This won’t come as a shock to anyone reading this, but when it comes to “outrage” over how their reporters are treated by elected officials, CNN treats Republicans and Democrats very differently.
As my Red State colleague Brad Slager wrote last night, multiple CNN “journalists” and media personalities are waging war against Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) after she dared to call reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack” Thursday after he asked her whether or not the Senate should consider “new evidence” in next week’s impeachment trial.
CNN’s PR team, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, Wolf Blitzer, and others raged against McSally in the aftermath, with Blitzer demanding an apology, Tapper “reaching out” to members of John McCain’s family, and Cuomo ranting that McSally “bears no resemblance to McCain’s dignity, decency, discretion.”
Never mind that McSally and other Republicans have very good reasons for doubting Raju’s credibility and impartiality, which was covered well by my colleague Matt Vespa over at Townhall yesterday.
In any event, when a similar incident involving Raju and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) took place last year, the reaction from CNN was much, much more muted. Here’s what happened:
Rep. Ilhan Omar: "Are you serious? What is wrong with you?"
CNN reporter Manu Raju: "I'm asking a question about your tweet — you had a tweet saying the president trafficked in hate."
Omar: "Yes I tweeted, and there's a response. You can run that." https://t.co/8esRl3KRMg pic.twitter.com/YOPrwMZe8p
— The Hill (@thehill) February 14, 2019
Twitter users responded by calling CNN out on their duplicity:
I certainly don’t recall an on air gasp of “oh my god” hysterics from Jake Tapper’s show. https://t.co/CEQ2pMp8wx
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 16, 2020
Gosh, guys, I found my email with the 2/13/19 "Reliable Sources" newsletter from the day they showed Rep. Ilhan Omar dismissing questions from CNN's Manu Raju with "Are you serious?"
Brian Stelter never mentioned it.
No OUTRAGE from @CNNPR hacks. https://t.co/hHrAYGlUyd
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) January 16, 2020
Not surprising that @CNN was perfectly okay with Ilhan Omar telling off Manu Raju back in February as they sure didn't throw fits like they are now when Martha McSally told him off
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 16, 2020
Stelter did comment on Twitter about the incident but that was the extent of the outrage. There weren’t 10 minute diatribes on every program, no statements from CNN PR, no coordinated efforts at shaming her into responding. Instead, Stelter played BothSidesism:
This attitude from @IlhanMN — don't question me, just quote my tweets — is a problem on both sides of the aisle. Politicians' tweets aren't a substitute for journalism, they're a starting point for journalism. https://t.co/3m1JgKoGRt
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 13, 2019
That was pretty much the extent of the “outrage” from CNN.
And yet they keep wondering why people view them as liberal hacks?
(Hat tip: Twitchy)
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