him the shaft, but also recognize if they give him the shaft, put one lonely reporter on the campaign who will report what the candidate says now and then.”