Last week, we were treated to four straight days of collective media outrage over Sen. Martha McSally calling CNN reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack.”
To be clear, there’s ample evidence Raju is in fact a biased reporter. Just last year, he published a false story about Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks, claiming two separate sources that just so happened to make the exact same mistake reading a date on an email. The indication there being that Raju made the sources up. If you follow him on Twitter, there’s also no question he frames things in a liberal fashion, whether it be the questions he asks or his take on the answers.
Regardless, hair was burned to the scalp and teeth were gnashed to nubs as McSally was forcefully condemned from the entirety of the left-wing media sphere and also some on the right. For example, Meagan McCain trashed McSally despite her doing essentially the same thing a day earlier in attacking a writer at The New York Times. That frustration toward the Times was more than warranted, but it was just a little odd to see McCain turn around and go after McSally for expressing her frustration toward CNN.
One thing has been made clear in the aftermath though. Namely, that McSally was 100% correct in her dismissal. CNN gone out of its way to confirm ever assertion of hackish behavior made against them. You can see that in Chris Cuomo’s insane response, which was written on here.
The latest example comes via Brian Stelter’s show, hilariously named “Reliable Sources.” Today, Stelter decided to cast the mask off completely and not even bother with presenting a facade of impartiality.
CNN just airing Media Matters now
On Reliable Sources
Lmao jfc https://t.co/N8x9HI29YX
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 19, 2020
Matt Gertz is from Media Matters, a site which was created to falsely portray Republicans by taking clips out of context and blasting them into the mainstream media echo chamber. Fox News is their main target, but other outlets like The Daily Wire are often targeted as well. You’ll may recall that they led a boycott attempt against Tucker Carlson last year over some old shock jock jokes he made. For his part, Stelter dutifully repeated Media Matters’ propaganda on the matter.
Tucker Carlson says @MMFA "would like Fox News shut down tomorrow." The group's president @GoAngelo says that's not true. "My intention ultimately is to enforce a change of behavior, not to eradicate Fox," he told @dbauder https://t.co/AEgSyktj0q
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 13, 2019
When it was revealed that the President of Media Matters had his own problematic past comments, including anti-Semitic and homophobic writings, Stelter never condemned or questioned them. Instead, he put out a statement parroting a comment from Media Matters like he was their PR rep.
Until recently, Stelter had kept the group at arms length when it came to his show. Now he’s bringing them on without even disclosing what Media Matters is really is. That’s not journalism, it’s activism.
Congrats to Stelter finally being like I'm too lazy to read the Media Matters talking points, I'll just invite them to read their propaganda themselves
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 19, 2020
CNN is not a news network. They are a partisan arm of the Democratic party. That’s not some wild, right-wing accusation based on nothing. It’s simply a reflection of reality. McSally was perfectly within her rights to point that out by rejecting Raju’s question and telling him to get lost. Some have insisted that because the question was supposedly valid, that she should have just answered it. That’s not how things work. No one is under any obligation to be cordial to an outlet that consistently lies and falsely frames any comment made by a Republican.
In short, McSally has nothing to apologize for. If CNN’s “journalists” don’t want to be called liberal hacks, they can stop reinforcing the label with their actions. The ball is in their court.
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