Nikki Haley: Mainstream Media Partly Responsible for Country's Division

A blatant media bias has helped divide Americans, according to former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.

Haley, often mentioned as a potential contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, took to Twitter on Monday morning to post a question and statement concerning the media, per the Washington Examiner.

Haley tweeted:

"What responsibility does the media plan to take for the division in our country? Our democracy benefits from an honest and fair media that asks tough questions from BOTH sides. But the media's blatant bias does a disservice to the American people and hurts our democratic system."

Following an election year in which Republicans accused much of the mainstream media of being pro-Democrat, early treatment of the Biden administration has been criticized for its tameness compared to the way the Trump administration was covered.

For example, White House press secretary Jen Psaki's first media session included questions about what color President Joe Biden would prefer Air Force One to be painted, and how well the White House was cleaned before the new president arrived following the inauguration.

Press briefings that included former President Donald Trump or the previous administration's press secretaries often were combative.

"This is the normal honeymoon that tends to happen with presidents," American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp said. "Unfortunately, for Donald Trump, they started off in divorce court with the press, and they never let up for one day."

During an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the media had shown a clear bias against Republicans and conservatives.

Stephanopoulos, a former White House communications director under ex-President Bill Clinton, frequently interrupted Paul while the senator attempted to discuss allegations of election fraud.

"You're forgetting who you are as a journalist if you think there's only one side," Paul told Stephanopoulos. "You're inserting yourself into the story to say that I'm a liar, because I want to look at election fraud and I want to look at secretaries of state who illegally changed the voter laws without the permission of their state legislatures. That is incontrovertible. It happened, and you can't just sweep that under the rug and say, 'Oh, nothing to see here and everybody's a liar and you're a fool if you bring this up.'"

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