The media’s Hasan Piker obsession is letting Republican Mike Rogers off the hook
Mike Rogers isn’t merely campaigning alongside a controversial supporter. His campaign put an extremist on its faith leadership team Hasan Piker. Turn on cable news. Pick up a newspaper. Log on to Twitter. It doesn’t seem to matter where you get your political news: for the past month, the leftist Twitch streamer has become one of the dominant subjects of coverage, conversation and controversy…
The media's obsession with Hasan Piker is allowing Republican Mike Rogers to evade scrutiny over his relationship with a highly controversial supporter. Rogers' campaign placed an extremist with anti-Muslim rhetoric on its faith leadership team. While the media has covered Piker extensively, far more stories have been written about him than the extremist co-opted by Rogers' campaign.
Critics argue this is a case of selective coverage, where the media applies different standards to candidates based on their political affiliations. If journalists are justified in demanding answers from El-Sayed about Piker's association, then they should also hold Rogers accountable for his association with the extremist.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
