Will Noem-Focused Media Allow Gov. Hochul’s Casual Racism To Slide?

May 7th, 2024 12:28 AM

The corporate media, quick to characterize conservative reaction to the news of the day as “pouncing” and seizing”, are currently doing just that all over Gov. Kristi Noem’s latest book and the revelations therein. Which is their right. But in the interest of walking and chewing gum at the same time, there should be an equal focus on statements just made by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Watch as Gov. Hochul demonstrates the left’s casual bigotry of low expectations, saying to WashPost editor and MSNBC/PBS host Jonathan Capehart’s face that there are “black kids growing up in The Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is”:

KATHY HOCHUL: In fact, I talk to a lot of other people who say, “I wish my governor had thought of that first”, and I say, “No no, this is New York. We like to be first, with all due respect to people from other states. It's sort of- it's sort of our attitude. You know, “we will be the best- we will be the first”. And I want others to follow because right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in The Bronx who don't even know what the word “computer” is. They- they don't know- they don't know these things, and I want the world to open up to all of them because when you have their diverse voices innovating solutions through technology, then you're really addressing society's broader challenges.

Can you get away with casual racism so long as you wrap your casual racism around some woke word salad? Hochul certainly seems to think so. And Capehart offers no challenge or pushback against what Hochul is saying here. From a journalistic perspective, of course. 

One immediately wonders what the fallout would be if it were a conservative saying such things. Where would media reaction fall on a scale of 1-Chernobyl? The more prominent the governor, the closer to Chernobyl. Just imagine the coverage if, say, Ron DeSantis had said something similar.

There is literally no excuse for the media not covering Hochul’s statements. The lazy corporate media tend to turn New York stories into national stories. By extension, THIS is a national story. In this day and age, Hochul’s utterances warrant ceaseless A-block coverage up and down the dial. We’ll soon find out whether governor scandals draw equal coverage on the merits, or whether there in fact is a (D)ifference.