NewsBusters Podcast: Network Valentines for Jack Smith and Liz Cheney

October 4th, 2024 10:38 PM

The network newscasts could hardly restrain themselves from gleefully reporting on special counsel Jack Smith's latest anti-Trump dump of a document. They dearly loved Liz Cheney, the "hardcore Republican," campaigning with Harris. But they wouldn't touch claims that Kamala's husband Doug Emhoff slapped a girlfriend silly.

Leftist journalists love to define Cheney as a staunch conservative, when no staunch conservative would endorse a candidate who landed to the left of Bernie Sanders during her Senate career.

We're clearly in October of an election year, because the shamelessness quotient of the double standards is rising. It's time for dramatic bias by commission against the Republicans, and bias by omission for the Democrats. 

NBC enjoyed starting its show with bold type proclaiming "SPECIAL COUNSEL: TRUMP 'RESORTED TO CRIMES,'" alleged crimes that have not gone to trial. These were press releases for Jack Smith. ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and PBS combined for more than 38 breathless minutes on that “bombshell.” This is an "October Surprise," designed to be exploited by Democrats not only in the presidential race, but in congressional contests as well.

The Justice Department has traditionally had a "60 day rule" to avoid making prosecutorial actions that could influence the election. Lester Holt asked reporter Ken Dilanian about this 60-day rule, and Dilanian said sure, but it didn't matter because Obama-appointed judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the Smith packet. But the networks never talk about who is appointed by Obama, and who is appointed by Biden. If a Trump-appointed judge was involved, they'd all howl about that.

The biggest joke of the last four years is that the Biden Justice Department is apolitical, nonpartisan, pure as fluffy virgin snow. Elect Donald Trump, and suddenly the DOJ transforms from apolitical to extremely political. They present Jack Smith as nonpartisan, despite all evidence to the contrary.

We saw the same thing two months ago, when Smith launched what they called a superseding indictment of Trump. ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS all made it Story #1 on Tuesday night. The Big Three provided 11 minutes, 22 seconds of hype at night. PBS offered another four minutes and 36 seconds, and so that adds up to  15 minutes, 58 seconds. The three networks offered another 12 minutes in the morning. It sounds like a press release, with an outburst or two of protest from Trump as the only opposing soundbites. They think Trump is such a horrible liar that he is the ideal (and only) person whose comment is included. Other Republicans or academic experts are not consulted. 

Then there's bias by omission. London’s Daily Mail offered an anonymous accuser who claimed she was a girlfriend of Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff when he violently slapped her face in 2012 after an event at the Cannes Film Festival in France. An allegation like that should have a name and a face before it becomes a big story. (Emhoff denied it.) ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and PBS skipped it. This came just days after Jen Psaki performed a big puffy party of an interview with Emhoff, painting him as a new role model of masculinity. He’s "reshaping masculinity."

This caution is not always the case. On Halloween night in 2011, Politico reported that when then-Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain headed the National Restaurant Association, it settled two sexual harassment lawsuits. Citing unnamed sources, Politico reported two unnamed women alleged Cain was guilty of conversations “of a sexually suggestive nature.” Back then, ABC, CBS, and NBC combined for 84 stories on the allegations against Cain before the media would or could identify an accuser with a name or a face. That’s one of those stunning facts that remains stunning.

Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.