We all know the media has been biased. That's not new. What is new is the level and intensity of the bias ever since Trump won the 2016 election. They've become totally unspooled. We're talking about defunding and then abolishing police here, folks. We're dealing with the woke legions who think words are violence. This is the clown show we have to combat viciously if this nation is to survive. And it does not help that the liberal media aides and abets this nonsense on a daily basis because… "orange man—bad." This has always been the case, but now they can be full-fledged participants in the protesting, many of which have devolved into out of control riots that have left trails of destruction in its wake.
Yep, Axios told their reporters to go and protest. Oh, and they'll cover bail and hospital bills if necessary. The Democrat-media complex has reached a new level (via The NYT):
In an unusual move at a news media organization, the head of Axios, a site popular with Beltway insiders, said in a memo that the company would support staff members who take part in public protests, a shift from the stance journalists normally adopt to avoid the appearance of partisanship.
In a companywide email on Monday that was reviewed by The New York Times, Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and chief executive of Axios, said, “First, let me say we proudly support and encourage you to exercise your rights to free speech, press, and protest. If you’re arrested or meet harm while exercising these rights, Axios will stand behind you and use the Family Fund to cover your bail or assist with medical bills.”
Mr. VandeHei’s email was sent in reply to an employee who had asked about the company’s stance on protesting as part of a weekly practice at Axios where staff members anonymously submit questions to managers. The company has 192 people on staff, about half of them newsroom employees.
Newsrooms across the country are debating the role journalists should be playing, in particular when it comes to race in America. The killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis last month after he was pinned to the ground by a white police officer, has set off a global protest movement. News reporters who have identified themselves as working press have been among those arrested at demonstrations in the last two weeks.
Prominent black reporters have led a movement among journalists to question the view-from-nowhere tradition of objectivity [I’m laughing at this…] that remains the standard of news organizations.
[…]
Ethics guidelines at The Times — similar to many other newsrooms across the country — say the company’s journalists “may not march or rally in support of public causes or movements” or publicly take positions on public issues. It adds, “doing so might reasonably raise doubts about their ability or The Times’s ability to function as neutral observers in covering the news.”
According to several people with knowledge of recent discussions at Axios, Mr. VandeHei said he did not intend his note to actively encourage marching in protests. He has also reminded the staff that the company’s reporters still need sources to open up to them, and that appearing to take one side could jeopardize their position.
In a statement Axios provided to The Times, Mr. VandeHei said the note did not represent a change in company policy. “We trust our colleagues to do the right thing, and stand firmly behind them should they decide to exercise their constitutional right to free speech,” he said in the statement.
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Okay, the objectivity part is laughable. It's been a joke for years. Second, Jimmy didn't think this note would be read as a green light to go out and riot. Sorry, I meant to say protest (wink, wink) in the streets.
"If you're arrested or meet harm while exercising these rights, Axios will stand behind you and use the Family Fund to cover your bail or assist with medical bills."
I don't give the Times a lot of credit for much, but their ethics guidelines on this stuff are pretty fair and straightforward. But it just shows that there is no unbiased news anymore. We all have sides. You know what you're getting when you come to Townhall. I'm biased as hell and have zero apologies for it. I'm here to serve readers who mostly make up the base of the GOP. MSNBC serves the progressive base of the Democratic Party. CNN serves the same people. The idea of unbiased news is novel but dead. And there is no doubt that reporters who are given similar leeway will exploit it. Just look at the fallout from The New York Times over Sen. Tom Cotton's (R-AR) op-ed. The looney Left took over.
We may mock the principles of the unhinged Left, being woke, and the intersectionality nonsense—but these kids are still in college and their fore-non-gender specific authority figures (you can't say forefathers; that's being exclusionary) before them have graduated and are taking jobs in media, the sciences, and other areas where liberal cultural bastion strength has become almost impossible to break up. The masters are being slaughtered by their offspring; the Old Guard is finding itself being eaten alive by the woke legions. It's a tad scary. So, given how the Left scalped editors at The NYT and the Philly Inquirer, I can see why Axios allowed itself some breathing room here. It won't be enough, though.
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