Yesterday I watched as MSNBC reporters jumped at the Biden documents story like chum dropped in a shark tank. My God, they were gleeful. "See how unbiased and serious we are?"
What a clown show.
You'd think they would have learned something from the Hillary email coverage, but they haven't. They still compulsively revert to "balancing the scales." Both-siderism. Equating minor transgressions with major national security risks.
They are hurting our country.
I'm fine with a special counsel, because the sooner this manufactured scandal is laid to rest, the better. But maybe the scandal shouldn't have been created in the first place.
I spent 20 years as a working journalist, and these problems aren't new. I was often a lonely voice in staff meetings, saying things like "It's not ethical for us to do ride-alongs with police raids the week before an election. We're not their PR department."
And just like now, there were reporters then who were more comfortable sucking up to power than holding it accountable. The difference is, the stakes are so much higher.
When I worked as an editor, I learned that most reporters are conflict-avoidant, maybe because so many of them were English or journalism majors. I really had to push to get them to aggressively question authorities. Also, many of them were lazy. Not as a character flaw -- they worked very hard to produce mediocre stories! But they didn't like research, they didn't care about context, they just wanted to file a half-assed story and be done with it. They pushed back hard when I directed them to add more to a story, though.
Last year, an editor at Bloomberg contacted me and told me how much he admired me, and told me how much he learned working for me as a freelancer. Nice to hear that it wasn't all for naught! Because I still believe in good journalism, I just see so little of it.
Like the coverage of the Biden administration. The real stories of the Biden era are policy-related -- and lazy reporters hate policy stories. They don't want to do research, they hate thinking about nuance. They like formulaic! Those same reporters are always looking to manufacture Democratic scandals where none exist.
Because that way, when the Trump people call them and scream at them over a story, they can point and say, "But look what I did to Biden!" Not saying all reporters do this, but that's the way the strongest current runs -- and we have a relatively few solid reporters left.
I'm not saying cable news shouldn't cover the Biden papers. But by the very nature of their endless focus, they give it an importance that doesn't actually exist. Why, you'd almost think fascists weren't in charge of the GOP! (Notice how they stick to horserace coverage about Ron DeSantis instead of addressing his fascist actions. Even lazy reporters can see it!)
They run a tweet like this, but then negate the truth of it by a relentless focus on this minor story.
They are putting our country at risk, and they don't even care.
