USA Today said it has deleted 23 articles from its website after an investigation found that the reporter who wrote them used fabricated sources. The journalist who is said to have used the fabricated sources was identified as Gabriela Miranda, a breaking news reporter who resigned from the Virginia-based newspaper weeks ago, the paper confirmed Thursday.
— New York Post, 6/16/22

One could blame this latest example of journalism malfeasance on the lazy youth, but we also know some of the experienced have fallen, and some have been allowed to get back up.

Here’s the latest tally of lying journalists provided by the self-policing media….

15 Of The Most Disgraced Journalists In The World
10 journos caught fabricating
The Top 12 Journalism Scandals Since 2000
Winner of CNN’s ‘Journalist of the Year’ Award Admits He Fabricated Stories
Journalists Who Were Caught Lying

At least one instance was immortalized….

New Republic reporter Stephen Glass was caught lying for three solid years, writing articles about events and human beings that never existed. Glass, the associate editor at the time, was fired by in the summer of 1998 and became the subject of the Hayden Christensen movie “Shattered Glass”.
— Ranker, 10/4/21

Again, these are only the instances of journalistic dishonesty we know of and that’s been reported: take their word for it.

These are the same people who believe it’s their job to tear down those who violate societal and/or political norms but when they intentionally mislead, their publications either issue muted corrections or delete pieces altogether to cover inconvenient tracks.

Being a journalist is an immense responsibility best left to those who observe classic professional ethics and proven integrity. Two qualifications that is clearly lacking today and there doesn’t appear to be much that can assure the public that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is something guaranteed to come from the media.

After three short months in 2017 serving on the National Security Council under President’s Trump National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, Rich was fired for telling the truth. He sounded the alarm on the Deep State coup to remove President Trump and of the subversives within the ranks. Rich set it all down in his famous memo – POTUS and Political Warfare. And for this, he paid for it with his job.

At the time, Rich was labeled as a “conspiracy theorist” but as events played out over the following three years, Rich has been fully vindicated.

The Memo is the riveting story of how Rich Higgins’ twenty year career fighting for America First within the bowels of the DoD and Pentagon bureaucracy enabled him to discern – well before anyone else – the Deep State’s efforts to stop and ultimately remove the President from office. No one was more bold – or more frighteningly accurate – in anticipating the ferocity of the Deep State’s assault on the Constitution and President Trump.
— The Memo, Barnes & Noble

While Rich Higgins may be a good, “twenty year career” civil servant, he’s also the latest example of someone who could be living comfortably off a taxpayer-funded pension seeking supplemental income off the lucrative name of Donald Trump.

How many pundits, talk show hosts, cable news anchors, journalists, former federal government employees, etc. inundated us during the run-up to the 2016 elections with books containing information we MUST know in order to help elect Donald Trump? You’d think, if this information was SO important to the continuation of the republic, they’d give us that information for free. After all, a vote is a lot cheaper than a $20-40 book a person may read at least once.

Think about all of those cable news personalities who earn six figures or more but that’s not enough. They have to ingratiate us with their musings on the premise that just because they’re now where they are, they are smarter than all of us and the world will be a better place for $25 a pop.

How about all those so-called journalists who are embedded within presidential campaigns, well compensated and fed for those arduous months following around those who would be king. They give us all the information (they and their publisher believe) we need to know before casting ballots for the most powerful elected candidate on Earth… that is, until AFTER the election when they produce behind-the-scenes tell-alls containing information that may have made a big difference to the American people BEFORE the election.

Not to be nitpicking, but that’s called double-dipping to those of us in the real world: getting paid to produce a product and getting paid again for new product that’s just product withheld from the public for reasons that can only be speculated. Then we get to see these people pimping their books on cable news and morning shows, promoting themselves as brilliant satirists or important whistleblowers whose observations are worthy of you shelling out your hard-earned dollars to supplement their generous salaries or federal pensions.

Imagine if the American people had to pay in order to receive the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and those words in the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights were only obtainable and shared from a coffee table before winding up on a bookshelf. You’d have to admit, those words (which we got for free) have a lot more staying power than anything written by a New York Times campaign embed, sanctimonious millionaire teleprompter reader, loudmouthed talk show host, or retired government employee who only spoke out after his or her twenty was safely in the can.

And don’t get me started on anyone who writes a book based on the two words that can generate instant interest: Donald Trump.

Make a hole on your coffee tables and some room on your bookshelves. It’s a long time before 2024.

One problem: it doesn’t appear to be correct.

But the intended damage was already done….

CNN: ABC News: US intelligence warned of China’s spreading contagion in November
Daily Kos: Intel alerts were sounding about coronavirus as early as NOVEMBER
Daily Beast: U.S. Intel Officials Warned White House of ‘Cataclysmic’ Virus in November, Says Report
The Hill: US intel warned in November coronavirus spreading in China could be ‘cataclysmic event’: report
Business Insider: US intel predicted coronavirus ‘could be a cataclysmic event’ as far back as November
Vice: Here Are All the Times Trump Dropped the Ball on Preparing for Coronavirus
Jerusalem Post: US intelligence report warned of coronavirus in November – ABC
Complex: U.S. Intelligence Reportedly Began Warning of COVID-19 Outbreak Back in November

What’s most interesting is in ABC News’ own report, two minutes eighteen seconds in length, the last twenty seconds featured Jonathan Karl’s CYA as he knows he’ll be in President Trump’s crosshairs (again) the next time he has to assume his role as Chief White House Correspondent.

The deteriorated standards of what used to be called “journalism” are clearly at play here as there was a time where no stories would EVER be based on “sources” who refused to go on the record for the obvious reasons.

“Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,” according to an unnamed source who told ABC the reports were then “briefed multiple times,” to the DIA, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, and the White House.
— Washington Examiner, 4/9/20

One of the reasons, which has been proven true over the years, is that some journalists will create fictitious sources and events to back up their preferred narrative. We’re not saying that happened here but suspicions are not unwarranted. When those creating product have clear condescension and contempt for their consumers, issuing misleading stories meant to damage the president before a president election is easy.

Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.
— Jonathan Gruber, “architect of Obamacare”

As the main mission of most in the professional media has been the destruction of the Trump presidency, any semblance of journalistic ethics were thrown out the window the moment Donald Trump announced his candidacy in 2015.

During the previous administration, you can maybe count on the fingers of one hand how many questions President Obama received that began with “I know you don’t want to talk about….” Not only did Fox News’ 37-year-old Kristin Fisher start off with that question to President Trump, but it was preceded by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl’s attempt at a gotcha asked while withholding pertinent information and it kinda’ backfired.

It didn’t take the butthurt media to long to get in another behind-the-back dig during the process.

Donald Trump trashes inspector general who revealed hundreds of hospitals are short of tests and getting masks from auto shops – then smears 21-year civil servant as an ‘Obama appointee’ even though HE promoted her to her latest role

Heaven forbid a 21-year civil servant lifer be criticized for not observing internal protocols so the president can be publicly embarrassed. If this isn’t about politics, how many “nonpartisan” inspector general reports were used to blindside President Obama on the federal government’s response to a crisis situation while it was happening?

Anyone… anyone…?

What should be the obvious is reporters shouldn’t enter a press briefing with an agenda or gotcha question unless they really have their shit together; especially when the target knows veiled salvos are always incoming. When reporters are careful of being busted with an agenda and their only response when challenged is “I don’t know”, that’s a recipe for disaster (or entertainment at their expense).

Well, it has happened with alarming consistency. At virtually every one of these briefings, there is a moment where he lashes out in very personal terms at a reporter.

The liberal media has been trying to have Donald Trump removed or worse from the day after the 2016 election. It doesn’t get any more “personal” than that, Jon.

He’s done it to me now twice. He’s done it to several of my colleagues. I have to say — I hear that he is spending a good chunk of each day complaining to his top advisers about the way his response to this crisis is being portrayed in the news media. He truly cares about this and is, to a degree, obsessed about it. So, you know, he lashes out, like I said, virtually every day in one of these briefings. He can insult me all he wants. I don’t care What matters is getting to the bottom of what is happening with the federal response and how people should be responding to this crisis.
— Jonathan Karl, ABC News chief White House correspondent on The View, 4/7/20

Typical sanctimonious media response. Try to make someone look bad and when it backfires, play the victim. While President Trump may hurt the fragile feelings of reporters, President Obama took things to a level the press is obviously relieved has not been passed down.

‘Jon Karl is Not a Third-Rate Reporter’: Fox’s Bret Baier Defends Reporters After ‘Salty’ Trump Attacks

Such thin skins. They relish an opportunity to destroy anyone in their news cycle but turn it back on the media and the lose their collective minds.

And they’re all bent because fewer trust the professional media every passing day.