Laziness and sloppiness have become all too common traits among modern day journalists and reporters. Media bias is easy for journalists to wave away. They see accusations of bias simply as an excuse, largely made up by Republicans and conservatives in order to deflect away from their own mistakes or incompetence (or my favorite, “tough reporting”). I think a lot of journalists truly believe what they are writing is done without a hint of bias. That’s the problem. They never see it in themselves. Some reporters don’t hide and then there are times when they know something is not true, but they report on it falsely anyway. Some recent comments made by Ted Cruz about Robert Dear, the shooter in Colorado fall into that category.

Media outlets have fallen all over themselves to report Dear said “no more baby parts” when he was arrested after surrendering to police after a long standoff. This comment made by Dear:

A. Has not been confirmed. 

B. Came from a sole, anonymous “law enforcement source.”

Thin, right? Doesn’t matter. Why? Narrative. By accepting this thinly sourced quote as gospel, the media justifies “asking questions” over whether or not “extreme anti-abortion rhetoric” played a role influencing Dear’s actions. It puts people who are pro-life on the defensive when they have absolutely nothing to answer for.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ], was making the point the media should not be jumping to conclusions about Dear’s motives when a reporter said, “Well it’s been reported  he said, ‘no more baby parts,'” as if it were rock solid and had been confirmed. Ted Cruz then said the following:

“Well, it’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is.”

To anybody with half a brain, it was clear, Senator Cruz was merely saying, “We don’t have all the facts.”

That didn’t stop our illustrious media (and not just the left wing sites) from misinterpreting it. Look at these headlines – the lefty sites first:

Salon

Ted Cruz is a professional liar: The Planned Parenthood shooting was the work of a “transgendered leftist activist

Huffington Post

Ted Cruz Calls Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist’

Think Progress

Ted Cruz Describes Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter As ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist’

Gawker

Dirtbag Ted Cruz Describes Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter as “Transgendered Leftist Activist”

Now the more mainstream outlets:

CNN (I quoted from it)

Cruz: Maybe alleged clinic shooter is ‘transgendered leftist’

Mediaite

Ted Cruz Casually Suggests Planned Parenthood Shooter Was ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist’

Buzzfeed

Ted Cruz Floats Report That Planned Parenthood Shooter Was A “Transgendered Leftist”

We should expect this kind of drivel from the likes of Salon and Gawker. Salon managed to take time from their “Pedophiles Are Just Like You And Me” headlines to rail about Cruz.

That said, CNN and Mediaite should know better. Buzzfeed is largely a joke so it’s hard to tell whether their use was bias, incompetence or a bit of both.

The bottom line is, Ted Cruz was merely making a point to the reporter he was talking to that nothing about the shooter’s motives had yet been confirmed and the media was already attempting to portray him as some wackadoo extreme pro-life activist who was undoubtedly influenced by the videos made and released by The Center for Medical Progress. These media outlets assume most people are lazy and won’t read past the headlines. Sadly, they are right. Why would the average person doubt CNN?

The only mistake Senator Cruz made was assuming media outlets would understand what he was doing.