Media

Back in April an NPR reporter and editor did something no one expected. Uri Berliner wrote an exposé on the hard-left political bias at his own organization. It wasn’t that anyone was surprised to find out that National Public Radio had a pronounced left-progressive-Democrat bias. Anyone who has tuned in to the public broadcaster for the past few decades knows that. In fact, NPR has always been biased to the left since its founding in 1970. 

But that’s been true of most mainstream broadcasters. Those of us old enough to remember when most Americans got their news from three broadcast networks and a few newspapers know that all of them have been at least tilted toward the left side of the spectrum. Yet it used to be possible for these news organizations to do at least an adequate job disclosing factual truth, and they used to at least make an effort to represent the conservative point of view. 

That must seem quaint, even Pollyanna-ish to read in 2024. How quickly the media devolved into a house organ for the Democrat party and its colorful, merry band of blue-haired misfits over the past 10 years. This Time Magazine cover from 2014 was a harbinger. It depicts a male actor named “Laverne Cox” who tells the entire world he’s  transgender “woman,” and he got more than his 15 minutes of fame starring in a show about a women’s prison. 

It’s not that Time covered the topic of transgenderism. It’s that Time asserted, editorially, that there is such a thing as a transgender “civil rights frontier.” The implication was clear: get on board or you’re not the kind of American who deserves a say. 

Then, of course, Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign the next year and that put the final knife in the heart of American journalism’s pretense to objectivity. Every single mainstream outlet became rabidly opposed to Trump. Every scurrilous rumor from extramarital affairs to working with the Kremlin to hiring prostitutes to urinate on, they printed them all breathlessly. 

Let’s go back to NPR’s Uri Berliner from above. What was shocking about Berliner’s targeting of his own employer (yes, he was fired) was just how bad the bias at NPR really was:

“Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity, I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.”
—Uri Berliner in The Free Press

Not a single conservative working in the Washington, D.C. office of the nation’s publicly funded radio station. 

Again, this is no longer shocking, so no one will be surprised at some interesting data from Syracuse University examining the political leanings of American journalists from 1971 to 2022. 

Those who said they were Republican in 1971 made up about 26 percent of newsrooms. By 2022, that was down to less than five percent. And notice also how the share of self-identified Democrats rose from about 28 percent in 2013 to about 36 percent in 2022. It’s anyone’s guess what the real sentiments are for the rising share who call themselves independent. There are likely Democrats and Republicans in that group who don’t want to show their true colors. 

Users on X (Twitter) had plenty to say about this chart. 

Oh, hypocrisy. Where would modern politics be without you? 

You’ve probably heard about the furor over Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington Cemetery. It’s hard to avoid because the leftist media and politicians will not stop shrieking about how “disrespectful” Trump was to pose for photographs with the families of military servicemen killed in Afghanistan… who invited him.

CNN is lying and calling Trump’s appearance at the cemetery a “campaign event” to make it seem like Bull In A China Shop Vulgar Trump exploited grieving military families to bolster his ego and election chances. You can see the network lying right in their own story. 

What actually happened is quite different. A group of Gold Star families held a memorial ceremony at Arlington last week in remembrance of the 13 American soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan during the disastrous withdrawal in 2021, presided over by Joe Biden. 

Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Cackler in Chief, got on social media over the past weekend to accuse Trump of staging a political event and shaming military families. But the families invited Donald Trump themselves because neither Joe Biden nor Harris would even respond to their invitation, let alone show up. 

Many of these families present released videos defending Trump and criticizing the Biden-Harris administration for ignoring their responsibility for the deaths of their family members and not even bothering to respond to an invitation to a remembrance gather. Mark Schmitz, father of Jared Schmitz, one of the 13 killed during the withdrawal, said they invited Trump to the gathering because “we wanted a leader.”

But the left will stop at nothing, even stooping to insulting the families of war dead, in order to get Bad Orange Man. 

Now CNN’s Natasha Bertrand thinks she’s got a major scoop about the son of the late Senator John McCain. Jimmy McCain confirmed that he has switched to the Democrat party so that he can vote for Kamala Harris. Jimmy was feeling quite righteous, calling Trump’s appearance with the Gold Star Families a “violation.”

But there’s one little problem – his father *actually* used Arlington to campaign.

You can watch the ad for yourself below:

That’s right. Jimmy’s own father was rebuked in 1999 by Arlington Cemetery staff for actually filming a political ad at the graveyard without permission. 

Good God—what is it with these people?

Here’s what the internet had to say. 

You’ve got to feel for this guy, who quaintly believes the truth still matters. 

This user pointed out that Natasha Bertrand of CNN quickly modified her X/Twitter post to turn off comments. These people do NOT like being talked back to. 

Bet Jimmy McCain won’t like this one bit. 

Don’t know if this claim is true, but it is interesting: