The Media’s Failure
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Jill Abramson gives her 2 cents…
The View from Jill Abramson
It’s clear the best news reporters in Washington have failed in the first duty of journalism: to hold power accountable. It is our duty to poke through White House smoke screens and find out the truth. The Biden White House clearly succeeded in a massive cover-up of the degree of the President’s feebleness and his serious physical decline, which may be simply the result of old age. Shame on the White House press corps for not to have pierced the veil of secrecy surrounding the President.Obviously, the President’s decline was a super hard story to report, even by those who wanted to get it, like the WSJ. Their story did not deliver, using mostly named GOP sources.
But I do think if enough reporters had pushed, the story was reportable. I worry that too many journalists didn’t try to get the story because they did not want to be accused of helping elect Donald Trump. I get that.
But this is no excuse for abandoning our first duty, which is to report the truth and hold power accountable. President Biden should be held accountable for his obvious lapses of mental acuity, even if there are periods of lucidity.
It is simply astounding for the entire country, including its most seasoned reporters, to be as shocked as everyone was by the ugly and painful reality of Biden’s debate performance.
And it is laughable and immoral for Democrats to blame the press now for over-reacting to that reality. The reports of how bad Biden was are certainly not exaggerated. Nor are the reports of Democrats in panic.
Jill Abramson was executive editor of the New York Times from 2011 to 2014.
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Exactly what I was saying. Now they are on the noble crusade to make sure he's not the candidate - but only after they figured out that everyone else knew too.
By eliminating the candidate that won the primaries fair and square they are now defending democracy. Disgusting.
