The concept of freedom of the press isn't ruined by criticism of the press. But when liberal TV hosts roll out their lectures, they sound a little like the president they routinely attack. Any criticism of their work must be Fake News.
MS NOW host Ana Cabrera expressed indignation on March 16 after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tweeted that broadcast stations should watch what they're airing on the war in Iran: "Freedom of the press has been such a huge, huge underpinning of the democracy in this country, right? In order to hold people in power accountable to be that government watchdog." But Carr is "squashing" press freedom with a simple tweet.
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik lamented Carr wanted to "get in the weeds of what's said," but allowed that "you can argue there are good principles involved about wanting to make sure certain kinds of coverage is fair to all sides" -- yet the government shouldn't interfere.
Most news networks have shredded the principle of being "fair to all sides." In the age of Trump, it's bad enough that you would offer anything like equal time. It's considered gravely immoral to offer equal respect. What these networks are pressured to offer is an ongoing stream of rage against Trump and the Americans who so unjustly elevated him to power.
CNN host Jake Tapper offered a formulation similar to Cabrera's on his Sunday show in response to press criticism on the war: "Every reporter that I know wants the United States to succeed in every way. And the way that reporters help that happen is by asking questions of people in power and not blindly cheering on leaders who take the nation to war."
Again, the journalist is championing a concept in the abstract and avoiding the concrete ... that they throw daily at Trump's head. They are not good at "holding people in power accountable." They treat Republicans like ignorant war criminals and gently question Iranian government stooges with "what say you" softballs. The journalists who love to pose as the saviors of democracy punish our elected leaders while they pamper tyrants who've slaughtered thousands of protesters in the streets.
That's why it's easy to dismiss the notion that "every" reporter wants America to succeed in "every way." In the abstract notion of freedom of the press, the elitist media would be at least as confrontational with mass murderers who live by the slogan "Death to America." Instead, CNN reporter Clarissa Ward (and others) have insisted the Iranians don't sincerely mean it when they proclaim they want us dead.
We can easily guess that if we had President Kamala Harris, we wouldn't be at war with Iran. We can also easily guess that CNN and MS NOW and NPR wouldn't be holding her tender feet to the fire.
When CNN's Dana Bash was granted an interview with Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in October of 2024, the words "China" "Russia," and "Iran" did not appear once in the questions. The only foreign policy question was from the left: "Would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That's what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do." These are the only voters the networks feel the need to represent.
In the abstract, we all agree that freedom of the press is an essential part of democracy. But in our daily reality, the elitist media aren't acting in the public interest, or in a manner that signals they want America to succeed. They routinely make it obvious that they want everything Trump does to fail.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.
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