“After Backing Trump, Christians Who Fled Iraq Fall Into His Dragnet”

The above is a headline from a July 5th story published in the New York Times.  I have been taking much grief from some readers of this blog for being so adamant that the American main-stream media are failing Americans with incomplete, inaccurate, and biased reporting — so much so that many Americans have totally given up on any belief in the accuracy and honesty of MSM (main-stream media).  A recent poll from The Hill stated that 65 % of Americans believe the news is full of “fake” news.  Yet MSM continue to write and report in extremely biased ways news not as news, but as their perspectives, almost never allowing Americans the opportunity to read a story that contains simple facts and draw their own conclusions.

So what about the New York Times story headlined above?  Let me put it in context:

During the 2016 campaign, then “Candidate” Trump angrily came out against the Obama Administration’s ignoring of the slaughtering of Christians throughout Iraq simply for their religion. The MSM all but ignored the Muslim cleansing of Christians, and Trump promised to make immediate changes if elected to give Iraqi Christians the opportunity to flee Iraq.  And he did that.  However, the story in the New York Times attacks the  Trump Administration and the President for lying to those Iraqi Christians because a group of these Christians — primarily from Detroit — had been rounded up by federal agents to be deported.  The story made it seem that thousands had been taken into custody for deportation.   (that number is actually just over 100)  The reporter’s perspective in the story was that Candidate Trump had lied to the World.

It may come as no surprise to you that a few facts (and a few truths) were left out of the article — at least in the headline (shown above) and the two thirds of the article.  Way down in paragraph 11 of the article — yes, paragraph 11! — the reporter stated this:  “Though most of them came here legally, as refugees or through relatives who were American citizens, their green cards were revoked after criminal convictions on charges including theft, drug possession, rape and murder.”  “The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested,” said Rebecca Adducci, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Detroit.

Put that in perspective:  a reporter at the New York Times and the editor that allowed the story to be printed, each felt one or both of the following:  (1) either it is OK for the government to ignore immigrants who come to the U.S. and break laws as serious as rape and murder, and/or (2)  it is OK for The NY Times to simply ignore the truth and blatantly print an incorrect story with an untrue headline that could be only to influence its readers to draw a false conclusion from their story about the President of the United States.

As a journalist, either of those two if/when true makes my blood boil.  I subscribe to the New York Times.  But my subscription is obviously not to glean facts from their stories.  It’s to watch how they have progressively and steadily digressed from being a pretty good major market print media outlet to now being so unbelievable and un-trustworthy that they should be relegated to the check out lane at Whole Foods right beside the National Enquirer.  

We are in an environment that is no longer simply Conservative or Liberal.  Our news sources are no longer simply Conservative or Liberal.  Liberal news has gone so far left since the election of Donald Trump that it can fairly be labeled instead of “Fake News” as “Hate News.”  Let’s be honest:  it is painfully obvious that main-stream media in unison feel it is their job to ignore all journalistic honesty and integrity going forward.  Their self proclaimed job is to take this President down, and anything goes.  The Truth no longer matters.  MSM exists and operates now as a political arm of the Liberal Left — and nothing more.

This hard turn to the Left by the MSM is so demonstrative, so nasty, and so negative that there may be no recovery in the future for many of these far left news outlets.  Americans in great numbers already see through their ploy and are now doing in greater numbers everyday what those in news media have always feared:  ignoring the news they produce.  As more than half of Americans now disbelieve what they see and hear in the news, and as that percentage continues to grow, the slippery slide away from integrity and honesty is their only path right now.  It would be refreshing to see and hear any of those outlets publicly cry a big “Whoa!” on their “Hate News” venture, and start what will surely be a tough trek back toward honesty in reporting.  That has not happened yet, which is shocking to me.  Why?  News is no different than all media:  revenue is driven by viewers/readers/listeners.  As news consumers abandon news outlets, their ratings drop.  Advertisers devour ratings.  And when those who advertise want to reach consumers stop using those media outlets because of ratings, ad revenue sinks.  When advertising revenues go away, so do news jobs.  It’s about supply and demand and nothing more.  Without simple and truthful news, consumers have no use for those news sources.

There’s no end in sight.  And even if news folks want to right the ship, it’s going to take a long time to regain the trust of the American public.  Remember:  “Respect is only given when it is earned.”  And it will take a while for Americans to respect the news industry again.