We are fully aware that we should no longer be surprised by anything we see and hear from our media betters. We get it, they are partisan hacks who work as the PR division of the Democrat Party. It has been proven out, many times over.
Yet even with that in mind, it can still be surprising to see them act out in such a biased fashion as to even work against their own self-interest. The latest comes from Jill Filipovic over at CNN. Today she was bemoaning the fact that Katie Hill resigned her position as a result of her revealed sex scandal with her staffers.
The story was broken at our partner site RedState, with some great reporting work done by Jennifer Van Laar. Her article has become a national story, and yet the national media complex is upset — at Jennifer and at RedState. Today on CNN Jill Filipovic came out swinging, suggesting that the site be investigated by the government for promoting revenge porn.
"Speaker Pelosi said it best: her actions made it untenable for her to continue serving," says @alicetweet on Rep. Katie Hill's resignation.
"She's resigned," adds @JillFilipovic. "Now let's talk about what happened to her, what she was a victim of."https://t.co/28hUIsootv pic.twitter.com/P0tU7wG846
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) October 28, 2019
These are the same people who have been lecturing extensively about protecting women in the workplace and stamping out sexual predation by superiors. That means the victim here would be the young staffer who was in the relationship, and Hill was the predator. But Jill and CNN want to reframe this story about a mean news outlet victimizing an adored politician.
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Publications have a responsibility to not publish revenge porn under the veil of anonymity. It's shameful that @RedState published the Hill photos, and even more shameful that they are covering up their provenance. Don't give anonymity to people leaking nude pics for revenge.
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) October 28, 2019
Look at the reframing of the pictures VanLaar included in her piece as being “revenge porn”. Two pics showed Hill and the staffer posing in winter clothes and smiling, and another where they turn and share a deep kiss, and a third of Hill naked (not exposed) while combing the hair of the seated staffer. The photos were used to show the relationship that Hill denied having with a member of her staff.
There have been far more salacious pictures of Hill shown in other news outlets, and some of these were gleaned from a social dating portal. Katie Hill had posed for, and submitted those photos, to a wife-sharing website for swingers. While this in itself is not exactly scandalous, suggesting a news outlet using far less salacious images for the sake of buttressing a story is resorting to “revenge porn” shows the desperation on the part of these news outlets.
You aren't playing with a full deck. The photos were readily available on the web.
— KEE (@superbucks2050) October 28, 2019
Is it really "revenge porn" if she posted it to a wife sharing site?
— Yooper (@yooper1911) October 28, 2019
She and her husband posted them to wife sharing sites.. the Daily Mail article was clear on that. Not revenge porn.
— But I Sawed It! (@PunchMyJunk) October 28, 2019
Note too Filipovic getting very indignant that VanLaar and RedState did not reveal the source of the photos. This is an incredibly dense stance for a supposed journalist to take. Protecting witnesses and sources has long been a stance of the press, yet here we have one member suggesting that RedState turn over who it was that sourced VanLaar’s story.
Of course what Filipovic will never address — Katie Hill has admitted the story was accurate, and the Democrats have assured this to be the case by not supporting her. But here we have this nation’s messengers calling to instead shoot the messenger.
Question: is she right or wrong for having a relationship with her staff/intern or whatever she is? I think that’s a violation of the ethics. So she’s wrong and good that she’s stepping down. Disgrace
— CarolB66 (@carolrhea) October 28, 2019
You are just pissed because the leftwing press could have just buried the story if not for the pictures. They were in the process of doing just that before Red State and The Daily Mail made it impossible for them to ignore.
— HELMS-DEEP.US (@ThatchHD) October 28, 2019
Jill wrote a piece about this RedState report.
Was on @cnn today with the brilliant @JillFilipovic talking about Katie Hill and revenge porn. Her piece here nails it: https://t.co/eRqLrwU7j2 pic.twitter.com/n5YnQQ9rgQ
— Aisha C Moodie-Mills (@AishaMoodMills) October 28, 2019
In it she only gives passing mention that the Hill affair was improper, but declares the reporting on it was WAY more improper. So it was wrong of her to have the sexual relationship with a young staffer, but if anyone reports on the sexual affair it is a “sexualized attack”, according to Filipovic.
In other words, the attacker is the real victim in all of this.
Journalists upset at journalism, running defense for a politician who admitted guilt, and demanding that another journalist expose confidential sources to the public — all because a member of their preferred party was exposed.
It would be funny when this standard comes back and bites them, if it were not such a sad statement on the state of their industry.
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