CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter jumped on conservative commentator Michelle Malkin during a discussion on media bias Tuesday night at the Paley Center for Media in New York.
The unexpected pouncing was triggered by Malkin criticizing the late Cokie Roberts — a longtime journalist who died earlier that morning — over her history of fake news.
Watch:
“President Trump did not invent the concept of fake news. Cokie Roberts, of course, passed away today, and God bless her for an incredible career that she had, but I distinctly remember that she was one of the first guilty culprits of fake news,” she bluntly said.
This prompted Stelter to angrily interrupt, “Are we doing this today? We’re doing this today? You’re attacking her today? I just want to be clear. The body’s not cold yet.”
“Yes we are doing this today because it is pertinent to the discussion about fake news and media bias,” Malkin responded to Stelter at the panel discussion Tuesday.
“1994, covering the State of the Union address of Bill Clinton, she was ordered by [then-ABC News producer] Rick Kaplan — because she was not in the actual building where the speech was delivered — to stand in front of a simulation of the Capitol and put on a coat to pretend she was outside to do a live shot.”
“She couldn’t be there because she was doing a speaking engagement, and only after they were called out by Variety did they acknowledge that it was an error, a mistake,” when this was a deliberate attempt to deceive the viewing public into thinking that she was actually there live covering it. Fake news has existed far before President Trump even had the idea of running for office.”
“ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts and a producer were reprimanded for faking an outdoor shot at Capitol Hill,” the Orlando Sentinel reported at the time.
“Roberts was seen standing in front of the Capitol wearing an overcoat. Roberts, apparently pressed for time, did the standup from a studio a few blocks away. Roberts didn’t return telephone calls Tuesday. However, Roberts told The Washington Post, ‘I made a mistake.'”
Everybody makes mistakes. In Roberts’ case, she actually made many of them.
Two years ago she suggested that allegedly lower-class republican women would still support then-Alabama congressional candidate Roy Moore, despite accusations of sexual harassment and assault, because they were essentially OK with such behavior.
Ironically, that same year Roberts admitted that she and other members of the media had been aware of since-resigned Rep. John Conyers’ sexual misconduct “for years” but had chosen to stay silent about it.
“I mean, we all talked about [it] for years. … Don’t get in the elevator with him, you know, and the whole every female in the press corps knew that, right, don’t get in an elevator with him,” she said. “Now people are saying it out loud.”
Listen:
ABC’s Cokie Roberts admits that she and all the other women in the press knew about Democrat Rep. John Conyers.
Why didn’t they ever say anything?? pic.twitter.com/lJiLYqaTgB
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 28, 2017
Malkin received praise on social media from some not only for the Roberts remark but for her other statements as well.
Look:
Yeah, we’re doing this every day, ?.@michellemalkin https://t.co/eWq2qAVxjn
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) September 18, 2019
“Hell yes,” to Kurt. And we won’t stop even after we win it all.
“Damn right,” to Michelle Malkin. She is 100% correct. I couldn’t stand Cokie Roberts for this reason. She was a Dem partisan first and foremost.
— Stanch 24/7 (@Stanch247) September 18, 2019
Michelle Malkin speaking directly to CNN’s Brian Stelter: “I’m old enough to remember when you were just a blogger begging me for links.”
You are incredibly fearless @michellemalkin and I respect you!!! pic.twitter.com/sAWpZiZzGO
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) September 18, 2019
.@michellemalkin: Many who work in legacy or left-wing media actively work to delegitimize journalists perceived to be “conservative” as a way to silence & deplatform them. It’s partisan activism pretending to be journalistic gatekeeping. pic.twitter.com/M6GdMe22BE
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 18, 2019
Note also how Malkin had kept her criticism polite and respectful. The same may not be said of the monstrous people, some of them with blue checks marks, who responded to her polite criticism with psychotic rage.
Look (*Language warning):
I’d almost forgotten about Michelle Malkin so it’s good to see she hasn’t changed and is still absolute garbage pic.twitter.com/vKrqytsjQL
— shauna (@goldengateblond) September 17, 2019
@michellemalkin Hater of immigrants – and daughter of same- is a pathetic excuse for a human being. She attacks #CokieRoberts on the day of her death because she is desperate for relevance and intelligent ideas. Go straight to hell you despicable person.
— David Hudgins (@DavidHudgins3) September 18, 2019
What a cold hearted miserable person you are. I can’t wait to see what people say about you on the day you die! Hint, it won’t be nice!
Try and be better! Do good things, be less evil!
— Alain Gagnon?? (@AlainGagnon1959) September 18, 2019
When @michellemalkin dies literally no one is going to give a damn, and certainly no one is going to mention her name on a panel unless it’s followed by a chuckle and a slight shaking of the head before the convo moves on to more interesting topics, like the diff b/t 4k and 8k
— Matt Luckett (@LuckettDr) September 18, 2019
When @michellemalkin dies, no one will bother reading, much less writing, articles about her crass and useless existence on this Earth.
— Marius Meland (@MariusMelandNYC) September 18, 2019
@michellemalkin I only wish you would actually be alive after you die so you can hear everyone rip you to shreds for the repulsive person you were. Oh hell, let’s just do it while you’re still here. They always say don’t wait until someone’s gone to tell them how you really feel.
— CJLais (@CJLais) September 18, 2019
This standard that the recently dead shouldn’t be criticized certainly hasn’t been practiced by Stelter’s peers in the demonstrably left-wing, partisan mainstream media.
Following the passage of billionaire philanthropist David Koch last month from prostate cancer, some members of the left-wing media trashed his legacy and even celebrated his death:
David Koch is dead. Forget the fawning obituaries: the man spent his life funding campaigns to dismantle unions, drive down wages, slash benefits and destroy the planet. He was a monument to the grotesque greed of the billionaire class – and why we need to defeat them.
— Ronan Burtenshaw (@ronanburtenshaw) August 23, 2019
David Koch was one of the biggest polluters in American history, even if you disregard how he used his billions in politics to ruin the country and spread bile and venom. He’s dead? Oh well.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) August 23, 2019
David Koch is in hell with Thatcher and Savile
— Dean Van Nguyen (@deanvannguyen) August 23, 2019
David Koch wanted to abolish public schools, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and rent control. He financed groups that denied the research on climate change. He funded the Tea Party. And he used dark money to support right-wing causes and Republican candidates for office. https://t.co/x08wiaOh9p
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 23, 2019
The latter media member, Keith Boykin, is Stelter’s colleague at CNN.
The fact that the same type of far-leftists who’d celebrate the death of a conservative could then turn around and psychotically bash Malkin for politely criticizing a recently deceased left-wing reporter does seem to speak to how much cognitive dissonance exists on the left side of the political aisle.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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