Politico is a member in good standing of the "establishment media." Its journalists rotate in and out, to and from other pro-Biden outlets. But when Politico has a reporter who delves into the Biden family influence-peddling business, you can expect that work to be ignored routinely.
Ben Schreckinger authored a book in the fall of 2021 titled "The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-Year Rise to Power." The publisher promised it would reveal "the secrets lurking in the deep recesses of Joe's family tree to his son Hunter's foreign deal-making spree -- and the Trump gang's ham-handed efforts to exploit it."
Nobody in the pro-Biden media wanted a Biden tell-all, even from within its ranks. Schreckinger wasn't all over TV selling his book the way every salacious anti-Trump author was rewarded. Brian Stelter even gave a dust-cover blurb for the book comparing the author to Bob Woodward but didn't book him on his show "Reliable Sources."
The cycle repeated on Feb. 18, when Schreckinger reported for Politico on President Joe Biden's brother James. When James worked as a consultant to the Americore hospital chain in 2017, he suggested his brother could help, and spoke of plans to give Joe equity and a board seat. Instead, Americore went bankrupt, wreaking havoc in rural communities. They still face a federal prosecution of a $100 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare.
On the same day in 2018 that James Biden received a $200,000 payment from Americore, he made out a check for that amount to his brother Joe, which he claimed was a "loan repayment," but he hasn't proved the loan. None of this mattered when James Biden testified in a closed session before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Feb. 21.
ABC, CBS and NBC could barely mention the president's brother after he testified, except to repeat his transparently false claims that Joe was never involved in his lobbying schemes. It's like no one at these networks has ever relied on Politico for their stories. The "PBS NewsHour" ignored James Biden entirely in its 8-minute segment on how Russian collusion is somehow aiding the Republicans again.
The New York Times put the story on page A-14 under the fact-defying headline "Biden Had No Involvement In Transactions, Brother Says." The Washington Post story was on A-11 with a headline displaying a similar contempt for the public record: "Brother denies Biden was involved in his business deals."
What makes this routine more annoying is that Hunter Biden attempted to avoid a closed hearing because Republicans might come out and distort the overall picture of his testimony. Now James Biden has a closed hearing, and the Democrats and their affiliated media outlets came out and pretended the president has never "played a role" in the Biden lobbying business.
Both newspaper accounts acknowledged James Biden is "an integral part of the Biden family, though often in the background." Yes, that's easier when the media has an incredible incuriosity in what he does behind the scenes. But they loaded their stories with Democrat talking points, including the claim that this whole inquiry has accomplished nothing and should end.
The contrast between the media's treatment of House Republican Oversight hearings and their hopelessly devoted romance with Nancy Pelosi's Jan. 6 panel is stunning. One party is compared to the Avengers, and the other is the Keystone Kops. The legacy media careen between journalistic savagery masquerading as "accountability" and robotic repetitions of preposterous Biden family denials. It's a shame that they couldn't all simply investigate whoever is in power, like lonely Ben Schreckinger.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.