Ed Lozansky and Jim Jatras
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/22/russian-influence-in-elections-overblown/
What journalism has become:
Hatred is never a good thing. Dislike of Trump, his team, and his policies, however, is readily understandable. In an ideal world, though, it should not color media reporting and result in the jettisoning of widely accepted (until now) standards journalism.
In topsy-turvy Washington, it is a sad day when the Moonie Times is more on point than its sister Gray Lady. Even democracynow.org’s Amy Goodman, who used to be the paragon of sang froid, is now – like other HSHW (Hillary Should Have Won) folks – sang tres chaud).
Here’s Amy from earlier this morning after reporting House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes “claim” he has new information showing intelligence surveillance of some Trump people that was illegally leaked to the media. (Note to Amy: It is not just a “claim.”) Typically, the video clips democracynow.org chose to use gave as much time…. actually a little longer …to the committee’s ranking Democrat, “Russia-Did-It” Adam Schiff, who attacked Nunes.
Schiff is a smooth, slippery party hack. Some may recall the two-minute “Q & A” Ray had with this Democratic Schiffwreck on January 25:
But here’s the coup de grace – as if more were needed – showing how “progressive” journalism, too, is far from immune to bias – conscious or unconscious (surprise, surprise!).
After showing Schiff making his statement, Amy added (and displayed a slide showing that CNN claimed “People connected to the [Trump} campaign were in contact [with Russian officials] and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready.”
Readers of consortiumnews.com and of this site will easily spot what is wrong with that. But how many others can?
This morning, ace pundits like Shimon Prokupecz are busy ringing changes on this same anonymously-sourced theme for TV viewers on, you guessed it, CNN. It may no longer be necessary to watch those savants, if Amy Goodman is feeding off and regurgitating the same drivel from “unnamed U.S. officials” quoted by CNN.
If facts matter at all these days; if the media is still susceptible of embarrassment; if Nunes has the courage to release relevant documents and identify the culprits; and if enough Americans pay close attention (granted – a whole bunch of big “ifs”) … well, let’s see what happens. (Hint: former CIA Director John Brennan is scheduled to testify before the committee next week. Will anyone give odds on whether he actually shows up?)
Meanwhile, it seems increasingly clear that the Democrats, and other HSHW-ers, who remain unable to accept the reality that Hillary was a deeply flawed candidate, are squandering what credibility they have left. This would not be all that bad, were it not for the likely sabotaging of whatever peace-dividend might otherwise come if President Trump were able politically to move toward an entirely possible, decent relationship with Russia. The ones who would suffer from this, of course, would be the those identified by Pope Francis as “the blood-drenched arms traders” [who own and operate most of the Fawning Corporate Media].
But they do not own democracynow.org.
Watching CNN’s Carl Bernstein, the iconic investigative reporter from Watergate days, pronounce pompously last evening on the need for strong investigative reporting to see if there is any fire under the smoke enveloping Trump was – for those like Ray (who read every word of the Bernstein’s and Woodward’s reporting on Watergate, back in the day) – particularly sad. Carl ought to doff his fancy shirt and tie and hit the pavement. And he probably would do so, if he had the slightest prospect of finding something worth reporting – like back in the day. How many months have already been devoted to the search for provable evidence. And Obama himself telling us on January 18 that he does not know how the “Russian hacking” got to WikiLeaks?
But who needs evidence these days? The smoke (and mirrors) — and the animus — are quite enough for today’s “journalists,” thank you very much.