Leftist Media Points Fingers in a Hall of Mirrors

Stuck in the first stage of grief.

In the latest chapter of the Fourth Estate’s blatant disregard of the obvious, legacy outlets have turned denial into blame and reinforced the tedious narrative that the president is manipulating the media, all while ignoring their track record and dismissing the existence of Antifa. Yet no matter how many left-leaning journalists continue to claim Antifa is an ideology and not an organization, the anti-fascist group will not just disappear. So the president recently invited a handful of independent journalists to the White House to discuss the ongoing violence committed by the far-left radicals in some of the nation’s largest cities. Much of the Fourth Estate saw this exclusive meeting as Trump trying to manipulate the media to build a narrative around his mission to take down what the administration now deems a domestic terrorist organization. This is all routine for these outlets. The plot thickens, but the strategy remains the same.

Legacy Media’s Glass House

Ever since Trump let a slew of independent journalists and conservative reporters into the press briefing room, leftists have been aghast. “Trump has marshaled the levers of government,” explained The Washington Post in an article rebuking the president’s handling of the media following the recent roundtable about Antifa. The chief executive is apparently looking “to punish outlets and reporters he deems overly critical while finding ways to integrate a new genre of friendly reporters into curated presentations that have the look and feel of news — even if they essentially serve as extensions of his policy pitches.”

The Post’s article went on to accuse Trump of “exploiting public mistrust” to “manipulate public perceptions” and using the media as “props,” claiming reporters from mainstream organizations were “silent foils and heels to be disparaged and critiqued.” But what did the media expect? Many legacy outlets have manufactured or capitalized on any opportunity to make Trump look bad. They have often diminished his victories, manufactured outrage, and removed vital context from his sentences. Several have published hit pieces over the years that turned out to be completely false, yet the hoaxes and smear campaigns keep coming. Some might say he has earned the right to criticize leftist media.

As for “props” and manipulating public perception, perhaps somebody should hit rewind and remind the left how the previous president handled press briefings and news conferences.

Side B

Back when President Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack,” he was caught using a cheat sheet during a White House news conference in 2023. No, it was more than a cheat sheet. The notecard he was photographed holding clearly directed him to call on a Los Angeles Times reporter and included, under the text “question #1,” a picture of the journalist, her name, how to pronounce it, the subject of the question (“Foreign Policy/Semiconductor Manufacturing”), and, of course, the question: “How are YOU squaring YOUR domestic priorities — like reshoring semiconductors manufacturing — with alliance-based foreign policy?” The Fourth Estate dismissed this incident. It was just “one of the dirty little secrets of presidential news conferences,” explained The Post at the time. “They’re less spontaneous and freewheeling than they appear to be, with a fair amount of stage managing behind them.” Is that so?

Now, remember how upset the left was when Trump flung open the doors to the press briefing room and allowed more diverse voices inside? Well, the Biden administration modified its rules to become eligible for permanent press passes about a month or so after he was caught with a cheat sheet. More than 400 reporters lost their credentials. One of the stipulations of the new policy was that it required reporters to provide proof they were employed with “an organization whose principal business is news dissemination,” which sounds legit on the surface, but who decides where the line is drawn between hobby and “principal business”? What qualifies as “news dissemination”? Daily Signal reporter Fred Lucas lost his hard pass during this culling, and even he wasn’t sure why.

“They’ve completely politicized the process,” said Lucas in a 2023 interview with Mark Guiney of The Heritage Foundation. “And [it] has disproportionately hit conservative news outlets.” Imagine that.

So, just to recap, Biden acquiring reporters’ questions ahead of time and carrying cheat sheets was nothing out of the ordinary. Antifa is not an organization and has no leaders despite its reported ability to organize, obtain funding, and show up in the same places at the same times. Conservative journalists only exist as an extension of the 47th president. Trump choosing which reporters to cover him is manipulative, but when Biden removed conservative voices from the press pool, he was … what? just doing his job?

Maybe the Fourth Estate only knows how to be a mouthpiece for elected Democrats and an obstacle for Republicans. Either way, truth seems far from its reach. Perhaps all the denial is just a symptom of its grief while watching its demise.