As we discussed earlier, the media have begun a rather conspicuous pivot regarding Cassidy Hutchinson’s sworn testimony yesterday.
Journalists are now calling sworn testimony an "anecdote". Just amazing stuff. https://t.co/ApKGONv2FG
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 29, 2022
Much of the spotlight is on Cassidy Hutchinson right now, but truth be told, the media deserve a huge chunk of spotlight, too, for the way they’ve been conducting themselves. And the way they’ve been conducting themselves is pathetically and transparently and absolutely shamelessly.
And Glenn Greenwald is calling them out on it in a blistering thread:
JOURNALISTS, all day yesterday: Trump assaulted his Secret Service agents and grabbed the wheel of the presidential limo!!! Headline news. Smoking gun!!!!
SECRET SERVICE AGENTS: That never happened.
JOURNALISTS: That was never an important part of the testimony. pic.twitter.com/g0CHYfpidf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
As any lawyer will tell you (if being honest), few things are less reliable than a proceeding with no adversarial component. These hearings have zero.
One can assign whatever blame one wants for that, but perhaps it means journalists should be…skeptical…of assertions there.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
Media firefighters are only skeptical of facts that call their preferred narratives into question. Otherwise, they’re more than happy to just nod their heads and press forward without a second thought.
If, yesterday, you followed conservative journalists or analysts — and really, why would anyone do such a thing: just block and ignore them — you'd have heard instant skepticism even over the physics of Hutchinson's claim that Trump was able to grab the wheel of the "Beast."
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
Maybe parts of Hutchinson's story is true (although the part that got the instant attention and calls for prosecution — Trump assaulted his agents and grabbed the wheel of the Beast! — was highly dubious on its face), but *journalistic* skepticism, not cheerleading, is needed.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
The press is supposed to care about facts and getting to the bottom of a story. They’re supposed to put aside their own personal biases and strive for objectivity.
But for much of the legacy media, they see themselves as glorified mouthpieces for the Democratic Party. And that’s a real shame. They do both the public and themselves a great disservice.
This (👇) is exactly what happened: largely due to Twitter dynamics.
If, as a journalist, you don't *instantly* join the liberal mob — if you wait to see how facts emerge — you stand accused of sin.
But if you jump on board, applause, virality and cable bookings are yours. pic.twitter.com/77Q9goMeVC
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
Yep.
It's literally impossible to count how many times during the Trump years some *blockbuster!* Russiagate event materialized – the thing that was going to be the fatal blow – and journalists spent all day on Twitter reflexively peddling it, only to watch it fall apart over and over
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
And it’s going to keep happening, because no matter how much egg they’ve gotten on their faces, the media will never learn their lesson.
For many (I'd say: most) corporate journalists, "Twitter" = "liberal Twitter" = "the only constituency that matters."
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2022
That’s certainly how it seems to work these days.
And the media wonder why no one trusts them anymore.
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