Saturday, April 3, 2021

NPR Meekly Corrects Some Facts in Their Puff Piece on Hunter - Press Continues Debasing Themselves



That they even needed to issue a correction on news known by the rest of the country

Yesterday Bonchie covered how National Public Radio issued a lengthy PR piece on the release of Hunter Biden’s new book. In it, the publicly-funded hacks made the audacious claim that the scandal from last fall involving Hunter was disproven as a legitimate news story. Today, the outlet added a correction to their piece, and it is an astounding admission how much, as a news organization, they are corrupt/inept/compromised/biased/ineffectual. (circle any and all that may apply)

First, here was the original boast made by their reporter writer, Ron Elving.

The laptop story was discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations.”

This little dose of information came as a surprise to many, as no one had been aware this had ever taken place. The FBI is in possession of the infamous MacBook, the emails released in the news have been confirmed, and the photos seen of Hunter in various stages of sobriety and undress have required many to switch out their Visine and instead deposit Holy Water into their tear ducts. To call this story ‘’discredited’’ was itself a discrediting comment to print.

Now a correction is seen, ferreted at the base of the article. A previous version of this story said U.S. intelligence had discredited the laptop story. U.S. intelligence officials have not made a statement to that effect. Today the story sports a modified monologue, as that passage has been swapped out with a more banal explanation of things.

Numerous news organizations cast doubt on the credibility of the laptop story. 

While less fictionalized, this is still a far cry from being accurate. Most news organizations have not “cast doubt,” they have electively avoided the story outright. This includes NPR. The very reason they are in this position of having to make a significant alteration to their report has been the steadfast denial of NPR to do anything approaching investigative journalism on the story.

Last Fall, as the Hunter story was approaching acetylene levels of hot takes, NPR made the public announcement that it was boldly refusing to even entertain reporting on the story. In her public editor’s newsletter, NPR’s Kelly McBride explained why they would not touch the Hunter issue. This was their infamous ‘’We don’t want to waste time…’’ explanation, and McBride’s vacillating excuse-making is all over the map on the issue.

Intelligence officials warn that Russia has been working overtime to keep the story of Hunter Biden in the spotlight. Even if Russia can’t be positively connected to this information, the story of how Trump associates Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani came into a copy of this computer hard drive has not been verified and seems suspect. And if that story could be verified, the NY Post did no forensic work to convince consumers that the emails and photos that are the basis for their report have not been altered. 

That is a significant amount of ‘’ifs’’ to display in one paragraph, for a place stating how solid they are in their reasoning. First, she blames the story on Russian disinformation — absent anything approaching evidence. Next, she says how the laptop came into possession of Bannon and Giuliani is dubious — a classic case of shooting the messenger. Finally, she questions the veracity of the reporting by the New York Post — as she boldly insists that no reporting by her outfit would be conducted.

This was a remarkable admission by a supposed news outlet; they were declaring a refusal to report on a news story simply because they did not like the elements of that story. The ‘’sounds like Russia/we don’t like them/we cannot trust The Post’’ rebuttal was as flaccid an excuse as you can find outside of Democratic Party Headquarters. 

This is precisely the behavior in the media industry we are seeing more often. Major outlets are declaring boldly they will refrain from covering news if it shines a light poorly on the Biden administration, and they will offer up the weakest of explanations to justify their sloth. They will weasel their way out with the use of these pathetic corrections, which rarely get equal exposure, but still provide them with claims of having gotten the story correct.

These are the actions of roaches, and we need to keep flipping on the lights to make them scurry.