That we’re aware of the developing scandal(s) surrounding Democratic Rep. Katie Hill is thanks in no small part to RedState’s Jen Van Laar, who did what so many of our media betters have refused to do and carefully combed through evidence of Hill’s misconduct to construct a damning story of gross abuse of political authority.
And yet, Van Laar’s actual journalism is largely being dismissed or ignored by the mainstream media. RedState senior editor Joe Cunningham called out the self-proclaimed Guardians of Truth in a fantastic thread today. Please take a few minutes to read it:
Okay, folks. I have some Thoughts and Opinions this morning, and I’m going to share them.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
You know what really pisses me off? When a non-traditional news outlet breaks a major story and the traditional media do one or more of the following:
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
1. Ignores the story due to partisan agenda.
2. Runs with the story based on the subject’s response to the story.
3. Refers to the story without linking to or giving proper credit to the original outlet/writer who broke it.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
Fun Fact: @jenvanlaar broke a major story. The story is that Rep. Katie Hill of California was involved in multiple affairs while in office, one of them being with a Congressional staffer, which is against the rules.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
The story is not Hill’s response to the affairs going public. That is only a part of the larger story that Jen broke. The story is also not the release of the photos, which were given to Jen for the purpose of proving the affairs were real.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
Jen, by the way, used excellent judgment in using and censoring SOME of the photos she was given, proving the affairs were real while not posting straight-up revenge porn (there were, as she admitted, even more scandalous ones, so if we wanted to just shame Hill, we would’ve).
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
It is a news story, it does call into question Hill’s use of power over her staff, and it should be covered by mainstream outlets.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
What should not happen, however, is the attempt to effectively write @jenvanlaar out of the history of this scandal. It would not be public, and it would not be as explosive as it is without her. For several outlets, that seems to be the aim.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
They are simultaneously trying to write Jen’s and RedState’s role out of the story so they can try to pass it off as original reporting, while also providing cover for Hill by framing it as anything other than what it is: The use of power by a politician for sexual purposes.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
Politico’s story earlier this week on Hill’s response to the allegations and evidence against her, for example, focused almost exclusively on Hill’s denial of wrongdoing or sexual misconduct. It glossed over the allegations and evidence against her, and the article mentioned RedState’s report but didn’t link to it. Hill would’ve had nothing to deny had it not been for Van Laar’s work.
It is simply not fair to Jen, who has put in WEEKS of work chasing this story, to write her out of this. The very least some of these outlets can do is link to her original work. Be honest, please. Show people where this came from.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
And for God’s sake, don’t act like this is just something you stumbled across and wrote about. I watched the traffic. I watched social media. This exploded quickly. You didn’t just come across some obscure site and chased down your own leads. Jen did the work for you. Admit it.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
Those are my Thoughts and Opinions this morning. Have a nice day.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) October 24, 2019
Well said.
Great points, @JoePCunningham
— мαтту⚠ (@OtherMatty) October 24, 2019
All true.
And the MSM wonders why many of us no longer find them credible.
This was a classic who, what, when, why and how story and Jen deserves ALL the credit for writing it.— righty64 (@righty64) October 24, 2019