The Watchdog with David Bozell

Good morning, and happy Election Day. Take a breath. The coffee is mandatory. The unclenched jaw is optional.

Funny how the media’s favorites always arrive at Election Day without a scratch on them.

For months, favored candidates got white-glove treatment while everybody else got the political equivalent of a cavity search. Abdul El-Sayed’s radical record got a soft-focus filter. James Talarico became a media darling. Ken Paxton stayed the villain of the week, every week. Shaky polls became banner headlines the second they agreed with the storyline. And when Haley Stevens endorsed Mike Rogers, journalists who spent years swooning over Liz Cheney acted like Stevens needed a padded room.

After a while, coincidence stops looking like coincidence.

In the campaign’s closing stretch, Apple’s editors went through Republican priorities and handed out eighty-four negative headlines and thirty-three neutral ones.

Positive headlines: zero.

Zero! Apple’s editors went 0 for 117. Diversity of thought, Cupertino style.

The old media hired reinforcements. Network producers now share the shelf with Apple News editors, Google searches, MSN news feeds, and AI tools that answer questions for millions of Americans. Different storefronts, same merchandise.

For nearly four decades, we’ve watched the media explain what happened and then explain what Americans should think about it. The faces change. The platforms change. The ideological reflexes show up on time, every day, like a bad check.

Here’s the good news.

Whatever happens tonight, you weren’t imagining it. The double standards were real. The omissions were real. The selective outrage was real.

And thanks to your support, millions of Americans didn’t have to take the media’s word for it. MRC’s studies and analysis became part of the national conversation. Major media outlets picked up our research. Influential commentators discussed it. President Trump cited it repeatedly. Facts the press would’ve preferred to ignore reached a much larger audience, and you made it happen.

Today’s election may still be undecided. The media’s preferences are not.

As results come in, the same outlets that spent months shaping the story will spend tonight and tomorrow explaining it to you with a straight face. We’ll be there separating the coverage from the reality. If experience is any guide, the polls will close, and the self-awareness will not show up. Those folks couldn’t find a mirror with a map.

We’ll be watching.

Throughout Election Day, you'll find our latest reporting and analysis in our 2026 Congressional coverage hub. For real-time updates as events unfold, follow NewsBusters and me on X.

Take it easy,David Bozell
President