Conservative CNN pundit Mary Katharine Ham slammed her network for its blatantly biased coverage in a series of Twitter posts that went viral.
Ham tweeted in response to criticism by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for saying that media coverage of the congressional baseball shooting was minimal.
“He’s arguing the shootings didn’t get much coverage? Pretty sure they were a huge story,” Haberman claimed.
She was wrong, and Ham pointed that out.
“I lived a block from the baseball field. Under 48 hours, the news vans were gone. I was on TV, live from the baseball field where they played the game a day later, after almost being canceled by mass murder, but my topic was ‘Mike Pence reportedly hired a lawyer,’” Ham tweeted. “You’re welcome to talk yourself into idea that a similar murder attempt on an entire team of Democrats would have gotten the same treatment. I think the shooting of Gabby Giffords is pretty analogous and disproves that theory. Even without that data point, it’s just not true.”
You're welcome to talk yourself into idea that a similar murder attempt on an entire team of Democrats would have gotten the same treatment. I think the shooting of Gabby Giffords is pretty analogous and disproves that theory. Even without that data point, it's just not true.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 7, 2022
Ham was by no means done, either. “And it doesn’t mean Jan. 6 doesn’t deserve coverage. Moving on after 48 hrs would be wrong for that and for Gabby Giffords! But the coverage was what it was, Scalise’s return to Congress was very sparsely covered, and the anniversary was barely mentioned,” she continued. “I checked at the time, and it is real. News vans were staked out at the home of the parents of Elizabeth Lauten, the GOP staffer who criticized Obama’s daughters on Facebook that time, for longer than they were at the practice baseball field. That’s not just a news cycle issue.”
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski thought he could prove Ham wrong, so he chimed in with a screenshot of Ham appearing on CNN at the time of the shooting.
“It looks [like] you discussed the baseball game?” he tweeted.
“Hi, Andrew. Yes, this is within 24-48 hrs that this was a story,” Ham shot back. “This segment was based on the galactically stupid Sanford contention that it was *Trump’s rhetoric* that caused it, bc of course. Pointed out Nats Park hit bc it was overlooking the game & yet not focused on this.”
Hi, Andrew. Yes, this is within 24-48 hrs that this was a story. This segment was based on the galactically stupid Sanford contention that it was *Trump’s rhetoric* that caused it, bc of course. Pointed out Nats Park hit bc it was overlooking the game & yet not focused on this. https://t.co/ilUflRJ60d
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 8, 2022
“Do you need the rest of my itinerary from that day and the day after, which again, were basically the only days this was a national story, which was my point?” Ham asked Kaczynski.
“Got jack to say about Cuomo and Toobin, but gotta fact-check me when he’s got nothing,” Ham said of Kaczynski when he failed to reply hours later.
“One jacked off in front of female colleagues and one violated every conflict of interest rule in journalism, lied about it, and got fired, but I’m the issue bc I think the Congressional baseball shooting was covered too lightly and taxes are too high,” she pointed out.
Is Ham playing with fire for so bluntly calling out her network? Will CNN respond by letting her go?
Story cited here.
