I find covering the press as I do to be immensely interesting, fascinating, and downright fun. But there is a frustrating aspect to it as well, because of my approach to the profession. The primary reason I have fallen into this realm is not because I detest journalism but because I have respect for it, at least as far as what it is supposed to be. I look to hold journos up to standards in order to keep them in line with journalism ethics and practices. And they usually cannot tolerate such.

One of the ironies is how so many J-school grads get into the business to hold the powerful accountable, but at the same time, they get deeply cranky when the likes of Newsbusters, Fox News contributor Joe Concha, RedState's own Sister Toldjah, and many other media critics such as myself dare to hold them accountable. Many journalists truly believe they are above being held to standards of journalism ethics. This is not done to intentionally attack blindly but to attempt to get them to fix the issues leading to the deepening problems.

The frustration comes from seeing the industry become more denigrated in the past decade or so. Layoffs are prevalent, outlets are shutting down, and public trust in the press is at historic lows. Meanwhile, I sit back and watch as the collective industry - instead of looking to rectify the problems it has created - ramps up the very actions that repel their audience. Look at this weekend, when the entirety of the news industry was spreading the falsehood about Trump’s “bloodbath” quotes. This matched the uniform way dozens of sources described Biden’s bitchfest of a State of the Union address as “a fiery speech.” 

This is the same practice we have seen in the past, such as when the news industry agreed to use the misnomer “The Don’t Say Gay Law” in Florida, but it is being ramped up now with these instances taking place more frequently. The press does not want to adjust its behavior because they see a looming Biden loss and are in panic mode, so they are increasing the practices leading to their demise. And this brings up another problem that has metastasized in the media – the rise of The Diva Pundits.

I was called back to this issue while watching the newly released interview by Don Lemon with Elon Musk. Lemon was set to roll out a new program on Xitter, and this interview was to be Lemon’s initial installment, but instead it led to Musk instantly announcing he was yanking the plug on the whole idea. In watching this interview, the first thing that came to mind was, “Why would Lemon release this?!?!” He comes off in this as shameful, elitist, and all the while appearing starkly ignorant. That their interview became combative is one thing, but the reason it did so was because Lemon displays no adroit thinking - at all. He clings to a narrative and is incapable of listening and digesting what he has been told. 

At one point he asks Musk about prescription medication he is taking. Why? What possible reason would there be for a personal inquiry like this? At one point they discussed Tesla vehicles, and frankly Lemon should have edited that segment out, considering the reports that he had made a list of demands from Musk for his show including being given a free Cyber Truck. But then Lemon gets into a string of commentary on the Great Replacement Theory, and this is where the train plunges from a trestle into a ravine.

In discussing that topic, it began well enough, but then Lemon - in trademark fashion - extrapolated Musk’s opinions or the mere sharing of information on Xitter was responsible for hate crime shootings and white supremacist violence. You can see Musk beginning to pull back at this point, and even informs Lemon he does not speak to journalists, only agreeing to sit with him because his show was appearing on Musk’s platform. 

“I don’t think people should care what the media thinks about them. They are terrible judges of character.”

What probably was the portion that ended Lemon’s extremely brief relationship with Musk and Xitter was at around the 30-minute mark as they moved into the subject of content moderation on Musk’s platform. Lemon was pushing extremely hard for the practice of moderation, as Musk appropriately notes that this is tantamount to censorship. During one exchange, you see on display not only Lemon’s inflexibility on a topic but also his inability to process what has been told to him.

LEMON: Do you feel that “X”, and you, have some responsibility to moderate hate speech? On the platform?

MUSK: I think we have a responsibility to adhere to the law. But I think when you are going beyond the law, I think you are beginning to put your thumb on the scale.

LEMON: [Shows a number of current hate speech posts on the platform.] These posts should have been deleted. So what haven’t they been deleted - why are they still there?

MUSK: We delete things when they are illegal.

LEMON: They are still up there…

MUSK: Are they Illegal?

LEMON: They're not illegal but they're hateful and they can lead to violence.

MUSK: So, Don, you love censorship, is what you're saying.

LEMON: No, I don’t love censorship. I believe in moderation…

MUSK: Moderation is a propaganda word for censorship. Look - if something is illegal, we'll take it down. But if it's not illegal then we're putting our thumb on the scale or being censors.

LEMON: You're putting your thumb on the scale for moderating hate speech? I mean, you don't put out child pornography.

MUSK: It’s illegal.

LEMON: Some people would say that’s considered censorship.

MUSK: I literally said if something is illegal, we will obviously remove it, but not if it is not illegal. The laws in this country are put forward by the citizens, we're a democracy. If those laws are put in place by the people, we adhere to those laws. If you go beyond the law, you're actually going beyond the will of the people.

Lemon then goes on to suggest that Musk is promoting language that can lead to violence, oblivious to all that Musk just said about legal speech, and implying that he is essentially responsible for the actions of others. You can tell that the billionaire is pretty much done with the interview - and Lemon - at the stage when he looks at the disgraced newsman and tells him flatly:

“You desperately want censorship. You want censorship so bad you can taste it.”

Don Lemon shows his very poisonous self-centered approach as he is incapable of gleaning that he is speaking with the man who just gave him a platform and is touting free speech while arguing with him that he is basically demanding the opposite. When your new boss is declaring his standard and you are telling him he is wrong, this leads to your dismissal. Well, that, and your laundry list of ridiculous demands.

While patently ridiculous behavior, what is on display here is hardly unique in the news business. This entitled, condescending position is held by far too many in the news business, and worse still, they are catered to by their outlets. Don Lemon collected millions annually while delivering not only low ratings but losing viewers from his lead-in, yet he was the norm. 

Look across the cable news spectrum and you see a glut of indolent voices. Rachel Maddow scored a hefty contract for one-day-a-week appearances, where she delivers nonsense like a report on guns manufactured for babies. Joy Reid is a consistent spewer of racist conspiracies and contemplations shallower than a wading pool. Sean Hannity has proven incapable of anything approaching objectivity when it comes to Trump. Yet these are the drivers of their networks’ numbers and thus catered to, at the expense of facts, objectivity, complete delivery of news items, and basic journalism practices.

The traditional outlets are faring no better. Peruse the columns at major newspapers, and they are littered with high-minded, low-grade thinking individuals dripping with unearned condescension. Phil Bump is held in esteem at the Washington Post while displaying a sloth-like intellect. Taylor Lorenz continues to move up the career ladder as her reporting devolves in quality. David French rose to the New York Times while lapsing into a one-note pattern of never-Trump conservative bashing. Max Boot has written the same column explaining his anti-Republican ways for years without his bosses noticing. 

The amusement in all of this is we occasionally hear moans and mewling about the state of journalism from these minds, and how the loss of public trust is a concern. Yet not only do we see them taking no steps to repair things, but they are hitting the throttle on the activities leading to this result. They are people enamored with their own image but refuse to look in the mirror.

The industry that refuses to be honest with itself is left wondering how the public perceives them as not being honest with us.