Thursday, August 29, 2019

Tempest in a Teapot

So Aaron Rupar retweeted that, apparently approvingly. Webster never explained what questions Omar refused to answer, but responses to the tweet indicated they had to do with an alleged affair, the subject of very spurious news reports from less than reputable outlets. But it supports my general contention that news is mostly about gossip.

I even followed the thread of the "original" tweet; but no one can say just what the offending questions were.  Webster implies they had something to do with $250,000 in campaign contributions, but he never says that outright.  Seems rather incumbent on journalists to be transparent, especially when they are whinging about "mean ol' politicians."

The whole idea of journalism as a sacred duty sanctified by the charism of holy 1st Amendment oil is a crock.  What's protected in the Constitution is a free press; that doesn't protect anyone who claims to be a "journalist" (and what are the standards?  Rupar's bete noir, Glenn Greenwald, claims to be a journalist, too) from any criticism at all.  I heard Joshua Goldberg on NPR just now, describing an interview with Jim Mattis, who refused to answer certain questions about his time as Secretary of Defense, especially his opinions and observations on Donald Trump as POTUS.  Was that a "powerful [person] in America" refusing to answer a "journalist's" questions?

Why not?

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