Much of the coverage of Mike Johnson is indicative of a much broader tendency in American mainstream media and politics - a tendency to accommodate extremism as it ascends to authority: defer to and naturalize power; protect access; sacrifice clarity on the altar of “balance” and “neutrality.”
Don't white understand it!
that's how an industry, any industry, consciously or not, ends up supporting neofascism and in fact may very well be part of it's building block, instead of resisting the temptation of power.
But only ever in the direction of favor to concentrated capital interests. Which, of course, is the source for fascism. bsky.app/profile/thom...
Don't forget novelty ("news" is the plural of "new") and the human desire for attention. For both the authors and the readers.
The only thing that I would add to your list of tendencies is a stubborn refusal within our media and politics to hold political leaders to account for their abuses of power.
They seem to favor when it's conservatives, implying it's about money.
It's unbelievable/incredible that he has no bank accounts worth more than $1000 & he and his wife (both employed) have bank accounts that total up to less than $5000 (the only reason he doesn't have to list a bank account on his financial disclosure forms.) Does he own a home? That's an asset.