WASHINGTON DC – Attorney General Bill Barr recently shared some choice words with Townhall regarding his thoughts on the media, and they were far from kind or minced.
After having concluded a three-day tour in September where AG Barr visited the cities of Chicago, Phoenix and Cleveland; AG Barr had the following to say about the mainstream media’s current handling of reporting the news:
“They’re basically a collection of liars. Most of the mainstream media. They’re a collection of liars and they know exactly what they’re doing.”
“The press has dropped, in my view – and I’m talking about the national mainstream media – has dropped any pretense of professional objectivity and are political actors, highly partisan who try to shape what they’re reporting to achieve a political purpose”https://t.co/cdJJ04NCyz
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 12, 2020
AG Barr dove into his rationale behind why he believes that modern-day reporting has been hijacked by “liars”, noting that the coverage of the “riots” have served as a perfect example of said lying:
“Right on the street it was clear as day what was going on, anyone observing it, reporters observing it, it could not have escaped their attention that this was orchestrated violence by a hardened group of street fighting radicals and they kept on excluding from their coverage all the video of this and reporting otherwise and they were doing that for partisan reasons, and they were lying to the American people.”
100%.
So glad that Bill Barr is calling the left-wing propagandists out to their faces.https://t.co/CvPyCd0EL8
— Yih-Chau Chang (@yihchauchang) September 12, 2020
Obviously, AG Barr is making reference to the riots that have spread in large cities across the country that have been portrayed as “peaceful” demonstrations for equality.
He feels as though the press have devolved from reporting facts and have instead been operating as “political actors”:
“The press has dropped, in my view – and I’m talking about the national mainstream media – has dropped any pretense of professional objectivity and are political actors, highly partisan who try to shape what they’re reporting to achieve a political purpose and support a political narrative that has nothing to do with the truth.”
The Attorney General referred to the style of reporting that has been taking place as “mendacious”, basically saying that what is being framed by major media outlets has been misleading – to say the least.
By media outlets not calling a spade for what it is, AG Barr feels that it contributes to not only hyper partisanship but also deteriorative effects on the country’s principles and egalitarian approach:
“It’s very destructive to our Republic; it’s very destructive to the Democratic system to have that, especially being so monolithic. It’s contributing to a lot of the intensity and partisanship.”
What AG Barr pointed out when describing the gaslighting from media reporting on the riots is that these “peaceful” protests have resulted in something unheard of in prior instances of protests – police injuries outweighing those harmed among protesters:
“It’s funny that you had record numbers of police being injured during ‘peaceful’ protests. You know usually in protests, you have large numbers of injured rioters and a modest number of injured law enforcement.
I’m talking about back in the 90s and 60s, 60s to the 90s, nowadays very few rioters get injured, very few and hundreds, even thousands of officers have been injured.”
Despite the heavy criticisms that AG Barr levied toward media outlets and journalists, he still feels as though there are some with a semblance of integrity trying to report the facts as they’re presented:
“I think there are a handful of reporters in the mainstream media that still have journalistic integrity, and there are some, but the overwhelming majority don’t have it anymore.”
Still, AG Barr feels that between not only journalists with an agenda – but also editors with them as well – are obfuscating genuine reporting:
“Somewhat because, of their [journalists’] orientation and but also what their editors say, they’re not really interested so much in what really happened but in pursuing a preformed narrative that suits some kind of ideological agenda. That’s what it’s all become.”
Sure, Bob. Thousands of biased journalist with a history of deceiving the world for many years, suddenly have integrity?
You’re just as big a deceiver as they are. pic.twitter.com/ahkq1HzZhA
— I Decided (@TTWSYF3) September 14, 2020
But despite what AG Barr perceives as poor media coverage of the riots and protests – including a negligence to cite the likes of Antifa as being part and parcel to these riots, he stated that the Department of Justice is still going to tackle cases against the criminal rioters:
“People are pouring through all of the video trying to identify people to hold people accountable.”
After noting that the DOJ is still trying to ascertain who is monetarily funding the rioters, AG Barr already has his suspicions of what entity is creating most of the chaos:
“I think Antifa and Antifa like groups are at the center of it.”
That’s a sentiment that likely many people would agree with as well.
Watch: Richard Grenell destroys journalists during WH press briefing: ‘People aren’t listening to you anymore’
WASHINGTON, DC – During the White House press briefing on September 4th, the U.S. Special Envoy for Kosovo tore into reporters when met with a line of questioning that he thought to be not-so-well thought out or irrelevant.
During the press briefing, he even went so far as to tell the journalists in the room that “people aren’t listening to you anymore.”
Richard Grenell Rips White House Reporters: ‘People Aren’t Listening to You Any More’ https://t.co/Y1y5KIGNRX
— Patricia Dickson (@Patrici15767099) September 4, 2020
Richard Grenell appeared before the press and seemed poised to answer questions with regard to the agreement to normalize economic relations between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.
As Grenell was making his way up to the podium to take questions, one reporter acknowledged that the relevant efforts are that of the said agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, but instead pivots to the following:
“Clearly you were effective here as the Special Envoy to these talks between Serbia and Kosovo, but I wanted to ask you about another initiative you led last year. You kicked off the Trump administration push to decriminalize homosexuality…”
At that point, Grenell had heard enough from the reporter, and interjected with the following:
“Yeah, I’m just going to talk about Kosovo and Serbia. I don’t know if you could find it on a map, but this is atrocious, I have to tell you guys. You might be too young to understand what this issue is about; maybe the older journalists should step up and say this is a big deal. This is a big issue.”
Clearly Grenell was irritated that a journalist wanted to address an effort from last year when such a momentous diplomatic effort had been recently achieved between Kosovo and Serbia, considering the years’ long history frictions and conflict.
Grenell continued, saying the following:
“I’m astounded at what happens in Washington, DC, and especially in this room. I got to tell you, get substantive, maybe it’s too complicated of an issue for you all.”
Peter Alexander from NBC tried to rebut Grenell wanting to redirect back to the relevant topic where he was poised to speak about:
“Respectfully, this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to speak with these individuals. So there’s a lot of questions to address.”
[embedded content]Yet, Grenell fired back at Alexander:
“Okay, but today is about Kosovo and Serbia. So, let’s take some time to talk about this 21-year issue, Peter. I mean – 21 years and we’re getting the same questions that are all politics.
“You guys don’t understand what’s happening outside of Washington, DC. People aren’t listening to you anymore. It’s really a crisis in journalism, and I think it’s because people are too young to understand issues like Kosovo and Serbia.”
Jeff Mason from Reuters responded in a snarky fashion after Grenell stated his desire to speak about Kosovo and Serbia:
“I don’t think any of us came here for a lecture about our questioning.”
Despite the snide comment by Mason, questions from both him and others did wind up gearing toward the specifics of the economic normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.
While the back and forth between journalists and Grenell bore some vocally tense exchanges, Grenell accomplished what he had set out to do which was to keep the questions relevant to his appearance at the press briefing.
The news of the economic normalization agreement between Kosovo and Serbia comes just weeks after President Trump had announced that Israel and the United Arab Emirates were in the midst of their own talks of a deal related a “full normalization of relations.”
I’m literally in tears.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates achieved a peace agreement. We will now witness full normalization of diplomatic relations. We are brothers and sisters. The future is looking brighter than we imagined. Well done! Mazel Tov! https://t.co/gJx5rX3JbJ
— Imam of Peace🕊 (@Imamofpeace) August 13, 2020
At the time of said announcement, President Trump made the following comments on the landmark agreement:
“This deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East.”
With now Kosovo and Serbia officials speaking amicably each other, this is yet another success for the Trump administration on helping quell the unrest that has plagued the Middle East.
Revealed: After failed news conference, reporter doesn’t deny question was coordinated with Biden campaign
This editorial is brought to you by a staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
WASHINGTON DC – Edward-Isaac Dovere is a reporter for The Atlantic.
On Friday, he attended a press conference with the hermit-like presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden’s staff gave Dovere the opportunity to ask the first question after Biden’s opening remarks.
Dovere was asked on Twitter if he coordinated the question in advance with the Biden campaign. So far, he hasn’t denied it.
Dovere’s question was related to a story published the day before by the Atlantic, in which the president was accused of making careless and insensitive remarks about World War I veterans.
The article makes it obvious that liberals who despise the president’s very existence have never had very good ammunition to use against him, used up what little they had a long time ago, and have been working with hopes and prayers ever since.
Prayers, that is, to their twin dark gods of chicanery and spite.
The Atlantic article, by Jeffrey Goldberg, is based on the words of “four [anonymous] people with firsthand knowledge”. Each of the comments, supposedly made by Trump, are presented without context.
This is an excellent way to manipulate meaning, such as when reporters said of President Trump after Charlottesville’s “Unite the Right” rally, that the president “failed to condemn racists” at the event.
The context conveniently left out of those reports were the seven times in one interview (the interview they were reporting on) wherein he explicitly condemned racism and racists who attended the rally.
In one of those examples, which should be unequivocal enough for anyone, the President said:
“I’m not talking about the Neo-Nazis and the white nationalists. They should be condemned totally”.
Instead, they performed some perverted linguistic gymnastics to present President Trump’s comment that there were “many fine people” on both sides at the rally, as a message of support for racists. This is despite his condemnation of racists in answer to a question regarding the “both sides” comment.
The Atlantic article is even worse, for a couple of reasons. The first is that its source isn’t a video tape of what the president said, something that is widely available for the President’s Charlottesville comments, nor even a named source.
Second, even Trump critic Bolton denies one of the key claims made by Goldberg, that a trip to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery near Paris was canceled because the President was worried that “his hair would get disheveled in the rain” and that he had contempt for the veterans buried there, allegedly saying “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
Bolton was with Trump on the trip. On Friday, he came out and said:
“I was there” and “I didn’t hear that. I’m not saying he didn’t say them later in the day or another time but I was there for that discussion”, in reference to the decision not to visit the cemetery.
If Goldberg had looked at Bolton’s anti-Trump memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” he would have seen Bolton’s description of the decision to cancel the cemetery visit in France.
He wrote that “the weather and logistics created ‘an unacceptable risk that we could not get the President out of France quickly enough in case of an emergency,’ and that made it ‘a straightforward decision to cancel the visit.’”
Bolton’s denial of Goldberg’s claims is echoed by six others who were there: Jordan Karem, Stephen Miller, Johnny DeStefano, Sarah Sanders, Hogan Gidley, and Dan Scavino. All of whom are on the record.
The Atlantic tried to smear the President by printing scurrilous and spiteful claims by unnamed sources. Those sources have been refuted on the record by someone who was present for the discussion in question, both before and after the article was published.
It is in the context of that article and the contested claims it contained, refuted by a named source who has no great affection for Donald Trump, that Atlantic reporter Dovere asked Biden the first question of the evening.
He asked:
“What does it [the allegations from the article] tell you about President Trump’s soul and the life he leads?”
Biden’s answer should have been:
“Nothing. According to Bolton, the stuff you guys accused Trump of didn’t even happen. Your sources are anonymous, so there’s no way to check Bolton’s denial. Ask me a question about something real, and I’ll answer that.”
Instead, Biden actually attempted to answer the unanswerable, all the more so because who is to say whether Biden even believes in the existence of a soul? Or, for that matter, Dovere.
Biden begins:
“I’m going to try and be measured in my response,” as if he had to quietly contain great rage at the idea, possibly invented by Goldberg, that the President would have said anything insulting about veterans. “If it’s true, and based on the things said in the article I believe it’s true,” Biden continues, adding two important qualifiers.
“If it’s true” meaning, if it isn’t, forget anything I might say next” and “based on [the article] I believe”, meaning that if it isn’t true, it’s the Atlantic’s fault, not his.
Biden then turns to assembled reporters and asks how they would feel. His voice cracks in a stage-managed near-whisper as he attempts to portray his own courageous yet sensitive respect for our valiant soldiers. The apparent goal is to paint himself as patriotic in contrast to a badly-supported allegation that the President lacks such noble qualities himself. However, it all hinges on “if it’s true”, and there are reasons to believe it isn’t.
On Dovere’s Twitter page, the Trump campaign’s Jason Miller wrote the following, in response to Dovere’s question to Biden, “I think Joe Biden found his new press secretary.”
There follows an exchange between Breitbart’s Joel Pollack and Dovere himself, who comes across as petulant, at the very least:
Pollack: “You outed yourself as a tool.”
Dovere: “Ah yes. Pultizer-Prive-winning Breitbart News. Or is today’s conspiracy theory that there’s a secret cabal stopping you from getting one?”
Pollack: “Tell the truth: did you coordinate that question with the @JoeBiden campaign? Or did you just decide to humiliate yourself on your own?”
Dovere: “Breaking news: Breitbart is apparently interested in the truth. The truth is that anyone who understands how real journalism works would understand that this is a question that would only occur to an Internet troll.”
Pollack: “Atlantic Reporter @IsaacDovere Does Not Deny Coordinating Question with @JoeBiden Campaign”
Dovere: “The Onion [a parody website] is doing such great work these days”
Pollack: “Still not denying coordination with @JoeBiden”
In the end, Dovere does not deny Pollack’s allegation, that he coordinated the question with Biden’s staff. Did he? It’s hard to say. It was a softball question and Biden was uncharacteristically relaxed when he answered it. Possible? Sure. Let them prove they didn’t.
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