On Thursday, The Hill reporter Joe Concha put the media on notice. Speaking about the news that a staffer for Florida Congresswoman and former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz had been arrested trying to flee the country, he blasted the liberal media for ignoring the scandal.
Speaking on FOX Business’s Varney & Co., one of the few channels giving this breaking news airtime, Concha laid into mainstream media bulwarks, saying, “This is a story ABC and NBC decided they were not going to cover. That’s called the bias of omission, or the sin of omission. CNN and MSNBC, same deal.”
As NewsBusters reported, while neither ABC nor NBC covered the arrest of former Schultz staffer Imran Awan, CBS only gave the story 37 seconds on its Wednesday morning show.
Continuing on the clear liberal bias of the media, Concha stated: “Our media, political media, not local media or war correspondents, international reporting, financial reporting. Our political media is broken. When the story gets ignored because of party affiliation, and nothing more.”
When Host Stuart Varney went on to ask a list of valid questions on what the now-arrested former Dem staffer was doing on the computers of the multiple congressional offices he was working on, Concha quipped back, saying: “I have no idea but, I would like to play a game with you. Let's replace Debbie Wasserman Schultz with Priebus, the former RNC head, with Donald Trump Jr., or maybe Jared Kushner. Do you think ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC would be covering this story wall to wall, 24/7?”
Below is a full transcript of the July 27 segment:
Stuart Varney [Host]: Back to a very important story not covered by the media. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's tech worker was arrested while he tried to flee the country. Joe Concha is with us, media reporter for the hill. The mainstream media is finally picking up on this story. I want to know what the nitty-gritty is. Dig into it for me. What is at stake?
Joe Concha [The Hill]: At stake is a former DNC head who was ousted last summer under horrible circumstances, who hired a man who she paid 4 million dollars to, who was banned from even working with the white house or working in government, tried to flee the country. This is a story ABC and NBC decided they were not going to cover. That’s called the bias of omission, or the sin of omission. CNN and MSNBC, same deal. Our media - our political media – I’m not gonna say our local media or war correspondents, international reporting, financial reporting. political media is broken. When the story gets ignored because of party affiliation, and nothing more.
Stuart: Three Pakistani brothers including the gentleman who tried to flee and arrested on his way out of the country, three Pakistani brothers had access to Debbie Wasserman Schultz's computer system and the computer systems of eight other Democrats in the house. The implication is that the brothers were into those computers, and doing what?
Concha: I have no idea but I would like to play game with you. Let's replace Debbie Wasserman Schultz with Priebus, the former RNC head, with Donald Trump junior, or maybe Jared Kushner. Do you think ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC would be covering this story wall to wall, 24/7?
Stuart: Yes, I think they would.
Concha: That is the problem. 93% trump voters according to a Zogby poll don't trust the media. 91% of Republicans. A majority of Democrats, 57%, say coverage of Donald Trump's too negative and this is an exact example, not exactly coverage in this case but the omission. people see and say what are you doing? You are not doing your jobs political media.
Stuart: I find it fascinating and thank you for digging into this. Come back again. We have not heard the last of this.
Concha: This is only the beginning.
Stuart: Welcome back, thank you very much.
