Andrew Yang’s Mysterious Absence From NBC Debate Promotion Sparks ‘YangMediaBlackout’ Hashtag
In what appears to be another addition to the line of frustrating omissions from mainstream media charts for presidential candidate Andrew Yang and his followers, the rising businessman was excluded from an NBC graphic promoting the upcoming debate on September 12, 2019, in Houston, Texas.
Yang addressed the omission Thursday night on Twitter and suggested that NBC might have “miscounted,” although he highlighted numerous other similar instances of exclusion. Many of his followers began again pushing the “YangMediaBlackout” hashtag that they recently used in response to CNN omitting Yang from one of their graphics.
Not long after, Yang’s campaign manager, Zach Graumann, pointed out on Twitter that — despite polling in sixth place — NBC bafflingly excludes Yang from their official list of 2020 candidates as well.
Despite outcry from his many supporters, which mirrors the clash of Bernie Sanders supporters and mainstream media outlets like The Washington Post, Yang continues to be excluded from mainstream media on a fairly regular basis. Per The Inquisitr, Yang has been ommitted from MSNBC’s charts on numerous occasions.
Mathematician Eric Weinstein highlighted one instance of purported bias against Yang on Twitter, pointing to a case where the host appears to stand in front of the 44-year-old entrepreneur to keep him out of the picture. He suggests the choice was due to Yang not being “on their team” and claims it means Yang is “not under control.”
As a rule, consider supporting the candidates that MSNBC diminishes with linear perspective and then stands in front of for good measure.
That’s how they tell you who is not on their team and who is not under control. pic.twitter.com/11RnWnqO07
— Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) August 29, 2019
Social Democratic political commentator Kyle Kulinski recently commented on an MSNBC chart covering Yang’s platform that curiously left off his most notable proposal — universal basic income (UBI), or the Freedom Dividend — as well as his health care plan. He called the treatment of his campaign “shameful” and pointed to it as an example of mainstream media outlets treating outsiders with “scorn and derision.”
I'm not a Yang supporter but look at how MSNBC treats his campaign. This is shameful. Anybody who isn't in the club gets scorn and derision. pic.twitter.com/m7mP3sQlXK
— Secular Talk? (@KyleKulinski) September 3, 2019
CNN’s Chris Cillizza recently ran an article in which he addressed the media’s tendency to ignore Yang. He highlights Yang’s outsider status and “radically different” ideas, which he suggests makes it more difficult for the press to know how to cover him. A recent Axios report suggested the same and pointed to the coverage of Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
“This isn’t the first time the media has struggled with how to cover an unconventional candidate,” the report reads. “HuffPost famously made the decision to include news about Donald Trump’s candidacy as part of its ‘entertainment’ coverage.”
I did the #MATH, looks like @nbc may have miscounted ?????????? pic.twitter.com/3iLqfl6dOX
— Andrew Yang????? (@AndrewYang) September 6, 2019
Whether there is a concerted effort against Yang or not, his continued exclusion from charts has been enough to sound the alarm from political commentators and fans alike. Although Yang has been outspoken about his criticisms of mainstream media and the debate format, their exclusion doesn’t appear to be doing them any favors, especially as his fans continue to push back, and the Sanders campaign continues to highlight and fight bias against the Vermont Senator, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
