Media Bias

Most people probably get it (at long last), but in case anyone does not, the bias of the establishment news media continues to be conspicuous. The following comments are not designed to endorse any political candidate—just to expose what the mainstream media does. In the Republican Debate on October 28th, Ted Cruz told the CNBC moderators that the kinds of questions they were asking were the reason that Americans didn’t trust the media. He was right; the hosts were asking questions that were argumentative, hostile, and just plain ridiculous—“Do you play fantasy football?”

Nine days later the Politico came out with an attack on Ben Carson. Almost anyone who read the book, Gifted Hands, or saw the movie knew immediately the unjust nature of the attack, but the Politico thought it would have enough credibility to call into question Dr. Carson’s integrity. In fact, “news” sources have challenged the candidate on three things in his book—his violent temper, his invitation to attend West Point, and the bogus test.

West Point

In his senior year of high school, the youthful Ben Carson sought and attained the highest ROTC rank in the Detroit area. Subsequently, he was introduced to General Westmoreland, who indicated to him that he could have a scholarship (all expenses paid) if he decided to go to West Point. He was grateful for the informal offer but had already determined that medicine was the field he wanted to go into. Thus, he did not pursue a military career and never applied to West Point. That’s basically it. Nothing is particularly incredible about the story. Why wouldn’t the military be interested in someone who had attained such an exalted position? And if the general knew of Carson’s economic background, such an offer would be natural.

But apparently some in the news media do not like the former neurosurgeon. The Politico released a story on Friday, November 6th, that Ben Carson “fabricated” the story. Later they said he had implied he applied to West Point. Those who read the book know that he implied no such thing. This is sloppy journalism at best and character assassination at worst. The Politico offered no proof of fabrication except to say that West Point had no record of Carson’s ever being there. In the popular vernacular, “Well, duh.” Of course they have no record of his being there and no record of an application, since he made it clear that he never applied. These tactics apparently pass for journalism these days. When Carson’s campaign reaffirmed that the candidate had never said he had applied or attended there, then the headline became, “Carson Admits He Lied.” NO. Nothing changed. Since when is affirming the truth already spoken admitting a lie? The Politico is the one who got it wrong. They have yet to offer any proof to the contrary.

Other news outlets, instead of examining the book in order to see if the Politico got it right just assumed they did and jumped on the bandwagon. Soon headlines were flying out all over America, including the New York Times, that Carson had lied. Really? Doesn’t a newspaper that large have even one cub reporter who could check facts? This is the reason that major news outlets cannot be trusted. No one can excuse this treatment of a serious presidential candidate.

Temper

The second bit of information being challenged is the temper young Ben had as a teenager. He once threatened his own mother (which she confirmed in a 1997 Parade Magazine article), which was abnormal; he idolized her. He also stabbed another teen (a relative). Fortunately, the blade hit the lad’s belt buckle. Ben was so ashamed of these actions that he prayed to God to overcome his temper, which he did. Oh, but someone “investigated” and could not corroborate the incident with the attempted stabbing. To hear the news media tell it, one would think that Carson had said he was in fights all the time. Yet, he never said that he had a violent youth. These were two isolated incidents—one of which caused him to see how his actions could have ruined his life, which scared him.

Since the news media could not find any evidence of this loss of temper, they concluded that Carson had made the story up. Now isn’t that rich? Most people would have hidden this dark side about themselves, but Dr. Carson included it and gets accused of making it up. If he had not mentioned it, and the press had discovered it, they would have said, “You failed to tell us that your childhood was not perfect.” Is there any way to win with an antagonistic news media? In this instance, since they could not locate the kid who was attacked (after roughly 40 years), they have assumed the incident did not occur and have accused him of inventing it. As Rush Limbaugh observed, “Since when did a lack of evidence constitute evidence?” Right. The news media says, “We couldn’t find evidence for it; so that proves it was a lie.” That is nonsense.

The Test

One other incident reported in Gifted Hands was the fake test that Ben took for a Psychology class. The students were told that their recent exam papers had been burned in a fire and that they were to report to a room to take the exam again. As the students began the test, they noticed something strange. One student said aloud, “Are they kidding?” Ben said that he could not believe the questions, either. “…they were so intricate that I figured a brilliant psychiatrist might have trouble with some of them” (86). Students began to leave; they decided to study more for the test and pretend they had not been notified of the retake.

Within a few minutes, half of the class had left. He says he kept wondering, “How can they expect us to know this stuff?” (87). Within a half hour of the test beginning, Ben was the only student left. The professor (possibly a Teaching Assistant) entered the room with a photographer and took his picture. She told the struggling student that the whole thing was a hoax. They just wanted to see who was the most honest person in the class, after which she gave him a ten dollar bill (which he really needed) (87).

The news media glommed onto this event as an invention. And they might have gotten away with it—except that someone came forward to verify that it really did occur. Actually, however, it was a double hoax. A few students made up the whole thing as a prank, but the fake test was given, as well as the $10. What if no one had verified the story? The news media would have used that as “proof” that it never happened.

No wonder people do not trust the media! Why would they attack a candidate with so little to go on? The media had to be drawn in, kicking and screaming in protest when there was actual evidence against John Edwards and what he was doing. They did not want to expose him, however, because he was liberal, like they are. Carson happens to be conservative, however, and it is usually open season on them. Whether Carson would make a good president or not remains to be seen, but the public knows that he is a person of honor and integrity. Maybe that’s the reason the media despise him. He possesses what they lack.

Vetting

Dr. Carson said on Tuesday, November 10th, that he did not mind being vetted; he thought that all candidates should be. They should not, however, be misrepresented or lied about. But since he brought the subject up, and the news media has been scrutinizing his entire life, we might ask the question, “Why did they not do that for Barack Hussein Obama?” For a number of years he refused to show anyone his birth certificate. It took Donald Trump offering $5 million dollars (to be given to Obama’s favorite charity) to see what nation of birth was on his application for college (which he later raised to $50 million). Obama refused to do so.

But why should an eccentric billionaire have to make such an offer? Why didn’t the press do their job and find out? If Obama refused, why did they not constantly bring it up? His college records have never been revealed. Why did he refuse to do so, and why did the press show no interest in finding out? What interest has the media ever shown regarding the way Obama obtained his house in Chicago? What did they ever tell us about Jeremiah Wright? All of that information came through Talk Radio and Fox News. The mainstream media wouldn’t touch it until they had to. And when quotes from Wright surfaced (remember when he said, “God d___ America”?), why did the media let Obama get by with the flimsy excuse, “I never heard him say such things”? Why did the press not say to candidate Obama, “Really? You were a member of his congregation for twenty years, and you never heard rhetoric like that?” That would be like someone attending here for twenty years and claiming, “I never heard Summers say that there was only one church.”

Dozens of other examples could be cited. But one in particular stands out—one between Tom Brokaw and Charlie Rose. The montage reported below is from October 30, 2008—just days before Obama was elected to his first term. Both the clips and the transcript can be found on the Internet.

ROSE: I don't know what Barack Obama's worldview is.

BROKAW: No, I don't, either.

ROSE: I don't know how he really sees where China is.

BROKAW: We don't know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.

ROSE: I don't really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?

BROKAW: Yeah, it's an interesting question.

ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and trough very aspirational (sic) speeches.

BROKAW: Two of them! I don't know what books he's read.

ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?

BROKAW: There's a lot about him we don't know.

Question: “Why, Tom and Charlie, didn’t you scrutinize Obama the way you do Republican candidates?” Why did you not bother to find out whether Obama was born in Kenya or Hawaii when he was still a candidate? Why didn’t you ask about his grades in college? Why didn’t you find out who Jeremiah Wright was? These are rather simple, concrete things to discover. But when it comes to Ben Carson, you can’t find the kid that he claims to have knifed, and that constitutes proof that he lied?

And while we are at it, why do the mainstream media types give Hillary Clinton a pass on Benghazi? A United States ambassador was killed for the first time since 1979, and the press basically yawned. She acknowledged to her daughter that it was a terrorist attack the night it occurred but publically blamed it on a video—knowing that it was not true. As Ben Carson said in the November 10th debate: “Where I came from, they call that a lie.” This is not an alleged lie, but an actual one.

It is obvious that “journalists” are frequently prejudiced. They decry racial prejudice (and rightly so.) They try expose gender bias and support homosexual causes, but their own bias is just as bad and dangerous for society as the others are. In large measure they do not even try to hide it anymore; it was obvious to anyone who watched the CNBC-hosted debate in October. The Bible says: “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Pr. 17:15). “It is not good to show partiality in judgment” (Pr. 24:23). We should all be careful to evaluate what is presented from every news source.