Poor Journalistic Ethics

 From Mark Judge at Hot Air:

The Kavanaugh nightmare was an oppo research political hit that had been set up weeks earlier. Ben Shapiro might think he is wrecking Ford’s argument by saying she “couldn’t name any of the people at the party.” However, it is a far worse thing to name people you are using and threatening to promote a fake story. That’s a plot. That’s extortion. And that’s witness tampering. Harris was involved in all of this with Ford, and Ben Shapiro ought to have said so. Leftist journalism is wretched, we all know that. Conservative journalism needs to do better. Shapiro should have consulted me for his story. Indeed, he had every opportunity to do so.

    It’s painful to say because I loathe the mainstream media so much, but journalistic malpractice is also killing conservative journalism. Despite my being near the center of the Kavanaugh blast, several conservative outlets did not review my book about the experience or show any interest in an interview. Even conservative journalists who were writing books about Kavanaugh did not bother to contact me. One of the few conservative outlets that did review my book The Devil’s Triangle managed to, as one of my childhood friends put it, “get you and us exactly, 100% wrong.” How can we scold the liberal media when our side is doing such a poor job?

    In the last thirty years, it has been rewarding watching the rise of conservative media and how it challenges the narratives of fake news. Yet to truly replace them, we need to do better. Otherwise, the Tucker debacle is just the beginning. (Read more.)

From Bethel McGrew at Further Up:

I used to have a casual liking for Carlson, but I was on to his schtick as of a few years ago. The penny-dropping moment for me was the way he covered the Russia-Ukraine war. It just became clear all at once that this was a guy with a special gift for telling his viewers what they want to hear, artfully mixed with just enough truth to make it halfway plausible. And yet, even in that very year, as my friend Brandon Showalter explains in an illuminating thread, Carlson was continuing to do important work on issues like the transgender crisis. He had the power to make real truth-tellers and whistle-blowers feel a little less lonely. One can see why he was viewed as a conservative ally.

But over time, in an arc also summarized in Ben Shapiro’s take on this whole affair, it became progressively clear what Carlson’s personal priorities were, who he hated most, and who he was willing to whitewash. Some people had their lightbulb moment when he sucked up to Vladimir Putin, others when he sucked up to the president of Iran, still others when he sucked up to Andrew Tate. Some noticed that he didn’t just welcome fair-minded criticism of Israeli policy, but outright Hamas propaganda. All blended together and served up to a rapidly growing audience, with the enticing hook that this was the secret knowledge THEY didn’t want you to know. And who are THEY? Well…you know. THEM.

All this and more renders thoroughly unimpressive Kevin Roberts’s attempt to triangulate by hastening to clarify that he thinks Fuentes is bad while double-triple-quadrupling down on his blind loyalty to Tucker. In an interview, he fussed and pouted that we just weren’t ready for “a little bit of nuance.” And in his Hillsdale speech last night, he asked us all to understand that he was just trying to help the young men who are turning to Fuentes and falling for anti-Semitism. Of course, if he is under the impression that Carlson is a good-faith partner in that endeavor, then he’s either stupid or disingenuous. Which is why, as I write, the think tank is quickly hemorrhaging members of its anti-Semitic task force, who won’t be looking back until there is either a recantation or turnover. Meanwhile, the staffer who (it appears) wrote Roberts’s speech has resigned, after Roberts “reassigned” him to think tank Siberia in “housing policy” amid the backlash. I personally don’t see it as a sign of strong leadership to make subordinates take your L in such times. Other people’s mileage may vary. (Read more.)