It appears that there is now an editorial requirement at ABC News in place, mandating that whoever is hosting that Sunday’s This Week must now open the show with a screeching editorial about “the stakes” of the 2024 presidential election. There is no other explanation for Jon Karl’s editorial today, a week after George Stephanopoulos’ screeching hysterics.
Watch the opening editorial in its entirety, as aired on ABC This Week on Sunday, May 5th, 2024:
ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it’s This Week. Here now, Jonathan Karl.
JON KARL: Good morning. Welcome to This Week. For as long as I've covered politics, politicians have said, “this will be the most important election of our lifetimes.” They said that, no matter how high or low the stakes actually were. Election Day 2024 is exactly six months from today and this time, the divisions in our country are so vast and the choice so stark there's little doubt this really is the most important election of our time. No more crying wolf. This. Is it.
Karl takes a different tack here. He almost comes across as more subtle, what with his vague references to stark choices. This departs a bit from Stephanopoulos’ lengthy recitation of the various charges against former President Donald Trump. But such a departure is only one of style.
On substance, Karl’s editorial is every bit as hysterical as Stephanopoulos’, and equally as arrogant. These editorials are in many ways reflective of the messianic complex displayed by those throughout the media. Inspired by equal parts unreformed partisanship and elite arrogance, they seek to impose their ideology upon the American people, as opposed to simply reporting on the facts and stories as they occur on the ground.
It is not enough to report on the presidential race as an ongoing event- they now seek to lecture the public on “the stakes” of the election and argue the strongest possible case in support of the reelection of Joe Biden.
This is what Karl’s breathless proclamation of this being “the most important election of our time” seeks to achieve. Call it whatever you want so long as you don’t call it journalism.
