The New York Times recently published a hissy fit about the White House allowing reporters into the Briefing Room who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris. Here was the amazing protest sentence: “Longtime White House reporters say the result has been an erosion of their independence.”
The presence of a reporter who didn’t vote Democrat doesn’t “erode” the anti-Trump animus (“independence”) of liberal activist journalists. It might balance it, suggesting journalism and liberalism are not exactly the same thing.
This spurred a trend. Politico’s Ian Ward profiled these invaders under the headline “Meet the 8 MAGA Outlets Disrupting the White House Briefing Room.” It carried the usual labeling about “the divide between the MAGA-friendly media and their more mainstream counterparts.” The extreme hatred of Trump is “more mainstream.”
Then came CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, who loves to wade into MAGA crowds, trying to find the dumbest-sounding Trump supporter he can find. In this case, he went looking for the dumbest-sounding White House reporter. The headline over the video was “‘Do you consider yourself a journalist?’ CNN meets MAGA media at White House.”
O’Sullivan showed clips of these pro-Trump reporters admitting their bias, and he proclaimed, “These are White House correspondents like you’ve never seen before.” Really? He spotlighted Cara Castronuova of Lindell TV, asking if they’ll release Trump’s fitness routine, since he “actually looks healthier than ever before.” In 2009, a Washington Post reporter touted Barack Obama’s “chiseled pectorals.”
Then O’Sullivan replayed Real America’s Voice reporter Brian Glenn asking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “Why don’t you wear a suit?” He suggested to Glenn he was “trolling,” but it’s a question lots of Americans would ask.
Natalie Winters from Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast said, “If it were up to me, I’d kick a lot of these outlets out.” In other words, she has the same opinion as CNN, only reversed.
O’Sullivan asked Winters, “Do you consider yourself a journalist?” He said many say, “You don’t deserve to be here because you’re not a real journalist.” She attacked the pro-Joe Biden media: “I’m pretty sure the people in there spent four years covering for someone who was essentially dead, and that’s being charitable. … You guys failed, and that’s why we’re here.”
CNN exemplified the point last year when anchor Dana Bash was deeply troubled over bumbling-Biden videos. They were “amplified on conservative media that in some cases are just not right and in other cases are highly, highly misleading of President Biden.”
O’Sullivan lectured about the “new media” people: “A lot of them are more cheerleading for President Trump than challenging him.” He ended by quoting White House Correspondents’ Association leader Eugene Daniels: The public “needs news produced by experienced, professional journalists who ask tough questions and produce fair coverage.”
Under Biden, Daniels wasn’t known for asking “tough questions.” At the 2024 Kamala cuddlefest before the National Association of Black Journalists, Daniels began by gently asking if the American people were better off after four years. Daniels went on shows such as “Washington Week” on PBS and denied Kamala was ever “border czar” and insisted she was a victim: “We’ve already seen a lot of racism and sexism, and that’s going to be a huge part of this campaign.”
Then there’s CNN itself. One of the most memorable tongue-bath questions came in 2009, when then-New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny asked Obama what “enchanted” him about being president. Then-CNN anchor John Roberts praised the softball and Obama’s “thoughtful” answer. Zeleny was later hired by CNN.
Reporters asking softballs at the White House is nothing new. It’s OK when the “mainstream” does it for Democrats.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Tim Graham.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Americans must face the reality that Liberalism is a form of Communism. Many do not have the facts. SAD!
It would be a lot of fun to see Trump or Caroline Levitt hold an exclusive press conference live on the air with these people and then bring up everything mentioned in this article and then some. I’d love to hear the responses. Get the popcorn ready!
I LOVE IT when these angry, unhappy, miserable, America-hating, Socialist, left-wing bias, Fake News media lying hypocrites whine and cry, and have their day RUINED. It’s hilarious and quite entertaining when they have their daily meltdowns with ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TRUMP DOES. He has now leveled the playing field and has invited REAL JOURNALISTS into the Oval office and the White House Press Corps, and these incompetent, left-wing legacy media puppets CAN’T STAND IT.
Who can forget failed “reporter” Jim Acosta during DJT’s first term? Nothing has changed since but the names and the faces.
You don’t have to kick unfriendly outlets out of the Briefing Room just don’t call on them (or move to a larger room).
Journalists are not reporters. They are simply people who keep a diary (journal). Reporters are almost always scrupulously honest. I’ve known several. Journalists have no such requirement. They can write whatever they want. Honestly and integrity are not required and apparently not wanted. The coverup by journalists of Biden’s obvious mental and physical capabilities are proof positive. If you’re a journalist, please shut up. It will improve the conversation imo.
Liberals just as democrats in true sense are extinct species, they evolved into communists steeped in Marxist ideology, rigid, demagogical ideologues, no margin there, in mouth only, in reality they are not above luxury and privilege.
You can believe nothing you see or hear on massive media ..they have lued..colluded. .committed treason. And allowed ppl like Tom Cruise to be so disrespectful to one of Trumps ppl you actually wanted to see her husband pick him up and snap him in half. And he is a vet to boot. They are truly deranged
Some folks simply loathe what they cannot control… to the point of strangulation.
You can always tell how deeply a pig has ben stuck by how loud it squeals! LIEberal enemy media has had it their own way for far too long and now it’s time for a reckoning. Americans are fed up with all the lies and deceptions and are looking elsewhere for the REAL NEWS, not “opinions” from biased, lying. TDS infected, Socialist “journalists” and “commentators”. No wonder their ratings are in the toilet.
WHO TF DO THEY THINK THEY ARE!
Instead of mainstream media it should be Marxist stream media.
About time & needed Yes
The Commie News Network has proven it’s incompetence for the last sixteen years so it is time for them to shut up, sit down and let nonsocialists into these Press Conferences!
We need to forget this crap. Ignore the dying lamestream media and they will rot out of visual and auditory existance.
What we need to concentrate on is ceasing providing weaponry for Israel to continue to mimic the Third Reich and instead of standing and applauding the genocidal maniac, Netanyahu, perhaps grab the monster and hand him over to the International Criminal Court to face their charges of genocide. Our government heads sure applauded the ICC’s actions when they charged President Putin for kidnapping children even though those children were sent to Russian care by their parents to remain safe under their Nazi regime headed by the green clad grifter called Zelensky. I guess we are a nation that fully supports the mass murder of women and children that are guilty of living on land that Israel just happens to want to……..steal. And chief clown Trump wants to help kill them so as to be able to build a “beautiful” casino on the rubble of Gaza.
Trump is better by far than Biden but one can argue that a massive heart attack is preferable to the slow decay of cancer.
Our country is having chest pains.