By Henry Fowler, Stevensville
There has been no better proof of the bias and corruption of the “fake news” mainstream media (MSM) than the recent controversy concerning high school students from Covington Catholic School in Kentucky while visiting Washington, D.C. All you need to do is compare the MSM coverage of the incident with what actually happened as shown by videos of the whole episode (see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3EC1_gcr34). The videos show the Covington students peacefully waiting for their bus at the Lincoln Memorial after participating in the March for Life demonstration. They were approached by members of the Black Hebrew Israelites who threatened and taunted the students. Then a small group of American Indians led by Nathan Phillips approached the students. Instead of walking to the Memorial as he told reporters that he wanted to do and that he was able to do, Phillips walked straight to the group of students and banged his tom-tom in the face of one of them. With all the cameras behind him, it appears that he wanted to provoke a reaction. Instead, he just got smiles and laughter. The students were obviously nervous, uncomfortable, and overwhelmed by the situation but they did nothing wrong. They certainly didn’t deserve the hateful messages and threats that they have received.
Why did the MSM rush to judgment and portray the students in such negative light without looking at the larger context of what happened or getting the other side of the story? (Mr. Phillips lied about the incident.) Why the total lack of adherence to basic journalistic standards? In the words of Joy Behar, “Because we’re desperate to get Trump out of office. That’s why.” The truth is revealed! The tabloidization of the MSM’s political journalism has one goal – get President Trump out of office by any means necessary. Because some of the students, including the one targeted by Mr. Phillips, wore MAGA hats, the MSM saw an opportunity to attack the President by attacking some of his followers.
This incident, together with Buzzfeed’s publication of the false claim that President Trump told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, should be enough to convince anybody without ideological blinders that the MSM has become the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party and the never-Trumpers. This should worry everyone because political journalism adopting tabloid standards and practices is a true threat to democracy.
Democracy doesn’t die in darkness. It’s in danger in broad daylight.