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« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2016, 03:33:54 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 10-25-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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After all, the press’s function was viewed as essential to the Republic. It protected the purveyors of important information from those who prefer their activities to not receive wide dissemination, and who might use the courts or other means to keep important information from being made public.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”
However, while the Constitution can protect the media from those who dislike it by guaranteeing its freedom to tell all it knows, it does not have the ability to enforce integrity, honesty and fairness on the media. Those qualities are expected to be organizational and personal, ingrained in news providers and students of journalism, who should be taught and adopt the ethics of journalism and practice them always.
It was also Jefferson who said, “ Newspapers … serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke.”
People in certain positions in our society have the job and the duty to play it straight down the middle, without allowing whatever personal feelings they may have to enter into the performance of their job. Among these are referees and other sports officials; judges in legal proceedings and other adjudicatory activities; and the news media — the people who provide the public with the critical information necessary to make informed decisions.
The mechanisms for defending news reporting remain intact, but sadly the same cannot be said for the ethical imperatives of news reporting, as is demonstrated daily in the national media. The most glaring example of this lack of ethics and integrity is the coverage of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vs. that of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
One of many examples arose during the final presidential debate. When asked by debate moderator Chris Wallace if he would pledge to accept the results of the election, Trump’s answer20 was influenced by his oft-stated belief that the election system has many flaws, and he said, “I will look at it at the time.” Clinton feigned dismay, declaring that Trump is “undermining the pillar of our democracy,” the peaceful transfer of power.
Well, no, he was not. Given the free pass Clinton got from the FBI, voter fraud across the country and a compliant Clinton Media Machine, who can blame him for wanting to wait until the election is over before deciding whether it was handled fairly? But Clinton’s position on that issue is much more highly favored by the media than Trump’s, so guess what the major news outlets told the world?
Things like this bolster Trump’s claims that the news media are biased against him, and a new Quinnipiac University poll21 finds agreement among a majority of those polled. Some 55% of likely voters agree the press is biased against Trump.
Just one small example. Earlier this month, Trump said some American soldiers “can’t handle” the horrors of war, which causes their PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). This statement was then distorted to suggest Trump disdains those who suffer PTSD.
This farcical misinterpretation was identified by Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, no great friend of Trump, who said: “The bias that is in the media. What he is saying is that some people, for whatever reason, and we really don’t understand why, suffer from PTSD, and others don’t.”
The news media’s reaction to Trump’s PTSD comment appears to be the reaction of someone with an IQ south of 70, but we know that most media types are not stupid: Lack of intelligence is not the problem; bias is the problem.
The media’s yearlong thinly disguised disdain for Trump has erupted into open contempt, and the collapse and disgracing of a critical component of our society is now inarguable. Attempting to justify this flagrant abandonment of professional ethics, New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg wrote in August22 that journalists have a responsibility to abandon all pretense of objectivity. “If you view a Trump presidency as something that’s potentially dangerous, then your reporting is going to reflect that,” he declared. “That’s uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream, non-opinion journalist I’ve ever known, and by normal standards, untenable.”
Some reporters, editors and producers regard Trump as so bad and Clinton as so good that normal standards no longer apply, and journalistic ethics that once were sacrosanct and provided a substantial measure of balance and fairness in news reporting have become obstacles to a media agenda.
One of the worst possible situations is when the source of critical public information abandons neutrality and takes sides. Like widespread corruption in government, widespread corruption in the information system is deadly to Liberty.
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Obama’s Foreign Policy Disaster With the Philippines23 — President Rodrigo Duterte is cozying up to Red China and dissing the U.S.
DOJ Ignores Violent Pipeline Protests24 — Ecofascists unite, with “Justice” looking the other way.
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Michael Barone: “The choice of these nominees may result in two significant shifts. One is a recoloring of the familiar political map. When Trump was running close to even, he was threatening to win previously safe Democratic states. Clinton is now threatening to win previously safe Republican states. The static polarized partisan lines may be shifting. The other is the opening of new fissures in both parties. Trump enthusiasts and ‘never Trump’ critics are already embarked on a civil war. Bernie Sanders enthusiasts are understandably furious about what WikiLeaks has revealed that Clinton and top aides have said in emails and speeches. A Bloomberg poll asked Republicans and Democrats which of several figures should be the face of their party nationally if their nominee loses. A plurality of Democrats, 32 percent, said Hillary Clinton, and 6 percent said Tim Kaine. But 31 percent said Bernie Sanders, and 23 percent said Elizabeth Warren. Among Republicans, 24 percent said Donald Trump, far below the percentage supporting him against Clinton. But a total of 71 percent picked the more conventional conservative alternatives Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan and John Kasich. That’s a crude measure, but it provides an interesting hint of the politics that are just a couple of weeks ahead.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “There can be no compromise on basic principles. There can be no compromise on moral issues. There can be no compromise on matters of knowledge, of truth, of rational conviction.” —Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Upright: “[Conservatives] are obligated not to despair. Now, about our country, yeah things may not look good. But we are obligated not to despair. Do I know what the outcome is going to be? No. Do I know that we’re going to be vindicated? No. But that’s not why you [fight]. You don’t do it to necessarily persuade, to feel that you’re going to persuade other people. You do it because it’s right.” —Justice Clarence Thomas
Since when is overstepping executive authority worthy of respect? “President Obama put in place a national climate action program — a plan for America — and I think history is going to be very respectful of the way in which he has been able to circumvent Congress, who didn’t want to do anything.” —John Kerry
Demo-gogues: “I ran against McCain, against Romney. I thought I could do a better job, but they’re both honorable men. And if they won, I wouldn’t worry about generally the course of the country. But what we haven’t seen before is somebody questioning integrity of elections and the will of the people.” —Barack Obama, who knows a thing or two about rejecting the will of the people
Braying Jenny: “Get this, Donald. Nasty women are tough. Nasty women are smart. And nasty women vote.” —Elizabeth Warren
Village Idiots: “There is a great term the Soviets used to use: ‘somebody being a useful idiot.’ I think that Trump falls into that category of people that are manipulated also by the Russians and the Russians are trying to interfere in our democracy because they don’t have one themselves.” —former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (“When Romney warned about Russia in 2012, Albright mocked him and said his views on Russia were ‘truly out of date.’” —Sean Davis)
And last… “The silver lining of this election is that no matter what happens, someone who very much deserves to lose is going to.” —Frank Fleming
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. |
