Bludgeoned

Christian Amanpour is the posterchild for what the main stream media loves to call a "respected, fearless journalist." Amanpour's media friends would tell us that her past fearless reporting in war zones and her more recent reporting on international politics make her an exemplar for young journalists. I see Amanpour a bit differently, but before we get there, let's see what she has to say about the current state of the media:

I always get emotional, but for me the reason this [defense of a free press] matters so much is because it is also about the men and women of my profession, journalists who have never left the front lines of the battle for truth.

Our fallen are not remembered at these services, but without the truth we seek, there is no democracy, only dictatorship. Without the truth we bring there is no rule of law, only anarchy and destruction. Without truth there are only lies that lead us into a dangerous fog of confusion -- not knowing which way, or whom to turn to. This dystopian nightmare is especially acute today.

Every year, many among us are wounded and killed in this great battle. Just a few months ago, in Malta, a fearless reporter named Daphne Caruana Galizia was blown up in an attack usually reserved only for war zone: an improvised explosive device, or IED. Imagine that for a moment. She was an equal opportunity, anti-corruption investigative journalist, targeting both the government and the opposition. Her last post included the immortal words: "There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate."

Half an hour later she was blown to smithereens by a car bomb. Outside her home. In Europe. Think about it: In Europe.

It shouldn't, but it does, seem so much more unacceptable than the arrest and murder of our colleagues and the assault on free speech among the usual suspects: This all proceeds apace in Turkey, Russia, Mexico, Philippines, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, Myanmar, and the list goes on.

When journalists are not being killed in cold blood, they are staggering under the weight of censorship and spurious legal action.

And this assault on truth and facts has now traveled all the way to the land of the First Amendment, the constitutionally free press, the Fourth Estate.

In the year since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America, he and his cohorts have used "fake news" as the political weapon with which to bludgeon us into submission.

We will not surrender nor bow, but our heads are bloodied.

Where to begin?

Last time I checked, not a single national journalist in the USA has been "killed" or "bloodied" or "censored" or "arrested" over the past year. Not a single "journalist" has been jailed for unfair or even hysterical criticism of the Trump administration. Nor will they be.

But like Amanpour, far too many journalists get the vapors when their targets push back. When their biased and often dishonest reporting is criticized. When their purposeful omissions (skewing a story to fit their narrative) are noted. When their editorial comments creep into straight new reporting. When they act as shills for certain politicians and parties and attack dogs against the opposing side? When they skew their reporting. When they purposely decide not to investigate stories that might hurt their chosen political parties, while at the same time spending inordinate amounts of time and energy on evidence-free stories that will hurt those they dislike. When they define "truth" in their own biased terms. When they turn their media organizations into something close to Pravda. And yes ... when they knowingly and enthusiastically promote "fake news" as long as it supports their chosen political narrative.

It's ironic that "journalists" are fearless in their criticism of those they don't like, correctly demanding that they have both the right and the constitutional protections to do so. At the same time, they are amazingly thin-skinned when criticism of their approach, methods, and "reporting" is directed at them. They don't like it one bit, and like Amanpour, whine about being "bludgeon[ed] into .. submission."