The so-called prestige media have built this arrogant sense of professionalism around themselves. They are not just fair and objective, they’re also accurate. The great amateurish unwashed shouldn’t sit at keyboards in their pajamas and attempt the marvelous feats that only they perform.
But when these reporters see an opportunity to discredit conservatives, all that goes out the window.
Shortly after the Batman premiere began at midnight in Aurora, Colorado
(Mountain time), Jim Holmes opened fire in a crowded theatre, killing
12 and wounding many more. Six hours later, early in the second hour of
“Good Morning America” in New York, ABC host George Stephanopoulos
announced that investigative reporter Brian Ross had "found something
that might be significant."
Ross declared that a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, had joined the Tea
Party, but "we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes." How on Earth
could a professional journalist drop that bombshell on national
television, and in the next breath admit it was pure speculation? Or as
the actual Jim Holmes of the Tea Party replied, "What kind of idiot
makes that kind of statement?"
One can understand why George Stephanopoulos didn’t blink, since this
is the way the Clinton "war room" operated, where political operatives
would announce their character assassination of conservatives was
proceeding nicely. But this is supposed to be a news studio, not a war
room.
Here’s another reason why the Old Media need to stop lecturing the New
Media to mind their own business. After unloading that smear on Jim
Holmes of the Tea Party, neither Stephanopoulos nor Brian Ross ever made
an apology and correction on the air of ABC News. They put out a short
apology online, but let the smear stand on air. The smeared Mr. Holmes
also told the Daily Caller he received no attempt to contact him or
apologize.
Just like NBC, which edited footage on George Zimmerman to make him
appear racist: they issued a brief apology statement online, but no
on-air apology was seen by their viewers.
This is a cynically insincere slap in the face to the public. Real
journalists should make corrections, and apologize when necessary, but
the only time TV news people tend to apologize on air is when lawyers
are trying to stave off lawsuits and force them to read a statement.
These are the same journalists that love to pretend that they’re
America’s most sensitive people, that they know the plight of the
downtrodden, and that’s what makes them special.
Walter Cronkite told Time magazine in 2003 that journalists "come up
through the ranks, through the police-reporting side, and they see the
problems of their fellow man...their domestic quarrels, their living
conditions. The meaner side of life is made visible to most young
reporters. I think it affects their sentimental feeling toward their
fellow man and that is interpreted by some less-sensitive people as
being liberal."
But liberal journalists often specialize in dishing out "the meaner
side of life" when the opportunity arrives to politicize the crime beat.
When a crazed gunman opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others
in Tucson in 2011, MSNBC’s Luke Russert and New York Times columnist
Paul Krugman quickly suspected without any troublesome need for facts –
and there was zero evidence -- that the Tea Party was involved.
When Joseph Stack plowed his airplane into a Texas office building in
2010, there was The New York Times looking for the "first Tea Party
terrorist." The liberal media haven’t found the first one, but that
won’t stop them from wild speculation.
When Census worker Bill Sparkman was found hanged in Kentucky with the
word "FED" carved into his chest in 2009, that was too juicy a
possibility for reporters to resist. Newsweek’s Eve Conant asked "was
Sparkman killed in some frenzy of antigovernment rage? Both the
Department of Homeland Security and the Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC) have warned of a dramatic spike in antigovernment militia
activity."
Conant added, "Then there is the conservative blogosphere, which has
been questioning the census since Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann
claimed that she would not complete her census form." A few weeks later,
when investigators concluded Sparkman committed suicide and manipulated
the scene for life-insurance purposes, Conant calmly reported that
conclusion and mentioned in passing that the discovery of the body
"prompted a national discussion on controversies surrounding the
census." Just like ABC’s on-air product, there were no apologies for
Newsweek’s fever-brained speculation about "anti-government rage."
It’s this complete lack of regret that underlines why a vast majority of Americans would tell Gallup pollsters they have no confidence in the "news" media, either broadcast or print. Their political shamelessness has left their credibility in tatters.