It’s Not Media Bias, It’s Media Advocacy

So I saw a little item yesterday morning that claimed Tim Walz said: “I’ve befriended school shooters” at the VP debate last week. I don’t get my back all arched up when I run across a thing like that; no matter where I see it or who it’s about. I can hold off being mad about it long enough to check at least a couple other sources to confirm it was actually said, and to see it in context. This one was confirmed; that’s exactly what he said. But that’s not what this is about.

He obviously wasn’t asked to clarify it when he said it, or he wouldn’t be clarifying it days later. So, a VP candidate said: “I’ve befriended school shooters” at the debate and the moderators didn’t think that was worth a follow-up question? That’s kinda weird. But that’s not what this is about either.

This is about the tone of the sources I checked. And I’m not talking about some grocery store newsletter in East Podunk Michigan; I checked Time, Newsweek, Wired, and The Hill. All four were in full cahoots defense of Walz. They called the comment an innocent slip of the tongue, which I’m sure is exactly what it was. But their job is to report what was said, not to minimize it and mock anyone who dares to question it. Wired wrote that “a quick search would have revealed what he likely meant.” So, the man who wants to be our vice president says something careless on national tv and it’s my responsibility to do the research to try and piece together what he probably meant? That’s a mighty magnanimous position for a journalist to take.

And since it’s 2024, all of those articles went heavy on attacking JD Vance – the one who DIDN’T say he’s friends with school shooters – and Donald Trump, who wasn’t even there. They were in full outrage mode over the evil Trump empire and “right wing media sites” seizing on an innocent slip of the tongue for low hanging political gain. Yeah. Because democrats and their media would never stoop to such a thing.

Y’know what? I don’t like Donald Trump. And I’m not on anyone’s bandwagon; I’ve had a problem with him since the 80s. He enjoys baiting people into conflicts that didn’t have to happen, and I don’t get along with that trait. He’s certainly not alone in doing that, but I have no interest in defending him; I don’t keep jumping into fights for people who won’t stop picking them. But it’s not a defense of Trump to say that most of the major established news media is wallowing much lower than simple bias.

You don’t believe that? I hate clichés, but I need this one: imagine anyone even remotely associated with Donald Trump said “I’ve befriended school shooters” in ANY context. You know exactly what the established press would do with that, and they’d sure as hell not defend it as an innocent lapse and chastise any liberals who tried to capitalize on it. They’re still to this day capitalizing on Trump calling neo nazis “fine people,” that was years ago and didn’t even happen. He didn’t say that, but the journobots knew they’d get away with saying he did, because they know their audience will never question anything they report. That’s not bias, that’s advocacy.

Can you give me one legitimate reason why articles about something Tim Walz said were mostly attacks on Donald Trump? Don’t tell me there was any exigent need to warn us what unnamed “right wing media sites” are saying, not unless you really believe they can outgun Time, Newsweek, Wired, The Hill, CNN, and MSNBC et al in the info war. As ridiculous as that claim would be, I’d a whole lot rather believe it than believe that some of the most respected names in journalism have become the media arm of the DNC. So I’d be grateful to you if you can give me even one example of any of those networks and publications holding Democrats to anything even close to the same standard as Republicans.

But I’m not going to wait by the phone.

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Bama has been a rodeo cowboy, a professional stuntman, and, for 39 years and counting, a bouncer at various biker bars and redneck rat cage juke joints through the Deep South. He makes cool stuff as Crimson Tied Paragear, using knots his Army Ranger Scoutmaster taught him at Boy Scout summer camp deep in the Okinawan boonies back in 1972.

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