America’s corporate media are betting it all on the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, being a stand-up guy with nothing on the line. Brian Heck told reporters this week he knows of no confirmed cases of Haitian refugees eating pets. He gave a dodgy presser where he mumbled about disinformation and the like before retreating behind his filled-up answering machine.
You don’t need to date yourself with a Baghdad Bob reference to recognize a bureaucrat in way over his head. My own city councilmen will tell you over and over again there’s no crime wave in D.C., even while I had to move because my family wasn’t safe any more. And it wasn’t just me: The entire officer class of our Knights of Columbus chapter followed within a year. It was sad, and denying anything is wrong is a pathological need for the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for it.
It can’t be stated clearly enough that ‘officials said’ should never substitute for reporting.
But the reporters are betting the house anyway. It was a wonder to see CNN repeat it over and over again, like a “fact-check” Rosary, while Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) cited multiple constituent calls.
“Officials say no credible evidence for the claim!” “Officials say no credible evidence for the claim!” “Hail Brian, full of denials, CNN is with thee.”
When Vance suggested, “The media has a responsibility … to actually take people seriously when they say their lives have been ruined by this migrant crisis,” his tormenter cut him off and closed with, “Again, officials said no credible evidence for the claim,” before tossing it back to Jake Tapper. That was the final word.
It can’t be stated clearly enough that “officials said” should never substitute for reporting. Officials say a lot of things. That isn’t to say the city manager of Springfield’s word matters less than the senator of his state, but taking one and citing it as gospel when it helps your political party isn’t reporting.
And citing him (without reporting yourself) to shut down the former president (during the debate) and his running mate, and then flooding the zone on Google and Yahoo search results is a risky game to play when you’re talking about a migrant population you do not know in a town you’ve never been to, who come from literally the poorest country in the entire Western Hemisphere, where the New York Times itself reported (back in 2010) that roughly 50% to 95% of the people practice at least a little voodoo.
Do you think it’s at least possible that someone’s eating the kitties? Or is that just “racist,” like Dana Bash says?
Blaze Media has had a reporter in Springfield all week. We’re sending him back on Monday. Let’s just say we’re skeptical.
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