"No one is going to stick their head out of the trenches for someone they don't respect or trust. You can get shot doing that." Gordon Bethune, CEO, Continental Airlines
February 15, 2017
By: Linda Case Gibbons
It's a cinch to be a journalist today. You only have to tell one side of the story. And if there's news you don't like, leave it out, or make something up that you do like.
Journalism was once a noble career. But today's media is a whole other can of worms that should be opened with caution, if at all.
Today's "journalists" are a sloppy, self-involved bunch, happy to live in their own little world, gossiping among their Liberal colleagues.
This "Free Press" is at its best when doing their jobs poorly, with adherence to few standards, and possessed of a profound lack of curiosity. When criticized, they carp endlessly about how unfair life is for them.
A limited vocabulary helps them stay on message. They don't say "Islamic terrorists," or "illegal." And "transparency" has a different meaning for them than it does for the rest of us.
Being transparent isn't letting people know what you're doing. It's the kind of "transparency" that doesn't, the kind you'd see from Hillary or Obama.
You see the dilemma.
It is unfortunate, but the journalist of today has no use for roughly half of America, and even less use for the truth. So they seek to avoid doing their jobs, never researching, never presenting both sides of an issue, by calling themselves "commentators," or "contributors."
They are slick, they are dismissive, and are more interested in looking at the reflection of themselves in the articles they write, than in reporting accurate news. And they are most ardent in their likes and dislikes:
They love immigrants, but not the First Lady.
They think it's okay for Carl Bernstein's son to call the First Lady a "hooker," and for his paper, The New York Times to merely "chastise" him, not fire him. "Probably," Rush Limbaugh joked, "because the kid said it at a party, instead of printing it in the paper."
The Berlin Wall could come tumbling down at their feet, and the journalists of today would miss the scoop.
Best of all was their reaction to President Trump's comments about Sweden. It showed them at their ignorant best. They didn't know what he was talking about! But that didn't stop them from running their mouths.
They didn't know about the documentary the president was referring to, possibly because it aired on FOX.
Filmmaker Ami Horowitz produced it, addressing the rampant rise of crime in Sweden, one created by an influx of 100,000 unvetted refugees, earning the country the name, in Horowitz' words, the "Rape Capital" of the world.
Most shockingly, Horowitz found the Swedish people unwilling to acknowledge this dire state of events, so eager were they to be compassionate. Sound familiar?
Did the Liberal press rush to research the issue? Did they see the lead buried in the story, that there is a frightening side to immigration and refugees that needed to be told? Of course not.
And they didn't see that this was what the president's temporary immigration order was about. That the threats are everywhere. They could simply have researched on YouTube under "Refugees," and seen further evidence, the video, "Muslim Refugees Attack Trucker in Calais," or the havoc that exists today in Germany.
But they didn't.
The American public had to come to grips with the Left wing media ignoring Obama's open mic comments to then Russian President Medvedev, or that the brother of Hillary's campaign manager, John Podesta, was part of the Russian/State Department/Hillary great U.S. uranium caper.
It's why we've ended up with journalists like former CBS anchor Dan Rather, described in Wikipedia as "a disgraced reporter," Brian Williams, who reshaped the news to his own liking, and networks like CBS, CNN, ABC and NBC who edit tapes to suit their point of view and play footsie with the Democrats.
But journalism was once a noble profession.
There were "Journalist's Journalists," like Walter Cronkite, men trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt, their faces, their voices, their words a comfort to the public during difficult times.
People will tell you they remember exactly where they were the day Kennedy was shot, and that it was Walter Cronkite who told them their president was dead.
And they can tell you how he looked when he told them.
Solemn, in shirtsleeves, Cronkite was handed the tragic news bulletin. He removed his glasses, then said, "President Kennedy died at 1 p.m Central Standard Time." He glanced away, pausing briefly, looking up at the clock, then put his glasses back on, fighting back tears.
Everyone trusted that he was telling them the truth. They always did.
He was the CBS news anchor for 19 years, with his signature signoff, "And that's the way it is."
And that was the way it was.
For 19 years, his face was a welcome one in America's living rooms, and no one ever doubted the truthfulness of his reports. And for 19 years, viewers never knew his political affiliation.
So here's to the pros, CBS' Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow, NBC's John Cameron Swayze, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.
These guys could take a licking, and keep on ticking.
Hold the line, America.