In the US, two politicians recently made statements that were perceived as grounds for comment and some degree of pearl-clutching. A Democratic woman, daughter of Muslim immigrants, used vulgar language ('impeach the motherfucker') to refer to the president. Meanwhile a Republican man with a long record of making racist comments made a comment in which he queried the shunning of white racist groups ('White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?') He then tried to claim that he doesn't support racism and isn't a racist himself, really.
There was plenty of coverage of the two statements, but one of them got far more attention on US cable TV news.
'Rep. Rashida Tlaib cursing got 5 times more coverage on cable news than Rep. Steve King embracing white supremacy'
Maybe Tlaib's comment was more newsworthy because she's a new face on the national scene, while nobody who's followed the news is surprised to hear Steve King expressing a view for which he's already known. Alternatively this may be evidence of a double standard.When it comes to a congresswoman cursing versus a congressman embracing white supremacy, cable news apparently believes the cursing deserves more coverage -- five times more coverage, to be exact.
On January 4, the day after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) referred to President Donald Trump by saying “Impeach the motherfucker” during a reception with supporters, cable news outlets (CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) spent over two and a half hours discussing the topic. In comparison, in the roughly 24 hours following the publication of Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) comments in The New York Times that showed him embracing white supremacy, cable news devoted just under 30 minutes of coverage to the congressman’s racism.