I flipped the calendar to my 52nd year as a journalist on Sept. 5. I’ve worked with the largest newspaper chain in the world and some of the smallest. Honesty compels me to admit I’ve never enjoyed myself more than the last five years because I get to focus on reporting on my community.
That means I get to tell the truth. Can other reporters, especially on the national level? When did the need to be the first replace the responsibility to be correct?
The political season is especially upsetting. This isn’t an endorsement for a presidential candidate. Still, it’s glaringly obvious that the majority of the national media has unfairly and without shame colluded with Vice President Kamala Harris to ensure Donald Trump doesn’t win the election.
Trump has made his share of mistruths, but the media has been quick to call him out. The same can’t be said about his opponent.
Most national media have misrepresented facts about the former president and allowed her to tell mistruths. And I only need two words to prove it: Joe Biden.
The mainstream media saw what we saw: a president who was in cognitive decline, and yet they refused to report the obvious. They saw a man who often stumbled and fell, a man who frequently got lost in mid-sentence, a man who turned and shook hands with nobody. And they laughed it off.
More importantly, they had no problem when Kamala Harris said daily he was on top of his game. None of those outlets have pressed her about why she dishonestly lied about his condition because the only thing that mattered was a Trump defeat.
Another egregious example came from what used to be one of the most respected news organizations in the world – The Associated Press.
Arizona AP reporter Jonathan J. Cooper asked Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance what can be done to stop school shootings.
Vance responded, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life.”
AP then wrote Vance said school shootings are “a fact of life.” Major newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post ran the story.
AP eventually removed the post but never posted a correction or an apology. Shame on them. At that moment, I was embarrassed to call myself a journalist.
During the curious debate between Harris and Trump, ABC admitted that moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were schooled to correct Trump if he made questionable claims, but not Harris.
That was fair for Trump but unfair for Harris. That allowed her to make ridiculous lies like “As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around in the world, the first time this century.”
If she wants to be the next Commander in Chief, she better learn there are 2,500 soldiers in Iraq, 900 more in Syria and thousands on ships in the Red Sea.
Harris and the Democrat vice presidential nominee continue to get away with the continued lie that ties Trump to the Heritage Foundation’s 2025. Trump said he had nothing to say about its creation; he’d never read it or endorsed it. But they keep spinning it because ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, USA Today, MSNBC, NPR, New York Times, Washington Times and LA Times not only know the truth, they keep repeating it.
Did you see the one-on-one interview with the local ABC reporter in Philadelphia on Friday, Sept. 13. Brian Taff asked her for two specific things she would do to help the economy. She talked about giving $50,000 tax deductions to start-up businesses and $25,000 down payments to first-time homebuyers. Then she drifted into talking about living in a “neighborhood of folks who were very proud of their lawn.” Wow.
She’s also talked about building three million affordable homes in her first term. That’s a lot of payola somebody has to pay back. Wait, that’s everybody who pays taxes.
But you won’t see that mentioned on most national media outlets.