Bad journalism
Sooner or later it catches up to you in the trust department
As a lifelong, card-carrying member of the so-called “mainstream media,” I can’t tell you how alarmed I am at the current state of journalism. Some news organizations today, I am sorry to say, shade the news to the extent it can’t be called journalism anymore. It’s advocacy. And, it’s dishonest advocacy.
If you have not read the piece by Uri Berliner entitled “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust,” I encourage you to do so.
Today, I’d like to draw your attention to Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, a 26-year-old Alabama man arrested and indicted this week on charges he detonated an IED-style bomb outside the U.S. Attorney General’s office.
NBC News reported the device “had the characteristics of an IED, and Calvert added a substantial number of nails and other shrapnel to increase its destructive capability.”
CNN reported that “if convicted, Calvert could be sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison.”
Neither of those “mainstream” reports told us much of anything about Calvert other than his age, he’s from Irondale, Alabama, and that law enforcement “alleges” he “placed stickers on state buildings ‘advocating for various political ideologies’ the night of the explosion, including stickers promoting antifa, anti-police and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement sentiments.”
To get a better, fuller picture I had to click on Blaze Media, a conservative media platform. Here’s how Blaze Media reported the indictment:
“A radical leftist was arrested Wednesday in connection with the Feb. 24 bombing outside the Republican attorney general's office in Montgomery, Alabama. Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale has been indicted on two felony counts of malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
“Calvert, an anti-Israel ‘pansexual’ and self-described engineer, apparently reckons himself part of the left-wing extremist group Antifa, which former President Donald Trump suggested in 2020 should be designated a domestic terrorist organization. Weeks ahead of the incident, Calvert showcased the same Antifa propaganda that was later found near the bomb site along with pro-abortion and LGBT agitprop.
“Prosecutors indicated that one of the stickers Calvert allegedly posted near the bomb site read, ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ANTIFA.’
“Other stickers read, ‘DEATH TO FASCISM,’ ‘MY BODY. MY CHOICE’, ‘ABOLISH ICE,’ ‘FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BECOME COPS,’ ‘EAT THE RICH,’ and ‘NEVER WORK.’
Blaze Media also referenced several social media posts in which Calvert advocated for violence.
Whoa, thanks to Blaze Media I have a better understanding about what the bombing was all about. Shame on CNN and NBC for downplayed the left-wing violence angle. They did readers a disservice. Sooner or later that catches up to you in the trust department.
ONE MORE THING
