When I awoke this morning and heard of the massacre in an Aurua, Colorado movie theater, I was shocked and sickened. I must admit that my cynical nature prompted me to wonder how long it would take the left to use this horrendous criminal act to push their political agenda. I didn't have to wait long. ABC's own Brian Ross did some rudimentary investigation to find a Tea Party member with the same name as the movie theater killer. He promptly went on the air and drew his viewers into an assumption that the killer was a member of the Tea Party. Never mind that the Tea Party gentleman was more than twice the shooter's age , and except for the name, had nothing else in common with him.
This is just the latest in a long history of activism journalism practiced by the mainstream media. When political points can be scored, the truth and facts be damned. The disturbing aspect of this behavior is that they have no shame about lying for their cause. I remember hearing that Bill Bradley, the editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal, admitted that they deliberately printed stories they knew to be false just to make a better case against President Nixon. Years later, while defending Mr. Bradley, disgraced newsman Dan Rather said, "It was a corrupt administration and we had to do whatever we could to take it down." So Mr. Rather bestows upon the press the job of jury, judge and executioner. Funny, I thought the job of the press and the rest of media was to gather facts through thorough investigation and report them to their fellow citizens, whatever those facts uncovered. And why does Mr. Rather think there is honor in becoming corrupt to expose what he thinks is corruption.
This bald-faced admission of abdicating all journalistic integrity was repeated in the 1990's by Easson Jordan, who was the editor of news for CNN. He admitted to airing stories written by the Saddam Hussein regime that they knew weren't true, simply so they could keep their bureau in Iraq. I wonder if it ever occurred to Mr. Jordan that he severely damaged the integrity of his organization as well as journalism in general.
More recently, when the Trayvon Martin controversy was heating up, NBC, CBS and CNN all had to admit to journalistic malpractice. They wanted so badly to report that George Zimmerman was motivated by racism that, in the absence of any evidence, they fabricated facts to suit their agenda. They only admitted to their corrupt behavior after being exposed by alternative media sources.
In the coming days and weeks be prepared for an onslaught of cries for stricter gun laws, blame to be focused on Conservative talk radio and vague links to be made between the killer and right-wing organizations. Just remember that the blame for these or any other killings is to be placed squarely on those who perpetrate the acts, and nothing or no one else. And one more thing, if you happen to run into Dan Rather, tell him I have some phony National Guard documents I'll sell him very cheap.
