As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, CBS and NPR reporters were caught on a hot mic plotting to ensure Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be asked if he regrets scolding Barack Obama for his response to the recent anti-American hostilities in Egypt and Libya.
On Thursday's Fox & Friends, conservative author Michelle Malkin said the people involved were Obama's "tools' and "stenographers," and that this represented "an underline and exclamation point on the obituary of main stream objective news" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
GRETCHEN CARLSON, CO-HOST: Michelle, there is a lot being made right now about this sort of hot mic situation where reporters apparently were planning these sort of gotcha questions for Mitt Romney yesterday, instead of asking, you know, what would you have done differently, it was all about what he did wrong. Let's listen to that.
After playing some of the video in question, co-host Steve Doocy joined the conversation:
STEVE DOOCY, CO-HOST: So it kind of looks to us like coordination of the main stream media, and, you know, we’ve talked for a millions years on this channel about how the main stream media definitely tilts to the left. But we had Juan Williams on a little while ago, and he said, you know, sometimes reporters, and he says he's done it as well, they coordinate so that slippery politicians can't get away.
But I think that this is a different year. If you look at how carried away they got, and how they just simply couldn't help themselves as tools, as stenographers for the people currently in power, to try and embarrass the GOP candidate when the story of the day yesterday was Obama's dereliction of duty, not Mitt Romney's.
CARLSON: But two things jump out at me about that. Okay, let's say that sometimes there is coordination that goes on. I find that hard to believe having been a reporter for years. I never ascribed to that at all. But let's just say on its face that that happens. Once you ask the question that you've all agreed upon, then don't you move on to question number two? But they didn't. They asked that question six or seven times.
MALKIN: Yes. That's right. Anybody who watched that knew that this was really an underline and exclamation point on the obituary of main stream objective news.
Indeed.
Readers are also advised that the NPR correspondent involved in this disgraceful episode is the same one that on Monday refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance or stand for the National Anthem at a Romney campaign event.
NPR must be so proud of its employee.
(HT Mediaite)
