John Edwards presented himself as second coming of JFK, a younger politician with a South Carolina drawl whose Little Lord Fauntleory-esque $400 haircuts were bankrolled by a wealthy socialite who once designed the White House gardens for the Kennedys. He was groomed and swooned over by the press. It’s why they ignored the rumors of a secret love child and a new age mistress while his wife lay dying of breast cancer. It wasn’t until the National Enquirer broke the story of Edwards’s affair, and included security video stills of Edwards with mistress Rielle Hunter at the Beverly Hilton that the public was informed. This politician, later indicted on six felony charges for FEC violations (using campaign money to cover up his affair) was running for the highest office in the land and voters had a right to know if he could be compromised, but the legacy press disagreed. It’s why they rolled their collective eyes at the National Enquirer and chided the publication’s gossip reputation as a means to invalidate the veracity of the story.
The New York Post was founded by Hamilton and is hardly similar to the National Enquirer, but the Edwards debacle was the modern moment that the storied and sanctified legacy media outlets proved that their political prioritization made them no better than the gossip outlets they ridiculed. At least the National Enquirer was always honest about what it was and what they covered. Legacy media outlets still live on this fairy tale credit of respect for the citizen and devotion to pursuit of truth, which they don't demonstrate by coverage or behavior.
George Mason said that every man and woman in America is the militia, so too then is every man and woman in America part of the "free press," especially when it seems the proverbial watchdog for the people would rather maul you for dissent than inform you against the forces of tyranny
Many in legacy press feel snobbishly entitled to the made-up position of history’s gatekeeper. They hate Big Tech because social media created a devastating opponent to challenge their narratives: The voices of millions of conservatives, Republicans, and Libertarians. I remember when Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats turned off C-Span’s camera's flicked off the lights, and walked out of the House chambers one summer on the eve of an energy vote that would affect gas prices. The #DontGo movement was born, urging Republicans to stay in the chamber no matter what. At least one lawmaker was escorted from the chamber. Conservatives flexed their muscles when we launched the modern-day tea party movement and overpowered the left for the first time in a new arena. Citizens journalists shamed Democrat politicians. Legacy media mocked narrative-challengers as “just bloggers” but later whined about blogosphere treatment of the press. The left complained, platforms altered algorithms, things began to change. Legacy media lost its chokehold on news and wanted to suppress its challengers, who were too numerous to curtail individually. Jonathan Turley says we are drifting towards the communist Chinese media model. Tech companies are replacing publishers. Names like Hearst are relics, others will soon follow if they haven’t already.
The press, like taxpayer-funded NPR, says the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story isn’t valid because they haven’t investigated it and they refuse to investigate it because they say it isn’t valid.
A press pass doesn’t grant the cardholder the power of objectivity, a desire for truth, a zeal for informing the public. Anyone can get or make one. A pass doesn’t make you a member of the press, nor a byline, a masthead. Your citizenry makes you a member of the press. Your concern for the potential of tyranny makes you a member of the press. Your keyboard makes you a member of the press. Your phone’s camera makes you a member of the press. The purpose of the press was to inform, to act as the watchdog of the citizens. Now it just mauls them.
Just as every American man and woman is a member of the militia, so too is every man and woman a member of the free press. We all have the right and obligation to tell the stories not just in our area, but the stories made by our government.
What is a “free press?” A sea of citizen journalists.
Today’s Media Malpractice
They’re bringing out Connie Chung as some moral authority:
CNN Newsroom @CNNnewsroom
"He doesn't respect women," journalist Connie Chung, who interviewed Trump in 1990, says about the President. "My husband and I used to see him at golf tournaments... he absolutely refused to acknowledge that I was physically there... as if I were invisible. It was remarkable." https://t.co/1fLaVhoW2pMRC has the Biased Connie Chung hits right here.
Others are attempting to spin Lesley Stahl’s ridiculous interview:
Karen Tumulty @ktumulty
"You started with me. Your first statement to me is, are you ready for tough questions?" Trump says to Leslie Stahl. "That's no way to talk, no way to talk." Wonder what other women will think hearing veteran 60 Minutes interviewer being told "that's no way to talk"Good thread here on Stahl’s unprofessional partisanship. Also Trump didn’t “walk out” of the interview (he sat with her for an hour), her own producer interrupted it.
The media, who reported relentlessly on Seamus the dog’s rooftop car rides during the 2012 election, who doxxed a woman for nodding her head behind Trump, can’t bring themselves to ask questions or investigate the story involving the Democrats’s presidential nominee and family selling VP influence to Chinese communists and Ukrainian energy companies — even the the FBI stated they have the laptop in hand, a veteran business associate goes on record with texts, Secret Service records confirm the time and travel, Biden’s own lawyer apparently called the repair shop itself to inquire about picking up the laptop— this story already has more people on record (people on record in general) than any of the media’s Trump/Russian collusion garbage.
Tonight’s Debate Thread
Join me in the comments of the official debate thread here at the start, 8pmCT/9pmET.
Amen, "Your citizenry makes you a member of the press.", just has expected of every citizen, in our republic, with the freedom, and liberty, to secure, and provide opportunities for others.