By Derek Hunter
Journalism is dead. It wasnt murder or old age it was suicide. Journalism died after drinking a cocktail of contempt arrogance ignorance and enough narrative to kill a whale. Its corpse rolls on meeting deadlines publishing stories and forming cable news panels continuing to extol the virtues of the poisons that killed it. They deserve your skepticism and your contempt.
The latest nail in the medias credibility coffin landed Friday night. It was a bombshell story that declared President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter."
Subornation of perjury is a serious allegation for a news" organization to make. At least it has become one in the years since Bill Clinton actually did it with Monica Lewinsky and Democrats didnt care (its amazing what a difference party membership makes). If true talking heads exclaimed this would be grounds for impeachment of the President.
A second after Buzzfeed the glorified blog known mostly for clickbait listicles and cat videos published the allegations all presses were stopped. Newspapers and networks sent their reporters on a quest to verify the story based on anonymous sources for themselves. They couldnt.
Normally if journalism were still a profession with standards this bombshell" wouldnt warrant more than a mention unless and until it was able to be corroborated by someone even an anonymous someone by the other organizations. You cant report on someone elses anonymous reporting if you cant get anyone to back it up. But these arent normal times.
Every outlet ran the story adding a casual mention of not having (yet) been able to independently verify" it for themselves. A mere formality; it had to be true after all it was a story about Donald Trump painting him as a criminal the top item on Christmas lists in newsrooms from coast to coast.
All of Friday was consumed by this story and its implications.
Meanwhile no one was able to verify any of it.
The two reporters who broke" the story were immediately booked on cable news to be celebrated as conquering heroes. And they immediately contradicted each other on the crucial question of whether or not theyd actually seen documents proving their story with their own eyes.
When CNN asked if hed seen the proof himself one reporter named Anthony Cormier said No I have not seen it personally. But the folks we have talked to -- two officials we have spoken to are fully 100 read it to that aspect of the special counsels investigation."
The other reporters named Jason Leopold was asked on MSNBC about his partners admission and responded Over the course of a year weve reported pretty extensively on the Trump Moscow project and we have been -- Ill just say that weve seen documents weve been briefed on documents. Were very confident in our reporting."
One said they hadnt seen any proof themselves the other said they did. It cant be both.
No one took a knee when those flags were raised they all saluted and continued an endless series of hypothetical discussions predicated on a story no one at any news organization could back up. Id be shocked if several of the participants didnt win Pulitzer Prizes.
Journalism went to Hell courtesy of what its practitioners view as its shining moment Watergate and it hasnt looked back since.
As I wrote in my book Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein made an untold fortune were played in a movie by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were showered with awards and sent many journalists running down the path of fame rather than truth. And fame is the only thing heroin gets addicted to. The thing was Woodward and Bernstein were real journalists. They reported a real story of corruption worked sources uncovered information checked their facts and got the story right. In other words they earned their accolades. Today too many journalists arent interested in doing the work they just want the rewards."
And there is a lifetime of rewards awaiting whoever claims the scalp under the golden coiffed locks resting atop Donald Trumps head. Its pursuit has perverted the profession more than anything before it and this time they thought they had it.
Late in the evening on Friday in an extremely rare move Special Counsel Robert Muellers office broke their long-standing silence to issue a statement on the story a strong statement of denial. BuzzFeeds description of specific statements to the Special Counsels Office and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office regarding Michael Cohens Congressional testimony are not accurate" the statement read.
Mueller could have remained silent could have let the story peter out the way so many others have but he didnt. He drove a stake through its heart rendering the entire days news cycle yet another fake news fever dream.
How this whole Mueller investigation ultimately plays out is anyones guess anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. But how its played out for the media is laid bare for the whole world to see. CNNs Chris Cuomo put it perfectly when he said Mueller didnt do the media any favors tonight and he did do the president one because…this allows them to say You cant believe it. You cant believe what you read you cant believe what you hear."
No Mueller didnt do the media any favors; its not his job to take the medias side. Its not the job of the media to have a side or course. If journalists worry so much about their reputation maybe they should try to remember that because the rest of us sure will.
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