CNN’s Brian Stelter, a man whose program often relies on hyperbole, speculation and selective omitting and reporting, was kept honest on Sunday by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, of all people.
Karl joined Stelter on his weekly show, “Reliable Sources,” as did other left-wing reporters, to speak about Biden’s first formal solo media briefing. Stelter threw what appeared to be empty praise on ABC News White House correspondent Cecilia Vega over her questioning of Biden about the border crisis last week.
But Stelter framed the discussion as being one where Biden was cornered into being asked about his crisis by a reporter who was using conservative talking points.
Prior to Karl joining the show, Stelter, Greg Sargent of The Washington Post and Salon reporter Amanda Marcotte had argued that tough questions directed at Biden were driven by pressure from conservative-leaning news outlets.
“That is how right-wing narratives trickle into the rest of the press and they divert attention,” Stelter stated, singling out Fox News for demanding answers about the border.
Karl joined and shot down Stelter, reminding him that questions about the border crisis are valid.
“Watching from home, I would’ve liked to have seen, you know, more questions, certainly questions on COVID. But there were good questions asked,” Karl told Stelter. “You pointed to Cecilia Vega. I think that’s incredibly valuable. That is not ‘right-wing talking points.’”
“Cecilia had just been at the border, she had just talked to migrants who had come over — including some that said point-blank that they had come because they thought they would have better treatment now that Joe Biden was president. That’s a legitimate question to put to the president and I thought that his answer was one of the more interesting moments in that press conference.”
Vega did ask Biden some pointed questions.
Pres. Biden to @CeciliaVega: “The idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, that when an unaccompanied child ends up at the border we’re just going to let them starve to death…No previous administration did that either—except Trump. I’m not going to do it.” pic.twitter.com/aKIt77f7bP
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 25, 2021
ABC News used its reporters, including Karl, throughout Donald Trump’s presidency to shape narratives against the former commander-in-chief. This past year, their job was to protect the candidacy of then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
But now Biden and company are running the country. After two months, they’ve diminished their standing on the world stage while adopting a stance that has encouraged unchecked illegal border crossings.
Through bad policy, Biden has created a humanitarian crisis at the country’s southern border. Children, most of whom arguably did not come here without being motivated to do so by adults, are now being stuffed by the thousands into cramped living quarters. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to the crisis.
Vega and ABC News have correctly done their jobs in this instance by covering the crisis, even if they’re still abhorrent. The network’s left-wing reporters have shown, like reporters from some other legacy media organizations, that they are at least interested in uncovering the truth with regard to child migrant living conditions — which is no right-wing conspiracy.
Stelter, meanwhile, finds him himself isolated as one of few people whose mission is solely to protect Biden from himself and insulate his every failing from CNN’s viewers.
The mainstream media, which no longer serves the interests of the country at large, operates inside an echo chamber. Stelter, who laughably poses as a journalist, is so far inside his own echo chamber that he has resorted to attacking the idea of reporters keeping the government honest.
Story cited here.
