'When a Republican Is in Charge': Erick Erickson Invokes the 'Erickson Rule of Media Coverage'

Jacob B. | 3:17 PM on January 26, 2025

"Remember the Erickson Rule of Media Coverage," tweets Erick Erickson. "When a Democrat is in charge, the press looks at who benefits from policies. When a Republican is in charge, the press finds victims of the policies."

Remember the Erickson Rule of Media Coverage: When a Democrat is in charge, the press looks at who benefits from policies. When a Republican is in charge, the press finds victims of the policies. https://t.co/2EFikUBnX6
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 26, 2025

The freedom the press is endowed with in the United States comes with responsibility, enormous responsibility.

Twitchy repeatedly documents instances of media bias in which nuanced news reporting cuts in certain ways that can be construed as injecting a political agenda. What Erickson describes is a method of doing just that. Heartstring-touching features about certain policies can be pulled from the well of a few policy beneficiaries without it being a true representation of the at-large impact of the policy. On the other side of the coin, rage-eliciting features about certain policies can be pulled from the well of a few not helped by a policy without it being a true representation of the at-large impact of the policy.

Problems arise when the press looks to find an outcome and dig up some facts that seem to support it, rather than finding facts and making right judgments about what outcomes they support. An accurate press should not vary, directly or indirectly, its reporting judiciousness based on what party holds a particular majority or office.

One of the riches of the United States is a free press. It does not come without its headaches. Just as constructive speech swallows destructive speech, an accurate press renders impotent purveyors of inaccuracy and falsehood. A free press is an advantage not shared by information-controlling regimes. It is an advantage because in allowing the whole truth, as unpleasant as it sometimes may be, little darkness remains for inaccuracy and falsehood.